FakeOff application to detect fake Facebook user accounts

An Israeli startup has developed an app called FakeOff that can help to identify fake accounts on Facebook. This app is created to protect users from scams devised by fake Facebook users, who are mistaken for genuine 'new friends'.

"Recent statistics show that at least 10 percent of about 1.35 billion Facebook users are not authentic. Besides, there are millions of users who create fake identities and appear as regular users," FakeOff creator Eliran Shachar said.

The creator behind the app has categorised fake profiles into either commercial criminals or psychological criminals who put identity, property, and personal safety of real Facebook users in danger.

"FakeOff app uses sophisticated algorithm to investigate the behaviour of suspect 'friends' and rank them according to a 1-10 credibility score. It scans up to 365 days of timeline activity for every suspect Facebook friend and checks for abnormal activity," Shachar said.

This app will check suspected person's timeline activity and it will try to locate abnormal activity by which app can indicate non-normal way of usage. It will also scan all photos of the user and analyze that the photos are stolen from another place. 

Shachar said, “Twenty-four per cent of investigations conducted in the app return as fake. A fake profile can be very complex and some of the fakes that we help the users find is only for their eyes so we can’t know the final result from the photo scan results, but the user easily can.”

Shachar believes that 7.9 per cent accounts being duplicate and up to 2.1 per cent and up to 1.2 per cent accounts being user-misclassified and un-desirable.