HOW to curb impersonation on social media

Rarely does a day end without a public alert of victims lamenting they have been impersonated by social media bandits.

One way of stopping the criminals is by announcing to your followers that indeed it is true that someone is using your image to borrow money from unsuspecting followers on social media while masquerading as you. This will make your friends to avoid the said impersonator like a plague.

Another way of stopping the menace is by copy pasting the link of the account they have opened and warning your friends to delink themselves from the suspect account.

Still, explicitly tell your followers not to send any money to the account number given by the impersonator. This is because the main motivating factor for impersonators is to milk money from social media netizens.

Where possible, counter the impersonator’s narrative by publishing your official addresses where users can reach you. This will make the impersonator shy away from pushing the agenda of alternative phone number, email address or social media page that is not yours but theirs.

According to our survey, most of the victims of impersonation are ladies. Strangers use their photos to benefit. Other vulnerable persons to online fraud are the elderly who may not know how to go around the social media sphere.

STORY By MUSYOKA NGUI