Domains, platforms, and web abuse
Social impersonation
Social impersonation is the creation of accounts, pages, adverts or direct messages on social platforms that pose as a brand, a support team or a named person in order to scam users or collect credentials.
Common forms
- Fake support accounts that reply to customers complaining publicly and move the conversation to a private channel.
- Copies of a brand's page running giveaway, refund or investment posts that lead to a phishing site.
- Paid adverts using the brand's creative and a lookalike landing page.
- Profiles using an executive's name and photo to approach employees or investors.
Why it matters
Customers do not distinguish between the platform and the brand. A person scammed by a fake support account blames the company whose name was used. Fake support is particularly effective because it targets people who are already frustrated and looking for help.
Detection and reporting
Detection means searching platforms for the brand name, its common misspellings, its logo and its executives' names, and reviewing new matches. Reporting goes through each platform's impersonation or trademark process, which usually asks for the URL of the fake account, the URL of the genuine one and proof of the rights being claimed. Keep screenshots and dates: reports are adjudicated on what can be shown, and content disappears.
Related terms
Sources
External guidance is general. Adapt it to your legal, regulatory and operational requirements.