How to Spot a Fake Facebook Friend

Anyone can become a friend on Facebook. People have Facebook profiles for their pets, their children that can't read, write or type and for wizards, dragons and leprechauns, which may or may not be real, but seem like they fit in this category. Believe it or not, sometimes people even set up fake Facebook profiles to mislead, deceive and just outright trick people into thinking they are someone they are not. Sure you have people on your friends list that are using pictures from the 70s. Maybe your grandma is using a picture of John Boy from the Waltons. This is not exactly deceitful, as she's not impersonating John Boy, nor is the person with their High School picture pretending to be in High School.

These are the signs to look for in a fake/imaginary Facebook friend.

New accounts on Facebook: If the account is so new that they are just adding a slew of people at one time, it could be an indication that the account isn't real. This is reasonable with older people who may have recently conceded to Facebook, or it could be an indication that this person has been away a while. Like in prison away, or married away, or fake profile away.

Mutual Facebook Friends: It's easy to make friends with an organization. Just because the new friend is friends with a mutual site for instance, doesn't mean they are who you think they are or even share a common interest. It is extremely easy to add everyone in an organization as a friend so that it looks like there are 40 mutual friends. Check to see if any of the mutual friends are actually people you know that can tell you that they know this person.

Smokin Hot Profile Pics: Okay, so yes smoking hot people exist. The world is filled with millions of beautiful people. If the profile pic resembles a model from a magazine, this is even more reason to suspect that maybe the person you're talking to is not really the person you think they are. Unless you hang out with models regularly, then that's different. Likewise, if you are not generally engaged in conversation with these types of gods and goddesses, it could either be your lucky day, or the Facebook profile is fake.

No Profile Pic: Alternatively, no profile pic could be an indication of a fake Facebook friend as well. Sometimes people aren't comfortable with pictures of themselves, or "don't have any good pictures", but don't you want to know what your friends look like? Beware of strangers with profiles that include no photos at all except for cartoons or Farmville characters.

The best rule of thumb is to only add people that you know personally. If you do tend to add strangers, keep in mind that the person you're talking to could be anyone they want to be. After all, it's Facebook.