We are receiving increasing reports of fake accounts.

We can't prevent this and are very unhappy about it! In this day and age, with billions of social media accounts worldwide, there are more and more scammers who have nothing good in mind - identity theft, phishing, rip-offs and other criminal intentions are unfortunately widespread.

The real profile of Marc Friedrich is being copied by these people to deceive you into revealing your personal data or, even more seriously, transferring your money for an alleged trade/purchase.

There is only one profile of Marc Friedrich or Friedrich & Partner on each of the various platforms:

X (Twitter): marcfriedrich7

Instagram: marcfriedrich7

YouTube: MarcFriedrich7

Telegram: friedrichpartner

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We are not represented on other platforms (e.g. Whatsapp)! If you come across a fake profile, please report it to the respective platform so that the profile can be blocked.

We take the problem seriously and would like to inform you with this guide so that you can better protect yourself. Often it is not just one of the mentioned features alone that you can use to identify a fake account, but the combination of several factors.

How can you protect yourself?

1. Do not share personal data: Do not pass on sensitive information such as passwords or bank details to strangers.
2. Check Profiles: Look out for incomplete profiles, unusual activity, or overly perfect pictures. Use image searches to verify authenticity.
3. Be careful with messages: Don't click on suspicious links and be wary of offers that sound too good to be true or urgent requests.
4. Pay attention to behavior: Avoid friend requests from strangers without interactions or from very new accounts.
5. Use security measures: Enable two-factor authentication and strong passwords.
6. Trust your gut: If something seems strange or too good to be true, it's often not trustworthy.
7. Block and report suspicious accounts: Report fake accounts to the platform and block them immediately.

How do you recognize a fake account?

1. Profile: Little or no personal information in the bio are typical signs of unauthentic profiles. Also pay attention to the creation date. Marc has been registered on the platforms for many years.
2. Profile picture: Fake accounts often have a standard profile picture or a photo that can often be found on the internet. Use the reverse image search. Pixelated or fake-looking photos can also be an indication.
3. Activities: Too many likes, comments or messages in a short time? With fake accounts, there is usually not a large gap between account creation and the first activities.
4. Interaction: Little to no interaction with other users or posts. Bots usually concentrate on liking, sharing and retweeting.
5. Copy of a real profile: The profile has a suspicious similarity to another account. Pay attention to the spelling of the name - is it incorrect or does it contain crazy number combinations, spaces or underscores?
6. Language: Pay attention to posts with many spelling mistakes, bad grammar or repeating phrases.
7. Messages: You should be careful with very personal messages or offers that sound too good to be true.
8. Follower count: Either too many followers without real interaction or very few. Check the ratio of following to followers. If an account follows significantly more profiles than it has followers itself, this can be a sign.
9. Posts: Are the published posts authentic and credible? Is there little or perhaps no own content? How original are the texts written?
10. Links: Do the links thematically match the profile? Are there a lot of links to suspicious websites in the messages?

Have you discovered a suspicious account?

Here's what to do:

1. Compare profiles: Take a close look at both profiles and compare details like pictures, bio information, and posts. Often, subtle differences are noticeable (e.g., a different profile picture or different spelling).
2. Check the real account: Go to the original account (if you know it) and check if the suspicious account is a copy or just looks very similar.
3. Avoid private messages: If the account writes to you, avoid responding immediately or revealing personal information.
4. Block and Report: If you are sure it is a fake, block the account and report it to the platform.
5. Ask friends and acquaintances: If you are unsure, ask friends or acquaintances if they also think the account is suspicious.

Definitely don't do this:

1. Click on links: Do not click on links sent to you by suspicious accounts, as they could lead to phishing sites.
2. Share personal information: Do not reveal any private information such as your password, address, birthday, or bank details.
3. Give in to contact: Don't be pressured into replying to the message or doing anything that seems inappropriate to you.
4. Ignore the fake profile: Even if it is unpleasant, you should not simply ignore it, but report the account to protect other users.

Please be critical and, more importantly: report the account to the social media platform. This is the only way to protect yourself and others from the dangers.

Have you already interacted with a fake account?

If you have fallen victim to a fake account, you should definitely take action! It is understandable that you feel overwhelmed in this situation. But the faster you react, the better you can limit the damage.

1. Block the fake account

• Report and block the fake account: Inform the platform (e.g. Facebook, Instagram etc.) about the fraudulent account and block it.
• Change your passwords: Immediately reset your passwords for all affected accounts (email, social media, online banking) and activate two-factor authentication if possible.

2. Contact your bank

• Report the transfer: Immediately contact your bank or the payment service provider where you made the transfer. Explain the incident and ask if a chargeback or cancellation of the transaction is still possible.
• Check your account activity: Also, look at all other payments or suspicious activities that you may have overlooked and inform your bank.

3. File a police report

• Report fraud: You should report the incident to the police, especially if it involves financial damage. In many countries, there are specialized departments for cybercrime.
• Collect evidence: Keep all evidence such as messages, screenshots, and transaction details ready to help the police identify the scammer.

4. Inform your contacts

• Warning to friends and family: Inform your friends, family, or colleagues that your account has been hacked or misused. This will help them protect themselves from possible phishing attempts or other fraudulent activities.

5. Learn from the incident

• Take security precautions: Review your privacy and security settings on social media and other platforms to minimize future risks. Make sure you no longer share sensitive information with strangers. Use 2-factor authentication and a password manager (with computer-generated, complex, and unique passwords for each of your accounts).

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Further security tips can be found in our privacy manual, which you can download here:
https://www.friedrich-partner.de/privacy-handbuch

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