Short answer: look at how new the account is, whether the photos hold up to a reverse image search, and how fast they push for emotional closeness. Real connections don't rush all three at once.
Fake profiles aren't random. They follow a recognizable pattern: an account that's only a few weeks old, photos that look attractive but strangely generic, few or no mutual friends, and a bio built from vague, recycled phrases instead of specific details about a real life.
None of those signs alone proves anything. A new account could just be a new account. But when several show up together, that's worth paying attention to.
Save the profile photo and search it at images.google.com. If the same face turns up under different names on different accounts, it's stolen, and that alone tells you everything you need to know. This takes about thirty seconds and catches the majority of fake profiles instantly.
Ask for a video call, or ask them to turn their head or hold up a specific number of fingers on camera. A real person does this without hesitation.
A stranger who's warm, romantic, and deeply invested within days, not weeks, is behaving unusually, not flatteringly. Scammers move fast because urgency and emotional intensity are the tools that get people to stop checking. A real relationship, platonic or romantic, doesn't need to rush.
Watch for someone who avoids video calls with excuses, always has a reason their camera "isn't working," or tells early stories of hardship, a deployment overseas, a medical emergency, a business deal gone wrong. These stories are often the setup for a money request that comes later, once trust has been built.
The actual scam usually starts small: a request to vote in a competition, a "favor" that seems harmless. Money requests escalate from there, and they consistently ask for payment methods that are hard to trace or reverse, gift cards, wire transfers, or crypto, rather than a normal bank transfer.
If a new online contact asks for money in any form, treat that as the confirmation, not the first sign. Everything before it was the setup.
Source: FTC — How to spot the top scams that started on social media
This is one trick out of dozens. The Scam-Proof Playbook covers social media scams, AI voice cloning, phishing, WhatsApp scams, and more, in plain language, with real examples.