Why Do Fake Accounts Follow You on Instagram?

Instagram is a very popular social media platform. It has over a billion users who share photos, videos, and stories. However, with its massive user base comes the persistent problem of fake accounts.

If you’ve noticed an influx of unfamiliar profiles following you—usually with no posts, strange usernames, or suspicious activity—you’re not alone. Many Instagram users face the same dilemma: “Why do fake accounts follow me?”

In this article, we’ll explore the various reasons behind fake accounts, why they follow real users, how they affect your Instagram experience, and what you can do about it.

The Rise of Fake Accounts on Instagram

Instagram, owned by Facebook, has over 1 billion users. However, it’s facing a surge in fake accounts.

As per the study conducted for The Information by the research firm “Ghost Data”, it estimates that 95 million accounts might be bots. These bots make up 9.5% of users, rising from 7.9% in 2015.

Despite Instagram’s efforts to remove fake accounts, the problem persists. In 2014, it deleted many fake profiles. This cut its users to 300 million.

The rise in fake accounts has turned Instagram into a key fight against misinformation, fake news, and political propaganda. Often, bot accounts spread misleading content, engage in spam, or promote scams. This makes it hard for real users to trust what they see on the platform.

Instagram’s visual appeal and high engagement make it vulnerable to fake profiles. These accounts, built on false information, act differently from real users. They spread propaganda, inflate follower counts, or engage in scams.

The surge in fake accounts poses major challenges. It distorts engagement metrics and spreads misinformation, affecting both Instagram and its users.

Why Do Fake Accounts Follow You on Instagram?

The active users base on Instagram grows exponentially. This social networking site has over 1 billion active users per month. As active users grow, so do fake followers and copycat profiles.

Some reasons why does fake profiles follow you on this platform are mentioned below:

Growth Hacking and Automation Tools

One of the primary reasons fake accounts follow you is the widespread use of automation tools and growth hacking services. These services use bots to follow, like, and comment on a large number of profiles, with the goal of increasing visibility. This practice is often referred to as “follow-for-follow” or “mass following.”

• How It Works: Bots automatically follow thousands of random users in the hope that some will follow back. This technique artificially inflates the follower count, making an account appear more popular than it is.
• Why They Follow You: If you are followed by a bot accounts, it’s likely because the account owner is trying to gain followers, and you were part of the random list their automation software targeted.

While it might seem harmless at first, mass-following can negatively affect Instagram’s user experience and violates the community guidelines of the platform.

Spam and Scams

Fake profiles often serve as vessels for scams or spam, targeting unsuspecting users through direct messages or misleading content. Here’s how:

• Promotional Scams: Some fake accounts may try to lure users into clicking on shady links, typically promoting fake giveaways, phishing scams, or fraudulent offers.
• Influencer Scams: Some fake accounts pose as influencers or brands, trying to get your information by offering fake sponsorships or deals.

These fake profiles follow large numbers of accounts to seem more legitimate, and by following you, they may hope to engage you in deceptive practices.

Malicious Intent

Some fake accounts exist for more sinister purposes. These accounts might engage in harmful activities like identity theft, hacking, or stalking.

• Data Mining: Certain fake profiles may follow real users to gather personal information. Even if your profile is private, a request to follow might be their attempt to gain access to details you’d prefer to keep private.
• Impersonation: In some cases, fake accounts can impersonate other people, including you, your friends, or brands. They might aim to create confusion or trick your followers into engaging with a fraudulent account.
• Cyberstalking: A malicious fake account could be used to monitor your activities or harass you through direct messages or inappropriate comments.

Although these cases are rarer than spam accounts, the potential harm makes it essential to remain vigilant about the followers you accept.

Boosting Engagement for Business or Influencers

Some users, especially influencers and businesses, rely on fake accounts to boost their social proof. In today’s influencer-driven world, follower count is often seen as an indicator of success or reliability, making many businesses or influencers tempted to buy fake followers.

• Fake Follower Purchases: Many companies and influencers purchase fake followers to inflate their numbers. While these accounts may not actively engage with content, the higher follower count gives the appearance of popularity, which could attract real followers or sponsors.
• Algorithm Manipulation: Instagram’s algorithm often promotes accounts with higher engagement, and having more followers is seen as an indicator of interest. By boosting follower numbers artificially, businesses or influencers hope to get better visibility on the platform.

If you are followed by a suspicious profile with very few posts and a massive follower count, this might be a clue that the account has purchased fake followers, and you’re just part of the digital trail.

Inactive Accounts and User Abandonment

Not every fake-looking account is run by malicious entities or bots. In some cases, the account may belong to real users who have abandoned the platform.

• Forgotten Profiles: Many users create an Instagram profile but stop using it, leaving their accounts dormant. Over time, these inactive profiles can become targets for bots that repurpose them as fake accounts.
• Repurposing for Mass Following: Bots sometimes take control of these abandoned accounts and use them to follow and spam other profiles, leading to a surge in fake followers.

Though these accounts aren’t always harmful, they clutter your follower list and reduce the authenticity of your audience.

How Do Fake Followers Affect You?

Distorted Engagement Metrics

Fake accounts may give you a superficial boost in followers, but this comes at the cost of your engagement metrics. Since fake accounts rarely like, comment, or interact with posts, your engagement rate (likes and comments per follower) will drop.

For influencers and businesses, low engagement rates can hurt your chances of landing sponsorships or collaborations. Brands looking to partner with you typically assess how engaged your audience is, and a high number of fake followers dilutes your authentic reach.

Potential for Scams and Spam

As mentioned earlier, fake accounts often lead to unwanted messages, scams, and phishing attempts. This can damage your digital experience, and in worst-case scenarios, expose your personal information to scammers. Fake profiles may send you links to click or ask for sensitive information, putting you at risk of malware or identity theft.

Damaged Reputation

For influencers, entrepreneurs, and creators, fake followers can harm your reputation. It may make others see your account as less credible. They may assume you bought followers, even if those fake accounts followed you by chance.

Additionally, brands might hesitate to collaborate with you if they suspect that a significant portion of your followers are fake.

How to Identify Fake Accounts?

Spotting fake Instagram followers can help you clean up your platform’s experience and improve your engagement metrics. Here are some signs to look for:

See Instagram’s “About this Account” Feature:

To check if a suspected profile is fake, see the “about this account” section on its Instagram profile page. For this, go to the suspected profile, and click on the three dots placed in the top right corner of the page.

Now select “About this account” (some profiles hide it). You may see the account’s country of origin, the number of previous usernames, and the account’s creation date.

It may be fraudulent if the username is changed often in a short time, the nation does not match the profile, or the account is new.

Strange or Random Usernames: Fake accounts often have usernames with random letters, numbers, or symbols, like “user123456” or “abc_567xyz.”

Lack of Profile Picture: Many fake accounts either lack a profile picture or use stock images.

No Posts or Bio Information: A bare or very minimal profile is a strong indicator that the account may be fake.

Suspicious Follower-to-Following Ratio: If an account is following thousands of people but has very few followers or posts, it’s likely fake.

Engagement Patterns: Fake accounts rarely like or comment on your posts, and their activity is often inconsistent.

All Photos Uploaded at Once: Multiple photos posted on the same day with no history of activity can indicate bot behavior.

Spammy DMs: Spammy DMs on Instagram often include generic messages, too-good-to-be-true offers, or phishing links, promoting fake opportunities or suspicious websites designed to steal personal information. Avoid clicking suspicious links.

Common Types of Fake Followers on Instagram and Their Key Characteristics

Here’s a table outlining the characteristics of different types of fake followers that might follow you on Instagram. This will might help you to detect fake followers that are following you on a basis of their traits.

Type of Fake Follower	Characteristics
Bot Accounts	– Random or generic usernames (e.g., user12345) – No profile picture or a generic image – Few posts or activity
Spam Accounts	– Bio with promotional links or get-rich-quick schemes – DMs with spam offers – Follows many but gets low engagement
Phishing Accounts	– Fake giveaways or sponsorships – Links to phishing websites – Bio promoting suspicious links
Impersonation Accounts	– Copies a real user’s identity – Similar username and profile picture to legitimate accounts – May ask for money
Inactive/Abandoned Accounts	– Profile has not posted in a long time – Few posts, often old – No recent interactions
Follower Farms	– Large follower count, low engagement – Private profile or no real content – Follows many accounts
Engagement Pods (Low-Quality)	– Generic comments not related to posts – Many followers but little engagement – Repetitive low-quality comments
Purchased Followers	– Sudden spike in followers – Fake accounts with no bio, no profile picture – No interaction with posts
Clickbait Accounts	– Sensational posts with clickbait captions – Links to external websites – Follows large numbers for visibility
Pornographic/Adult Content Accounts	– Explicit profile pictures – Bio links to adult content sites – DMs with inappropriate content or links

What Can You Do About Fake Followers?

Block or Report

If you identify an account as fake or spammy, the easiest thing you can do is block or report the fake profile to Instagram. The platform’s team reviews reports and takes action against profiles that violate their guidelines.

• Blocking: By blocking a user, you ensure they no longer have access to your profile or posts.
• Reporting: If the account engages in suspicious activity, like spamming or phishing attempts, reporting it will notify Instagram to investigate and potentially remove it.

Clean Your Follower List

Regularly checking your followers and removing fake accounts can help maintain the authenticity of your profile. While Instagram doesn’t offer an automatic way to filter fake accounts, you can manually remove them from your follower list.

Set Your Profile to Private

If you want to minimise the number of fake accounts following you, setting your profile to private ensures that you can approve followers before they can see your content. Although this limits your exposure, it adds a layer of control to who follows you.

Use Third-Party Apps Carefully

Many third-party apps promise to help you clean your follower list or manage your account. Be cautious when using these, as some may violate Instagram’s policies or compromise your account security. Only use trusted apps that comply with Instagram’s terms of service.

What’s Next?

Fake accounts follow Instagram users for various reasons, from increasing follower counts to promoting scams. These fake follower accounts mimic real people but lack genuine engagement or interest in original content.

Many of these accounts are bot followers, identifiable by common traits such as spam comments and generic interactions, while genuine users interact meaningfully with authentic posts.

For influencers and businesses, fake followers dilute your audience, undermining the impact of high-quality content and hindering the reach of original posts. Building genuine followers who engage with content at scale is crucial for maintaining credibility.

For enhanced protection, solutions like Bytescare Fake Profile Remover can help detect and remove fake profiles quickly. Schedule a demo now to secure your online presence and ensure you consists of real, engaged followers.

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