How to find out who is behind a fake Facebook Account

Expose tolls and cyberbullies and hold them accountable for their actions. We explain how you yourself can find out who is behind a fake Facebook account! No longer can anonymous users hide behind fake accounts.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to:

• Check when the fake Facebook account was created and updated
• Review the exact time content was published (not just dates!)
• Analyse writing styles, tone and repeated language patterns
• Test phone numbers and email addresses against Facebook accounts
• Identify and assess connected social media accounts
• Use investigative tools to look at a suspect’s phone number

Our licensed investigators have created this article to explain practical ways to find out who is behind a fake Facebook account. While harassment and defamation matters often require expert investigation and evidence collection for police or court proceedings, these steps can help you gather useful clues and identify the offender. We have also included a demonstration video below showing the steps in practice.  

6 Ways to Find Out Who is Behind a Fake Facebook Account

Before you start, don’t forget to gather evidence of the harassment, impersonation or defamation.

You should:

• Capture screenshots of messages or content published by the offender
• Don’t report the account (they will just make a new one anyway)
• Record a timeline of events

If you want to hold an anonymous online user accountable, the first step is confirming who is behind the profile. To dive deep and collect the required evidence, the offending account needs to remain active.  

1. How to check when a Facebook account was created

Facebook now allows you to see the exact date that a Facebook profile was created. You can click on the account’s name, and Facebook will display the date the account was created and when the profile was last updated. If the date the account was created happens to be a day after you broke up with your ex, well, you’re starting to build some intelligence about who the anonymous user could be. If the account has been freshly created, it’s likely the account was created just for the purpose of targeting you.   

However, our social media investigators recently looked at the below fake Facebook profile, and we noticed the Profile Updated date was shown as 35 years ago! This is certainly not correct as Facebook was launched in 2004. So just be careful when looking at the details of when a profile was last updated, as the example below shows it can be inaccurate.

Our team conducted further testing though, which showed us that the joined Facebook date seems to always be accurate.

2. How posting times can help identify anonymous users

Similar to the above tip, you can view when a post was published. Whilst Facebook shows the date of a post, you can (on a desktop computer), hover your mouse over the date to see the exact time it was published. This tip can be quite helpful to narrow down the pool of suspects and if you don’t have any, it can help generate them.   

Furthermore, if you have a strong suspect, and you know what they were doing at a certain time, does the time of a post eliminate them as a suspect, or does it further indicate they could be responsible? The exact time a post was published can be very valuable to identifying the anonymous user.

3. How writing style can reveal who is behind a Facebook account

Whilst language analysis can be done by experts at an extremely high level, it’s not hard to look at the words the offender says to see if you can find any clues. Are there any words they continuously misspell? Or is there something unique in how they phrase their sentences? You can keep an eye out for the following within their text:

• Consistent misspelling of words
• Grammar and punctuation (for example the use of exclamation marks!!!)
• Tone of the content

Once writing styles or certain errors are noticed, then you can see if anyone you suspect makes the same mistakes!  

4. How to check what email or phone number is linked to a Facebook account

You can check if a phone number or email address is registered to a Facebook account. This is an investigative technique that can be crucial in revealing who is behind a fake Facebook account. Our investigators use this technique in every social media investigation we undertake.  

1. Navigate to the Facebook login page (you need to be logged out of Facebook or open an incognito window) and click “Forgotten Password?”
2. On the next screen, you’ll see an option to find your account by entering a mobile number or email address. If you have someone you suspect could be behind the fake account, and you know their contact details, you can enter them here to see if they are even linked to a Facebook account.  
3. Facebook will then display if the contact details are linked to an account. And sometimes, even pull the fake Facebook account profile image across, which can confirm who is behind the account.

In the video below, we demonstrate this technique and you’ll see that the email address we entered is not only confirmed as linked to a Facebook profile, but we confirm it is registered to the target Facebook account! If the demonstration account was an online harasser, the evidence we just obtained would be significant in the case.

5. How examining connected accounts can help

Sometimes you find valuable clues about a fake account by looking at the other profiles it is connected with. Sometimes the real person and the offender have mutual connections, and this can really point you in the right direction. Even if you can’t see the fake account’s friends list, you can see if any other accounts have engaged with the content published.  

If you’re looking at a long-established account or even a Facebook page, then we always recommend looking back at some of the very first posts the page or profile has published. If there’s a slip up and engagement from a real account, it could have happened when the account was new.  

6. How Investigators Trace Fake Facebook Accounts

Cybertrace has created a unique and very powerful investigative tool. The phone number Deep Scan tool is a premium tool; however only costs $9.90 per search. If you have the mobile number of someone you suspect could be behind a fake account harassing you, then you can search the suspect’s mobile number in our tool to see what the number is linked to. There is a chance the tool may link the number to the fake account, a matching username, profile picture, or other alias accounts.  

How to video

Our social media investigators have created the following video, which will walk you through trying out the tips mentioned above.

Investigating fake Facebook accounts in 2026

As technology and social media platforms continue to evolve, so do privacy settings, security features, investigative methods and even laws in certain countries relating to social media use. These changes directly affect how fake Facebook accounts are created and how they can be investigated.

In recent years we’ve seen the roll-out of the Facebook ‘locked account’ feature, allowing users to lock their own profiles and implement the strictest possible privacy on their account. This can make investigating a fake account more challenging as the profile content, images and other data is limited. Even the account’s profile image is not accessible in high resolution. At the same time, Facebook’s Transparency and Privacy Policy has changed in an effort to keep Facebook safe, showing a user’s information such as when the account was created. The additional details Facebook displays helps users to check the authenticity of an account.

In December 2025, the Australian government implemented age-restriction laws to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from creating or using accounts on many social media platforms, including Facebook. The age restrictions laws are a world first that has gained the attention of many other countries.

Investigative capabilities also continue to increase as new technology and solutions are created. While platforms provide users with stronger privacy settings and greater control over their digital footprint, investigators now have access to more advanced tools, databases, and analytical methods like a trace dummy analyzer. At Cybertrace, we continue to adapt our methods as platforms and technologies change. Even where a fake Facebook account is locked, our investigators can often still uncover crucial evidence to identify the anonymous user.

Social media experts to investigate a Facebook account

If you have tried the tips provided in this article and haven’t revealed who is behind the anonymous account, then you may require professional assistance from our social media investigators. With unrivalled expertise and custom built internal technology like our trace dummy analyzer tool and access to large databases, Cybertrace remains an authority globally when it comes to revealing who is behind anonymous online accounts

We use a combination of technical investigative techniques in order to find out who is behind a fake Facebook account. Our team of expert social media investigators is constantly updating and developing new tools to expose cyber bullies and online harassers. By always staying ahead of the latest technological developments, we are constantly improving our ability to pinpoint vital identifying information.  

In 2025, we worked with Influencer, Indy Clinton to expose an offender behind a fake Instagram account. The Instagram troll had been active for years and had over 20,000 followers. Once Indy had the results of our investigation, she confronted the offender, who then apologised and deleted the account!  

Over the years, we have established ourselves as international experts in successfully revealing anonymous user information. We have a team of licensed private investigators who specialise in only anonymous harassment, cyberbullying, impersonation and defamation cases.  

Our clients range from individuals, businesses, celebrities and even government bodies around the world. Our results are used by lawyers, the police, and the courts to get justice.  

We offer a free, confidential consultation to discuss your situation and assess your case. Our investigators will be able to provide you with insight into the likelihood of successfully identifying the offender.   

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in July 2021 and has been updated in April 2026 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Frequently Asked Questions About Fake Facebook Accounts