Find Out Who Is Behind A Fake Instagram Account

An anonymous Instagram account you don’t recognise is harassing you and your family, even revealing personal information such as contact details or your home address. An anonymous Instagram account falsely claims that you have been cheating on your wife. Or perhaps a fake Instagram account in your boyfriend’s name is uploading nasty things about you and sending threatening messages.

With their distressing impact on reputations and relationships, all these scenarios present us with the crucial challenge of how to find out who is behind a fake Instagram account. Previously, we discussed identifying fake Telegram, Snapchat phishing scams, and fake TikTok accounts. In this article we’ll focus on Instagram accounts and even provide some expert tips on how you might be able to identify the offender yourself!

The nicest place on the Internet. Or is it?

For a time, Instagram had the reputation of being ‘the nicest place on the internet’. Millions of users certainly agreed at the time. It was used as a platform to share photos and thoughts, promote products, and a place for expression. While a lot of thoughtfully curated, feel-good content remains, negative trends have also taken hold. A relevant research example in today’s youth, demonstrates that frequent Instagram use in teens can lead to poor mental health.

With our feeds constantly bombarding us with images of perfection, it is hard not to feel boring, inadequate, or deficient. Instagram harassment and bullying is rife across the platform. This is closely related to another area of particular concern: the proliferation of fake or anonymous Instagram accounts.

How to tell if an Instagram account is fake

Research estimates with there being around 3 billion active users a month on the platform, 10% of Instagram’s accounts are fake. Although the company is uncovering and removing millions of fake accounts annually, many fake accounts continue to remain. Some fake accounts can be very hard to identify. To tell if an Instagram account is fake, there are a few red flags that you can look out for.

Empty Accounts: If the account is ‘empty’, not having a profile picture, no posts, an extremely small number of followers or followings, this is typically a giveaway that the account is not used for normal purposes.
Fake celebrity accounts: These are extremely popular, and if you don’t know how to identify one, you’re at risk of being targeted. Not to worry, it’s the same process for a normal fake account.
Usernames: You can tell a fake account apart from a real one by looking at their usernames, too. These accounts will often use a random combination of numbers and letters.
Behavioural clues: If they are sending generic or urgent messages that ask for personal details or are money related, it’s likely a fake account.
Activity: If there are posts, check the date they were uploaded, bursts of activity followed by silence, unusual activity is a key indicator of the account being fake.

How to find out who is behind an Instagram account?

So, you figured that a cyberbully is harassing or defaming you from the comfort of a fake Instagram account? You might even have a hunch who it could be: a resentful former friend, a spiteful ex-lover, or a jealous competitor. But how do you find out for sure who is behind a fake account?

Our investigators have put together a few tips and tricks for you to utilise if you have concerns about a fake account. 

Tips & Tricks:

Forgotten password?  This tip does often trigger a text or an email to the offending account. If you are looking to engage a social media investigator, we recommend you do not try this prior. By triggering a notification, you risk putting the offender ‘on notice’ and this can hinder a professional investigation. If you want to try to get some clues about the email or phone number linked to an account, you can attempt to log in to the account and click “forgot password”. This can show incomplete sets of the email or phone number connected to the account. If you suspect someone you know, we recommend that you cross-reference it with your contacts. 

About this account: By clicking on the three dots on the profile in question, go to “About this account.” This will display the time the account was created and what country the account is located in. 

Language: If you suspect someone is behind the offending account. You can analyse what and how they say certain things; this might be a giveaway on who is behind an account.

User ID: To be able to locate an offending account that continues to change its username, you can enter the current username into a service like this to identify the account’s unique user ID. It’s important to note that the user ID remains unchanged even if the username is updated. Once the ID number has been found, you can then use the ID to help identify the account’s new or current username if it has been changed again by using this tool.

Why do you need an expert?

The techniques provided above can be used to uncover clues about accounts however, much of the time, the anonymous users conceal their identity well. When anonymity tools or fake details are used, professional investigation is often required.

If you report it to Instagram, they might shut down the account, but they won’t release information about who is behind it to you. The perpetrator can simply open a new account and the cycle continues. The police will often only assist with Instagram harassment from a criminal investigation perspective, but they usually require an IP address or other evidence to act upon. Finally, your lawyer can only help if they know who to actually send a cease-and-desist letter to! Luckily, you have come to the right place: Cybertrace can help you find out who is behind a fake or anonymous Instagram account.

What does Cybertrace have that others don’t?

We use a combination of technical investigative techniques in order to find out who is behind a fake Instagram account. This includes comparing published content, writing styles used by the fake profile to any individuals identified as potential suspects as well as social engineering which at times is used to engage directly with the offender.

Cybertrace has also developed its own highly specialised tools with the capability to deploy through Instagram to extract user information, such as an IP address. These tools are not used by any other investigators and remain one of Cybertrace’s leading tools to find out who is behind a fake Instagram profile.

Over the past years, we have been able to successfully reveal many harassers’ personal information and IP addresses. Our clients include global businesses, individuals, parents, influencers and celebrities and even government bodies here in Australia and overseas. Our clients have taken our result to their lawyers, the police, and the courts to get justice. Contact us today to stop cyber bullies and reclaim your reputation, sanity, and peace of mind.

This post was revised on 10th of March 2026 for improved readability and accuracy.