Does facebook fake accounts?

[Gamerlord]

So, I decide to Google my name, and you want to know what I get? Somebody, COMPLETELY,different from me, with my exact same name. Right down to the last name. First I think, "Small world :smallconfused: " then I realize how unlikely this was, I have an EXTREMELY rare name, and my mother once did a social security search to see how many people had my same name, NOBODY showed up. Then I thought something, "Hey, maybe this guy doesn't really exist, and facebook is just trying to get me to sign up by making me believe I need to clear my good name"

So, anyone know whether or not they fake accounts?

[Sneak]

Yeah um, no offense, but Facebook doesn't care enough about you (or anyone else) to make a fake profile.

[Cobalt]

I think it's possible someone just has your exact same name. I just did a search for my name and a list came up with a scroll bar smaller than my avatar. Though, I have a relatively common name, but still. I don't know of Facebook faking any accounts.

[Eloi]

There is at least one internet-using person with your name. Guaranteed.

[Gamerlord]

Yeah um, no offense, but Facebook doesn't care enough about you (or anyone else) to make a fake profile.

Good point, still, I find it extremely unlikely.

Also, I tried to Google one of my my younger sister's name, and something just like that happened with her, and for some strange reason, my baby sister has a myspace :smallconfused: .

[Cobalt]

Names are more common than you think. There's billions of people in the world, and many have internet. Names get reused.

[jlvm4]

So, I decide to Google my name, and you want to know what I get? Somebody, COMPLETELY,different from me, with my exact same name. Right down to the last name. First I think, "Small world :smallconfused: " then I realize how unlikely this was, I have an EXTREMELY rare name, and my mother once did a social security search to see how many people had my same name, NOBODY showed up. Then I thought something, "Hey, maybe this guy doesn't really exist, and facebook is just trying to get me to sign up by making me believe I need to clear my good name"


Two thoughts: One, check with your mother. If she's on facebook, maybe she set up one for you to post to family and friends about what you're doing.

Two, duplicate names are possible. I share a name with my brother-in-law's wife. Due to marriage, we have the same first name, same middle initial, and same last name. And the combination shouldn't have been all that common.

So I don't think they faked anything, but you could send a message to your doppleganger if you're still curious.

[Ichneumon]

There is somebody with the same name as me, studying at the same university as me, entered in the same year, is the same age as me. We're not family and as far as I know, we're not even related. It's a small world indeed.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Names are more common than you think. There's billions of people in the world, and many have internet. Names get reused.

Indeed: I have done several searches in the past and there are there are several matches on my real name, and at least two other people using my poster name... and you would have thought that "Manga Shoggoth" would have been comparatively rare.

[Totally Guy]

I thought I was the only one of me (I've got an unusual spelling of my last name). But I did a search just now and found another person with my name.

[Eon]

There is friend of mine that has the same first name and same birthday as me and lives in the same neighborhood. It can happen. :smallsmile:

[Eloi]

I'm going to generate 4 random 'rare' names by using the rare first name list and a random surname that pops in my head and see if they get any hits:
A'ishah Sabra: Generated a face book group for a missing child.
Zulema Barajas: Plays basketball at college.
Elise Rovinsky: Apparently an actress I never heard of.
Qssim Sniper: Generated a face book account.

So, I re-assert my rule of names.

[Jack Squat]

Good point, still, I find it extremely unlikely.

Some kid in Canada's got my name. I've never heard of anyone outside of my direct family that has anything close to my last name. It happens.


Also, I tried to Google one of my my younger sister's name, and something just like that happened with her, and for some strange reason, my baby sister has a myspace :smallconfused: .

Oh noes! :smalleek: It must be the end of the world!!!!

Maybe she just has one because she wants one. Social networking sites aren't some evil thing that must be avoided at all costs.

[Gamerlord]

I'm going to generate 4 random 'rare' names by using the rare first name list and a random surname that pops in my head and see if they get any hits:
A'ishah Sabra: Generated a face book group for a missing child.
Zulema Barajas: Plays basketball at college.
Elise Rovinsky: Apparently an actress I never heard of.
Qssim Sniper: Generated a face book account.

So, I re-assert my rule of names.

I just googled John Von Louie...and got a facebook account with that name.





Oh noes! :smalleek: It must be the end of the world!!!!

Maybe she just has one because she wants one. Social networking sites aren't some evil thing that must be avoided at all costs.

No, you don't understand, my sister has never,ever even looked at a social networking site, the only way she could would be a home computer, and the house is small enough that someone would see that she was looking at facebook, and believe me, she almost never uses the internet, she spends most of her time playing video games or reading books.

Also, my mother really doesn't like social networking, if she was caught doing such an unlikely thing, she would NOT be happy.

[Jack Squat]

No, you don't understand, my sister has never,ever even looked at a social networking site, the only way she could would be a home computer, and the house is small enough that someone would see that she was looking at facebook, and believe me, she almost never uses the internet, she spends most of her time playing video games or reading books.

She's never visited any friends that have computers? There's never a second when no one's up and walking around? I mean, it's possible that her friends had set it up for her for one reason or another, but more than likely she set it up for one reason or another.


Also, my mother really doesn't like social networking, if she was caught doing such an unlikely thing, she would NOT be happy.

You know, forums are a form of social networking. I'm just sayin'

[rakkoon]

I have one clone running around with the exact same name. I found him though the internet. Suddenly he went online and my google responses were only 50% about me. Actually I found this oddly liberating since I can always claim that it is not my webpage :smallsmile:

[Gamerlord]

She's never visited any friends that have computers? There's never a second when no one's up and walking around? I mean, it's possible that her friends had set it up for her for one reason or another, but more than likely she set it up for one reason or another.
She has never visited a friend's house, scheduling problems and all that.
Also, she thinks social networking is extremely dumb.




You know, forums are a form of social networking. I'm just sayin'


Well, forums tend to be smaller then facebook.

[Prime32]

I once knew a guy who had the same first name as me, a sister with the same first name as mine, and parents with similar names.

[Winterwind]

It would have been tremendously unlikely for you not to find people sharing the exact same name as you. Firstly, a name you consider rare might well be quite popular in a different country. Secondly, there are so many people in the world, names will repeat. If you had not found people sharing the name of yourself or your baby sister, that's what would have been surprising.

[Eldan]

Well, apparently, there is someone on Facebook with my name, and seems to be around my age as well. Hardly surprising, though, Andreas isn't an especially rare first name.
Now, if I included my middle name, I'd bet no one else has it.

Edit: Yup, 0 results for full name on google. Hah.

[Dr.Epic]

It's very unlikely you're the only person with your name.

[Mauve Shirt]

My first and last name combination is common. There's a facebook group for people with my name, it has over 50 members.
Searching with my middle initial, the first result is me but I'm pretty sure that's just my browser showing me a result from a site I regularly go to. (my school's website. I made Dean's List last semester?!)
Searching with my entire middle name gives me 2 results, a post I made here revealing my entire name, and a post in the aforementioned facebook group, in a discussion about middle names.

[Spiryt]

I don't know about Facebook, but I faked Spiryt's account here.

[Eldan]

Well, obviously.

I still think the combination of greek first name, greek middle name, medieval welsh (yes, my parents are weird) middle name and swiss last name isn't exactly common.

[Gamerlord]

Well, obviously.

I still think the combination of greek first name, greek middle name, medieval welsh (yes, my parents are weird) middle name and swiss last name isn't exactly common.

I have a combo of Greek first, probably Jewish middle, and Spanish last.

[Boo]

My name brandishes myself and a search for myself. Oh, and several things that happen to have pieces of my name in them, but not the full thing in proper context. Now, if I switch my first and last I don't doubt I'll get results.

*searches for last-first*

busy bees and honey;
not literally.

[Jimorian]

Facebook has no incentive to take names like this, since they can't charge you to get "your" name back.

Now there ARE people who go around registering internet domains with just about any combination of first/(middle)/last names that isn't already taken because when somebody wants to actually use it, they can hold it for literal ransom.

I'm sure future parents will regularly do a WHOIS before choosing names for their children just so little Jionnee won't be deprived of a unique web presence. :smallwink:

EDIT: Jionnee is a name out there. :smalleek:

And despite having an extremely common combo of first/last names with lots of semi-celebrities who share it, if I Google just First Last, out of 3,800,000 hits, my page is #50. :smallcool:

[GrlumpTheElder]

Searching for my name (sans Middle name) brings up results for me and some guy who has my first name as a middle name and the same surname.

No results for my full name...

And actually, it's not that un-common a name really...

[PersonMan]

Yeah. My name is very uncommon in America, but it's a pretty common Swedish name, actually.

[rakkoon]

Cool, when I google my full name (with middle names), the first link you get is to "Amphibian Ark donors". Who knew?

[Telonius]

I'm going to generate 4 random 'rare' names by using the rare first name list and a random surname that pops in my head and see if they get any hits:
A'ishah Sabra: Generated a face book group for a missing child.
Zulema Barajas: Plays basketball at college.
Elise Rovinsky: Apparently an actress I never heard of.
Qssim Sniper: Generated a face book account.

So, I re-assert my rule of names.

Just tried this.

Agamemnon McPhee - apparently the name of a character in a book by Neil Henderson.
Isis Niederhauser - US Census lists 9 people of that name.
Damien Walkiewicz - somebody in the Czech Republic.
Raluca 't Hooft - No results!

[Syka]

There is apparently a bisexual married woman who is looking for a girlfriend with her husband who shares my name. Yeah...not me. :smallwink:

I'm actually planning on legally changing my last name to a rarer last name, and I still get a hit for a girl with the same nickname/last name combination.

While my first name isn't uncommon, combine it with my sister's and we've got a unique pair. There is at least one other set of siblings that have the same name as us.




It's a small world with a lot of people in it.

[Sneak]

When I google my name without quotes, middle name or no, I get nothing related to me. With no middle name and in quotes, I get mostly nothing about me with the exception of one running meet result page.

With my full name in quotes, every result I get is actually me. Yay!

[Jarawara]

Remember, even if you're a one-in-a-million type of person...

...on a planet with 6 billion people, there's 6,000 of you.

[KuReshtin]

I get 271 hits on my first and last name on Facebook, but that's to be expected, since my name's not too uncommon.

If I Google my first and last names without any quotes, I get about 571.000 hits, the top ones being of an European, world and olympic triple jump gold medalist.

There are 359 hits on my first, middle and last names in quotes, none of them (as far as I can tell) having anything to do with me.

[Totally Guy]

There's a me is his fifties that writes about steam trains apparently.

[Lord Raziere]

Remember, even if you're a one-in-a-million type of person...

...on a planet with 6 billion people, there's 6,000 of you.

I'm a one in 6.8 billion type of person, those one-in-a-million types are too common for my individuality :smallbiggrin:

[Reinboom]

and my mother once did a social security search to see how many people had my same name, NOBODY showed up.


I just wanted to chime in here.

Each country has a separate (if any at all) national identification number system.
Austria, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United States are the only countries that use a social security number as a national identity and many of those only use it as a secondary or tertiary number.

If she had a name look up through the social security system... it would only be referring to your country. The world is a lot bigger than just your country. :smalltongue:

[Winter_Wolf]

Well over 6 billion people on the planet. The chances of winning the Big Prize in a lottery are a little better than 1:200,000,000. There are going to be people with the exact same name as you, and pretty good chances that they'll have access to the same internet sites that you do.

[madamemurloc]

What gamerkid and I hypothesized (this is gamerkid's mom) is that perhaps facebook trawls databases looking for people within certain age groups (or other groups) who do not appear to have facebook pages; then a page is generated to respond to searches for that name which would then motivate the individual to create an account to clear their name, as it were.

I did once do a search through

http://howmanyofme.com/

to see how many gamerkids there were in the US, it came up with exactly one. But, howmanyofme does not guarantee accuracy.

[Mando Knight]

Interestingly, if I google my name, the only people that show up are...

Me, me, me... and me.

If I drop my middle name from the list, then the number of known people in the US with my name grows to 16.

[Lillith]

I don't have a Facebook, Myspace or Hyves, but I bet there are people out there with the same name who do. What I'd like to know is though why I keep getting emails that I've got messages on my Facebook account while I don't have one.

[Reinboom]

What gamerkid and I hypothesized (this is gamerkid's mom) is that perhaps facebook trawls databases looking for people within certain age groups (or other groups) who do not appear to have facebook pages; then a page is generated to respond to searches for that name which would then motivate the individual to create an account to clear their name, as it were.

I did once do a search through

http://howmanyofme.com/

to see how many gamerkids there were in the US, it came up with exactly one. But, howmanyofme does not guarantee accuracy.

Doing a search of my name combo on there and I get:
1 result in the U.S.

Doing a search of my name on Facebook and I get 10 results. :smallconfused:
(Although, it appears to be a nickname for many. My last name is very nick-namey though, so it makes sense)

[KuReshtin]

What gamerkid and I hypothesized (this is gamerkid's mom) is that perhaps facebook trawls databases looking for people within certain age groups (or other groups) who do not appear to have facebook pages; then a page is generated to respond to searches for that name which would then motivate the individual to create an account to clear their name, as it were.


I would say that it'd not make sense for them to do that, because even if you had a very rare name, your acquaintances would know it's not you since there has to be so maky things that are right for them to think that that person would be you.

So people who know you will know that the profile on there isn't you, and would therefore not add it to their friends, and anyone who don't know you.. Well, they don't know you anyways, so why bother trying to 'clear your name'?

It's more likely that it's someone that has the same name somewhere else.

Faceboook has about 400 million users (if what I read sometime lasst week is correct) so trawling random name searches to add new users wouldn't make much sense.

[Pyrian]

The whole notion doesn't make any sense because names in Facebook aren't unique in the first place. I'd be out of luck if they were, my name is dirt common (there's half a dozen of us in town, and one even working at the same company - which causes endless problems).


What I'd like to know is though why I keep getting emails that I've got messages on my Facebook account while I don't have one.Phishing.

[Sneak]

What gamerkid and I hypothesized (this is gamerkid's mom) is that perhaps facebook trawls databases looking for people within certain age groups (or other groups) who do not appear to have facebook pages; then a page is generated to respond to searches for that name which would then motivate the individual to create an account to clear their name, as it were.

That doesn't make any sense.

A) Most people would not feel the need to "clear their name," they would just assume that there's someone else with the same name somewhere in the world. What a shocker.

B) Facebook doesn't charge you to create a profile, they only make their money from ad revenue. It seems to me the profits from such an endeavor would be pretty negligible considering the effort and money involved.


I did once do a search through

http://howmanyofme.com/

to see how many gamerkids there were in the US, it came up with exactly one. But, howmanyofme does not guarantee accuracy.

Not only does that site have ads on the side which make it less than trustworthy, but at the bottom, it has a little box advertising "our new site," ApocaLuck.com, which lets you "find out if your city would survive a nuclear apocalypse."

Hmm.

Something tells me the results you get from either of their sites may not be terribly accurate.

EDIT: At the bottom of the site's page it even specifies that it is for "entertainment purposes only." In their Accuracy Information (http://howmanyofme.com/accuracy/) page, they flat out admit that their data is at best a ballpark estimate.

EDIT2: Whoops, I missed the part where you recognized its potential inaccuracy. My bad.

[Gamerlord]

What gamerkid and I hypothesized (this is gamerkid's mom) is that perhaps facebook trawls databases looking for people within certain age groups (or other groups) who do not appear to have facebook pages; then a page is generated to respond to searches for that name which would then motivate the individual to create an account to clear their name, as it were.

I did once do a search through

http://howmanyofme.com/

to see how many gamerkids there were in the US, it came up with exactly one. But, howmanyofme does not guarantee accuracy.

HOLD IT! I don't remember conjuring up that idea, that was yours! I simply said it sounded interesting.

[Threeshades]

I just googled my exact name and i was quite surprised to find five pages out of which only a single hit didn't link to something actually related to me. :smallconfused:
So to my knowledge there is only a single person with the exact same name as mine having his name on the internet.

[Syka]

Facebook also doesn't verify you have the correct name. For a while I just had my last initial, now I have the name I want, and I have several friends who change their names on a regular basis to some very random stuff.

I'm doubtful that Facebook would be trawling databases since I don't see how it would increase their profits at all. Number of users, sure, but given how many voluntary users there are, fake users aren't going to increase the number of ad clicks.

[Superglucose]

There are a lot of fake users out there though. Like that girl who was mostly interested in just one-on-one but would be willing to try it with another girl. At first I thought I'd found the jackpot, but then the truth slowly dawned:smallfrown:
stupid fake account spamming my notifications

[Leecros]

My last name is spelled completely different, not giving it all away but it's

-nt

the way that last name is spelled is either

-dt

or

-d

when i google my name i get hits on my first name(since its common) but when i add my last name to it i get all me.

[Eldan]

According to that "how many" thing, there's "1 or less" people with my name in the US. Good enough. Of course, I had to Anglicize my last name first, since the site didn't recognize "ü". Though the equivalent first names of Andy and Andrew are a lot more common, of course.

[Erloas]

Well if I search for my full name, with middle initial or middle name nothing at all comes up. Of course thats not very surprising, most people I know don't ever use their middle names for anything. I know I never do. And in fact I don't think I know the middle names of my step mom or step dad... and come to think of it I can't recall even what my mother's is right now.

If I search for just my first and last name I get quite a few hits. Apparently someone with my name started a management and consulting services company. I know there was also a mayor of some small town with the same name that I saw years ago doing the same search.

I don't think I actually come up at all. Of course I have my facebook page marked to not come up in general searches.

[CWater]

My first name is pretty common, but last name is not. On the contrary, there is around 100+ people in the world with it and we all come originally from the same family. It's a Finnish name, but I still have to repeat it to people every time I introduce myself.:smallannoyed:

So, I'm quite used to being the only one with my name. Though it appears that one of my dad's distant cousins (mom found him on the internet) has recently become a father and has given the child the same first name as I have.:smallbiggrin: So now I too have a kaima. (=person who shares your name)

[Castaras]

Facebook comes up with just me for my first and last name.

Put in my last name and there's 62 results.

[Project_Mayhem]

You have to go through around a hundred pages of google results to get to me when you search my name, because I share it with the stupid manager of Nottingham Forest F.C.

[Supagoof]

HOLD IT! I don't remember conjuring up that idea, that was yours! I simply said it sounded interesting.Just proves the old saying.

You are a beautiful and uniqure snowflake. Just like everyone else.

[RandomNPC]

apparently I'm working for the navy on a battleship, seeing as I get sea sick, and have a personal aversion to military work, and a full time job, I think there's someone out there stealing my identity.

Cause ya know, multiple people with the same names can't happen. nope nope nope. [/sarcasm]

but there were only five pages of google for my full name, but that was a while back before I started social networking.

[Jokasti]

My name is so common I'm on the Terrorist Watch List when I fly.

[olelia]

I feel left out...the only hits on my name are me :smallfrown:.

[Catch]

My everyday name is often related by people (read: everyone I've met, ever) to a certain comedic celebrity or iconic horror movie character (they're the same, points if you figure it out), so I've taken to using my full name on my stories and essays.

Now, according to Internet, I share that name with a retired professor of English at DePaul University, who received his Ph.D from Loyola University with a dissertation on moral ambiguity in John Steinbeck's work, and is currently on the editorial Board of The Steinbeck Review where he serves as Bibliographer.

We also live in the same city, and the university where he taught shares a campus with mine. You'd think I'd have crafted a nom de plume by now, but now I'm up for a little mistaken identity, if it'll get some of my work published.

[Vaynor]

Apparently there's a me within 30 miles of me. I wouldn't be too worried.

[Jokasti]

Groovy, baby.

[Eloi]

Groovy, baby.

Dance to the boogy tonight? Rock with me, all night?
Anywho, I think that if you Google anything you'll find a result.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

8 of the first 10 links on google are me, when you search first+last name without quotes. full name with quotes... no hits. Mostly 'cause I never use my middle name. first+last with quotes... 9 hits.

If you just google my last name, the 6th hit is my mum.

[Deth Muncher]

My everyday name is often related by people (read: everyone I've met, ever) to a certain comedic celebrity or iconic horror movie character (they're the same, points if you figure it out), so I've taken to using my full name on my stories and essays.


:O I getted it.

[Cealocanth]

I googled my name and found only two results that referenced me. One was a log for a LARP I did, the other one was my SCA registration. I'm sure I have one of the most common first names on Earth and there's no one that I can tell that has the same name as I do. [And I found a post I made on this forum]

So in conclusion, no, Facebook probably doesn't fake accounts. There are really enough people out there to share names with you.

[KuReshtin]

My everyday name is often related by people (read: everyone I've met, ever) to a certain comedic celebrity or iconic horror movie character (they're the same, points if you figure it out), so I've taken to using my full name on my stories and essays.


Party on, Wayne.
Hmmm Does that show my age that I think of your namesake more for Wayne than Austin?

Actually, my first thought was of a quote from another of his films.

"We have a piper down. I repeat, the piper is down!. He's ok, though, he's only pished!" - So I Married an Axe Murderer

[Milskidasith]

Yeah, I google searched myself once and found out there is somebody with my exact name who was a second string pro hockey player in Canada. My last name is not Canadian, by the way.

[Athaniar]

Hah! A Google search on my name (not even including my two middle names) gives only results related to me. In fact, I think my last name is unique for my family (even though it sounds pretty normal).

[Tyrandar]

My last name is obscure in the U-S of A, but it's a dime a dozen in the Czech Republic. :smalltongue: So, it's not all that surprising that there are a bunch of people with my name. I wouldn't think too much of it really.

[Milskidasith]

I re google searched my name; I'm also a student at some university and a businessperson on some resume site. Of course, I'm also mentioned as the son of my father on some PDF the company my dad works at from four years ago.

[Eloi]

My last name is obscure in the U-S of A, but it's a dime a dozen in the Czech Republic. :smalltongue: So, it's not all that surprising that there are a bunch of people with my name. I wouldn't think too much of it really.

Oooh I love Czech names. They're so.. consonant-y.

[Supagoof]

My everyday name is often related by people (read: everyone I've met, ever) to a certain comedic celebrity or iconic horror movie character (they're the same, points if you figure it out), so I've taken to using my full name on my stories and essays.

Now, according to Internet, I share that name with a retired professor of English at DePaul University, who received his Ph.D from Loyola University with a dissertation on moral ambiguity in John Steinbeck's work, and is currently on the editorial Board of The Steinbeck Review where he serves as Bibliographer.

We also live in the same city, and the university where he taught shares a campus with mine. You'd think I'd have crafted a nom de plume by now, but now I'm up for a little mistaken identity, if it'll get some of my work published.Your name is Carrot Top? :smalltongue:

[T-O-E]

Your name is Carrot Top? :smalltongue:

He said comedian.

[Tyrandar]

Oooh I love Czech names. They're so.. consonant-y.

Indeed, though it lost a few in the Battle of Ellis Island. :smalltongue:

Also, BWAHAHA T-O-E. :smallbiggrin:

[Fuzzie Fuzz]

I'm the only person with my name, as far as I can tell. :smallbiggrin:

Relatively rare Roman first name and a hyphenated last name. (Not to mention the complete lack of middle name, though I wasn't even including that in most of my searches for myself.)

[Andraste]

I cannot find myself no matter how hard I try. Even with quotes around it, it keeps finding people with different first names before me. I thought my last name was a bit rarer than that.