There are more than one billion users on Instagram so it is one of the world’s most crowded social platforms and has all kinds of accounts. If you are someone popular on Instagram with lots of followers and content, there might be a chance that someone makes a fake account just like your account. In that case, people wonder how to report a fake Instagram account.
Unfortunately, fake accounts are pretty common on Instagram. It does not matter if you are a popular public figure or not, you can find a fake account in your name for malicious purposes. Even if it is not in your name, fake accounts can be annoying because they never stop bothering you.
If you are looking for a popular Instagram account but cannot find the actual one because of fake accounts, it gets annoying. However, there is a solution to this problem. You can report these fake accounts and Instagram would be happy to get rid of them.
What Are the Requirements?
Now let’s look at what to do if someone has created an Instagram account in your name.
You can report this person as a fake account but to prove that you have the actual account, you need to use an ID that is given by any state. Instagram has a form that you can fill for reporting the fake account. You can get this form from the Instagram Help Centre. Please try submitting this form from a computer.
When filling this form, Instagram will ask you to choose the best scenario that explains your problem as the following:
- The first scenario is that someone has created an account representing my business or foundation.
- The second scenario is someone has created an account that represents me or my friend.
- The third scenario states that Someone has created an account pretending to be someone I represent.
- Lastly, the fourth scenario is: ‘I cannot log in to my old account.’
If the fake account is representing your friend, only your friend can report the account but you can ask your friend to report the fake account through this form. Unfortunately, Instagram does not make anyone authorized to represent others.
If the fake account is representing you, therefore Instagram will ask for the following information:
- Your name and surname.
- Your e-mail address.
- Name and surname on the other account that you want to report.
- Username of the other account.
After you fill the form, Instagram will ask you to upload a photo with a government issued ID. Your face and the photo on the ID should look clearly on this photo.
It is recommended to upload the photo in JPEG format, so it would ease the process. As the last step, enter additional information to the box at the bottom of the form and click on ‘Send.’
Keep in mind that you can only fill out a report form for only one fake account but if you are having problems with several fake accounts, you have to report them one by one.
FAQs
It is not illegal but a fake account will be deleted if it is caught by Instagram.
It is not possible to determine who is the owner of the account without reporting it so Instagram is pretty protective of its clients.
Your IP address cannot be tracked through Instagram but there are many other ways to do it. You can be traced by revealing your name on Instagram but it does not happen on Instagram either.
Conclusion
Fake accounts are pretty common on Instagram, and it is unavoidable in such a populated platform like this, unfortunately. We explained how to report a fake Instagram account and the requirements in detail. If you are having problems with fake accounts, we hope you find this article useful.
To learn more about Instagram, please read our latest articles about it. You might be interested in how to remove an Instagram account or how to recover deleted Instagram messages.
