A fake account in my name is scamming my followers. What to do.

1. Which scam is hitting your followers?

Accounts that copy a creator, coach, trainer or expert almost always follow the same scripts. Knowing them helps you warn your community in the right words.

If your real account is sending these messages, it has probably been hacked: secure your email first, change the password, turn on two-factor authentication, then follow the platform's recovery steps.

2. Save evidence, then report the account yourself

1. Write down the exact handle of the fake account (often with an extra dot, underscore or doubled letter) and the full profile URL. The display name can change; the URL stays.
2. Take dated screenshots of the profile, its posts and its comments under your posts. Ask followers who were contacted to send you screenshots of the conversation (account name visible, date, messages, payment link or crypto address). Our guide on saving evidence before reporting explains how.
3. Report the account as impersonation and say that you are the person being impersonated. The exact steps depend on the network: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter), WhatsApp. For an overview, see fake profile: what to do.
4. Say in your report that the account is scamming people, and attach one or two screenshots of the messages. Impersonation used to ask for money is more than a simple fake profile.
5. Don't message the fake account or threaten it: it could block your followers, change its name or wipe its tracks.

3. Warn your community right away

Reports take time. Meanwhile, your followers keep receiving messages. Your word is their best protection.

1. Post a story as soon as you hear about it, and keep it as a highlight while the fake account is active.
2. Pin a post to the top of your profile. Instagram lets you pin up to 3 posts; most networks have a similar feature.
3. Add a line to your bio, for example: "I will never DM you to ask for money. My only account: @yourname."
4. Don't share the fake account's link or tag it: describe it ("an account with my photo and a dot in the name") so it gets no extra reach.
5. Use your other channels too: newsletter, YouTube channel, student or client group. Scammers often target people who started following you recently.

Short example message: "⚠️ A fake account is using my photo and a name almost identical to mine. It sends DMs announcing fake winnings and asking for money. It's not me. I never ask for payment by DM, I never run paid giveaways, and I have only one account: @yourname. Don't reply, don't click any link, report it and block it."

More templates (story, post, reply to a worried follower, message for your team) are in our guide on how to warn your followers about a fake account.

4. Ask followers to report, but report it yourself too

Followers' reports help, but not every platform gives them the same weight. Here is what their own help pages say.

• Instagram: anyone can report an account from the app. However, Instagram's impersonation form states that Meta can only act on reports from the person being impersonated or their authorized representative (for example, a parent), with a photo of their ID. So your own report is the one that counts.
• Facebook: from the profile, "Report", then follow the impersonation instructions. There is a form for people without a Facebook account.
• X (Twitter): the person impersonated or their representative uses the impersonation form; others can flag the account "as a bystander" from its profile. X says you don't need an X account to report impersonation.
• YouTube: the impersonation policy lets you report a channel impersonating "yours or another creator's channel" through a dedicated form. It also covers names changed by a typo or followed by words such as "Official" or "Backup".
• TikTok: anyone can report an account from its profile, and TikTok has an online impersonation form (see our TikTok guide).

What to ask your followers: report the account (and the message, if it came by DM), block it, don't reply, and never send money, a code received by text message or a photo of their ID. There's no point in a "mass report": one report on the right grounds with evidence counts for more than hundreds of reports without detail.

5. Clean up your comments: filters and hidden words

Fake accounts love to reply under your posts, where your followers trust you. Built-in filters hide a good share of these messages.

Instagram: Hidden Words

1. Go to your profile, open the menu, then under "How others can interact with you", tap "Hidden words".
2. Turn on "Hide comments" and, if needed, "Advanced comment filtering".
3. Tap "Manage custom words and phrases" and add words, phrases, numbers or emojis separated by commas. You can apply the list to comments and to message requests.

TikTok: in your privacy settings, under comments, TikTok lets you filter spam and offensive comments, filter keywords you choose, or filter all comments so that you approve them before they appear.

YouTube: in YouTube Studio, the community settings let you add blocked words, choose a moderation level ("Basic", "Strict" or "Hold all") and hold comments that contain links for review. Held comments stay in the "Held" tab for up to 60 days, where you can approve them.

Which words to filter? Variants of your handle (with a dot, underscore or number), "won", "winner", "fee", "WhatsApp", "Telegram", "DM me", "crypto", "investment", "bitcoin", and the emojis fake accounts use to catch the eye. Filters hide the bait; they don't remove the fake account. Delete fake comments by hand too, after taking a screenshot.

6. Verification badges: useful, under conditions

A badge helps followers recognize the real account. Conditions change often, so check the official pages before you apply.

• Instagram and Facebook: Meta offers a paid subscription for creators (Meta Verified) that gives a badge after checking your identity, with an ID that must match your profile name. Meta says it includes proactive monitoring for accounts pretending to be you. Eligibility requirements are in Instagram's Help Center.
• X: the blue checkmark means an X Premium subscription plus eligibility criteria, but X states that it does not mean the account has been ID verified. ID verification is offered separately, as an option.
• TikTok: TikTok says a badge means the account belongs to the person it represents, and looks at criteria such as whether the account is authentic, unique and active. You can submit a verification request.
• YouTube: the badge generally requires 100,000 subscribers, an authentic and complete channel, and 2-Step Verification on the Google account (YouTube Studio, channel settings).

A badge doesn't stop impersonation: it only helps followers tell the difference. Remind them to check the exact handle, not just the photo.

7. A follower paid: how to help

You didn't run the scam, and the fraud victim is the follower, so they are the one who needs to act. Here is what to tell them.

1. Call their bank right away to try to stop or reverse the payment. If card details were given, the card should be blocked too. A payment the victim approved themselves is not automatically refunded.
2. Report it to the police or the national fraud-reporting service. In the US, use the FBI's ic3.gov. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, use Report Fraud; in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101. In Ireland, report it first to the local Garda station.
3. Beware of "recovery" offers: after a scam, other accounts promise to get the money back for a fee. That's a second scam (see scam: fake content removal services).

On your side:

• Don't refund people yourself and never ask for a transfer "to sort things out": it muddies the evidence and it isn't your role.
• Keep everything: screenshots sent by followers, dates, account URLs. They show you had nothing to do with the scam.
• You can report it to the police too, as impersonation. A police report lets investigators ask the platform who runs the account: the platform won't tell you directly.
• If the fake account poses as your customer service, email your real customers and remind them of the only payment methods you use.

8. The fake account keeps coming back

A deleted account is often replaced by another, with one more dot or one letter less. It's common, and the answer is consistency.

1. Keep a log: handle, date found, date reported, reference, answer. It saves time with every new account.
2. Report each new account, saying it's a new copy of an account already removed, with the earlier report reference.
3. Keep the line in your bio and the pinned post: that's your permanent protection.
4. Keep your filters up to date with new variants of your handle.
5. Use the DSA if the platform doesn't act (services offered in the EU): Article 16 of the Digital Services Act requires hosting services to offer a mechanism for notifying illegal content, and Article 23 says platforms must suspend, after a warning, users who frequently provide manifestly illegal content. Our takedown request template gives you the wording.
6. File a police report if it goes on: only an investigation can trace the person behind the accounts.

9. What the law says

Every major platform bans impersonation, so a well-made report usually works without going to court. The legal side depends on where you live. Using a false identity to get money from someone is fraud in most countries. In the US, several states, including California (Penal Code § 528.5), have online impersonation laws. In the EU, the Digital Services Act requires a notice mechanism (Article 16), a reasoned decision (Article 17) and an internal appeal (Article 20). This page is general information, not legal advice: for your own case, talk to a lawyer or the police. More in online impersonation: what to do.