Social media allows us to connect with anyone, at any time and from anywhere. It plays an important role in helping businesses grow by providing an online medium through which they can directly connect with their customer base and vice versa.
Our team at DMI Finance, for instance, believes in the power of social media and uses different channels to stay in touch with our customers, answer their questions, and resolve issues.
While social media has made our lives simpler, protecting our social media privacy has become critical in today’s world. This is because of many social media scams doing the rounds today that involve stealing money from online users, misusing personal data, and falsely obtaining confidential information. ‘Social media impersonation’ is one such practice that is becoming increasingly common online. Let us try to understand more about this and why it is important to be aware of such impersonators.
What is social media impersonation?
It is a type of identity theft where impersonators reach out to customers on social media by pretending to be a company or a brand by using similar account names, fake brand logos, etc. to make the profile look genuine and believable.
For example, an impersonator may try to use names that sound almost like DMI Finance, such as ‘DML Finance’, ‘DMI_Finances’, or something that almost matches the actual name to get customers to believe that they are being contacted by an authentic brand.
They then carry out conversations with customers under the company’s name to obtain personal information like financial details, bank account numbers, or other confidential data that will help them to commit fraudulent activities and steal customers’ money.
How does it work?
Social media impersonators can use a range of different approaches to target specific customers. Let us consider Facebook for example. On this social network, impersonators are likely to create a fake page, profile, group, or event to reach their potential target.
Fraudsters track complaints in social media and share fake contacts or impersonate bankers in response to a post and ask for confidential information which no banker is supposed to ask for.
Impersonators keep a track of customers who follow the original account and go after them. They track complaints and send out messages to these customers claiming to be a representative from the company asking them to share sensitive information. They may also reply to customer comments under posts with misleading information that convinces these customers to contact them.
Here are some essentials on how to identify social media impersonators:
Check for grammatical errors
A lot of these fake profiles use similar names as the company with slight spelling changes such as adding numbers/alphanumeric combinations to the account name, etc. to make their profile similar to an existing brand. For instance, a fake profile for DMI Finance could look something like DMI Fin123, DMI Financee, or DMI_Finances11.
This is why, before replying to a message and sharing any type of information, be sure to do a quick background check on the identity.
Check the logo
On social networks, impersonators will quite often use fake logos by making changes to the original logo of the company. This is why it is important to pay attention to the logo on the profile page. It may help customers determine if a profile is real or fake.
Pay close attention to the content posted
Observe the type of posts, the timeline, and the responses received on the profile. If the posts seem suspicious, carry irrelevant or misleading information, or all have been posted on the same day or the page has no posts at all – these are all indications that the profile is likely to be fake.
Immediately reaches out seeking information/payments
If you have recently connected with an account on social media and they instantly contact you seeking personal information like PAN/Aadhar card details, account numbers, PIN number, etc., or ask for money in name of some fees, charges, etc., you are likely to have been contacted by an impersonator.
For example, at DMI Finance, we do not contact customers asking them to share sensitive information, or pay an unidentified sum of money whatsoever.
Here’s how to beware of social media impersonators:
Use the official website & social media account for contact information
Customers often search for company contact details on search engines or simply look for them on social media. However, if you need to get in touch with the company, it is always best to find relevant numbers and contact details through the company’s official website or relevant communication channels.
It is quite simple to do a quick online search and find the DMI Finance contact details. Customers can write to us at customercare@dmifinance.in or visit our official website – https://dmifinance.in/ to find relevant information on all our services or access our customer portal https://portal.dmifinance.in/ They can also call our helpline number 08064807777 in case of any queries.
Our official social media accounts are given below, where customers can find verified information and updates about our company and the services we offer:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/DMIFinancePvtLtd/
Twitter:https://twitter.com/DMIFinance
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/dmi-finance-private-limited/
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/DMIFinancePvtLtd
GMB:https://g.page/dmi-finance-pvt-ltd
What should you do if you suspect you have been contacted by an imposter?
Report the account
Most platforms have an option to report fake accounts with just a click. If you think that you have come across a fake profile or have been contacted by an impersonator who is pretending to be a representative from a company asking for confidential information, immediately report the account.
Customers should keep these few key points in mind when dealing with an impersonator on social media, and take immediate action because waiting only makes it harder to trace the scammer.
Stay safe, stay aware and use social media wisely!
