The non-existent Stefanos Panagiotis is famous as "the Greek who didn't want to bomb Serbia", but also as someone who dies several times a year - if you believe obscure profiles on social networks.
Among the fictional biographies, the cases of Petr Veličković, a forensic psychiatrist from Montreal, as well as the journalist Stella Pecarski are known in the Serbian media.
The last case where the media blindly believed the interlocutor happened with Saša Sredanović, who presents herself as a sports psychologist and claims to advise many world sports clubs, however, Fakenews Tragač announced that she it is not what it claims to be.
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When we scroll through content on social networks, it is always important to know who is behind the posts we read.
The person behind the profile may have a hidden goal, a political agenda, wants to deceive us, spread false information, sell us something or create a false image of himself.
Sometimes there is a completely different person behind the profile compared to what we can think based on the profile.
If a person poses as an expert and is given media space, the impersonation becomes even more dangerous.
The BBC in Serbian brings you tips on how to recognize fake profiles on social networks and reminds you of some false representations in the media.
What are fake profiles?
We consider fake profiles on social networks to be those created with the intention to deceive or impersonate someone, to spread misconceptions or give importance to the wrong people.
In a broader sense, fake profiles can be divided into:
- Profiles that pretend to be someone else, usually a public figure;
- Bots, automated profiles intended to market products or false information;
- Profiles intended for scams, which try to extort information or money;
- Profiles with frequent and repeated posts, intended for spam or littering, which is considered a form of Internet vandalism.
There are also so-called fan profiles or profiles that are parodies of public figures, which they also imitate, but whose purpose is to entertain.
The difference is that profiles created for parody and satire, except for the first ones, are not deceptive, so it is questionable whether we should consider them fake at all.
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How can we recognize them?
Pay attention to the account as a whole, see everything about it.
- Profile photo
For a long time, the profile photo (avatar) was a good indicator of the authenticity of the account.
If it looks like a studio photo to you, like the lighting is too good, it's reasonable to assume that not all people have access to or the habit of having such photos.
Over time, an eye for recognizing the so-called stock (stock) photos, that is, catalog photos showing the models.
If a person has few photos in different poses and in different life situations or at different events, this can be one of the indicators.
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However, there are also people who do not post many photos on social networks and this is certainly not enough to declare a profile as fake.
All this has become even more difficult in the last two years, since the tools of "generative artificial intelligence" have been available.
With them, even amateurs can take very authentic photos for free.
Journalists engaged in breaking down fake news often use photo searches (reverse image search) to check if it has already been used elsewhere.
The most famous examples - Panajotis, Pecarski
Stella Pecarski was previously a completely unknown name that the weekly "Afera" signed above problematic articles using a photo of an American model French-Venezuelan origin Joan Parry.
How the American model Joan Pari became the journalist Stella Pecarski for the needs of the weekly "Afera", who writes about "judicial shenanigans" in Vranje and tender rigging in Šimanovci, was investigated by our @FNTragac https://t.co/Zlz8L2bpdx pic.twitter.com/Y5KnPUQq2m
— NNŠ (@NovinarskaSkola) July 19, 2018
Stefanos Panagiotis often appears as "the Greek who did not want to bomb Serbia", and almost always in the photo is Evangelos Doules, who was a member of parliament in the Albanian parliament and a representative of the Greek minority in Albania.
Dozens of media outlets, hundreds of profiles and tens of thousands of shares have had posts about his alleged deaths over the years.
Later on deconstruction of the portal who are engaged in checking allegations in the media (fact-checking), these publications have become rare.
It is somewhat less known the case of Dr. Petar Veličković, a supposed forensic psychiatrist from Montreal.
Politika published his letter, which experts assessed as misogynistic.
Watch the video: The three most common ways to hack an account:
- Information displayed on the profile
Fake profiles often have very little information displayed on the profile.
Data such as the city they are from or the school they attended are common nowadays on real profiles on social networks.
However, the mere fact that someone does not have them does not necessarily mean that the profile is fake.
However, much of this information is extremely easy to check, compare, and inquire about today.
Some are just illogical.
Someone who makes up an identity often does not know the name of the school at the time they allegedly attended it.
Foreigners who create fake profiles in Serbia sometimes conspicuously miss even the name of the profile - it can all sound unrealistic to the local population.
- List of friends and contacts
View a list of friends, followers or contacts.
Fake profiles very often have a very limited list.
A low number of followers, if they are followed exclusively by strangers or other fake profiles, is a great indicator that a profile is fake.
There are no online options to buy fake followers with names typical of this region, which makes it even more difficult for scammers.
- Interactions with friends
Fake profiles often have few interactions with friends.
See who and how many are commenting on their posts and photos.
If there are a lot of comments and if people use some inside jokes, if they are of a similar age and from similar parts of the world, it is more likely that the profile is real.
If a woman's profile photos are briefly commented on exclusively by older men, this is not an indication of the profile's validity.
Also look for birthday cards, real profiles almost always have a birthday card, especially if the date of birth is visible.
- Inconsistencies in postings
Look out for inconsistencies in the content someone is posting.
Fake profiles often do not publish anything for months and then become involved in public life only when the topic for which they were created is current.
Often these are topics related to the marketing of certain products, conspiracy theories or a specific political ideology.
Sometimes the same fake profiles are used for different things, so it can be easier to see that they were not written by the same person.
Fact-checkers, that is, journalists who deal with fact-checking, sometimes also analyze the structure of the written text: the syntax of the sentence, the position of words in the sentence, the order of listing adjectives.
This skill is called linguistic forensics.
It is easier for amateurs to look at the level of knowledge and application of spelling, whether mistakes are repeated or are there only in posts about one political party.
Also, pay attention to the time of publication.
Free versions of some programs for automated publishing to multiple profiles have the ability to publish only when it is on the hour and half hour (14, 14.30, 15, 15.30).
On the other hand, a real person who uses only one profile rarely gets round time.
- Other tips
It is important to keep in mind that there are many different forms in which fake profiles can appear.
The best guideline is to definitely be careful when communicating and to always maintain a dose of healthy skepticism.
Keep your data safe on the Internet and do not give it to unknown people unless absolutely necessary.
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
If something overwhelmingly confirms your views, especially if those views do not agree with what leading experts and established media claim, someone probably has ulterior motives.
Also watch this video:
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