"Making FAKE facebook accounts": Is this illegal?

Question

My friends have been making fake facebook accounts. fake names, fake pictures.
full on, fake.
some kids at our school have eventually found out most of them are fake cuz of the pictures!
they get them off of Photobucket and Google Images. stuff like that. they were like those fake emo chicks.. and maybe some other girls who look like sluts.
i made a fake account but deleted it.. cuz its just stupid.
this is quite pathetic.. but is this illegal?
Like some type of fraud for taking REAL people's pictures?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Dude, that's really weird. My friends did the same thing! With emo girls and stuff too! I don't think it's really illegal, but it's against facebook regulations. So their accounts, if found to be fake, will probably be banned.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Kay thank youu.

Answer 2

No, it isn't illegal unless they happen to post a copyrighted photo and the owner of the copyright finds out and contacts Facebook. Even if the photo isn't copyrighted, if someone caught someone else using "their" photo, they could complain to Facebook and Facebook would likely suspend the account. Incidentally, if you're thinking about contacting Facebook to turn in these people who create fake accounts, forget it.

Answer 3

A lot of people have been doing those fake emo girl profiles for quite some time now. I haven't heard of anyone getting arrested for it. Some of them actually do it for a hobby like roleplaying and stuff.
I really don't get it, but as far as I know it's not considered a complete felony. Unless the person that owns the picture decides to press charges for identity theft or cyberbullying or something.

Answer 4

It can be considered a form of identity theft and it can be illegal. They should stick to avatars and not use real people pictures.

You can make a fake account but not if you are pretending to be a real person or using a real person's picture without permission.

Answer 5

Making a 'fake' facebook page is against face book policy..most social network sites, have 'report' links to report fake pages..people have sued over people making and posting a fake pages with their pictures..that is illegal for sure

Answer 6

yes, identity theft is absolutely illegal.

Answer 7

No, it is not. It is against Facebook policies, so they have the right to close that account, but you can not get arrested or fined for having a "fake" Facebook account. You may get in trouble for things you say, that is, if you slander, run an organized crime, swindle others, etc. These are illegal actions, and if the account is traced back to you, you can get arrested, suited, or fined for what you say or propagate through Facebook or any other social media.

Oh- nothing you EVER say through the internet is truly private, and it is likely a permanent record somewhere. Courts can order internet providers to release the records of your transactions, which ARE traceable.

How? Well, do you have an internet service provider? Then, any time you send a message from Facebook, you must connect through that provider. The provider knows you pay the bill - at least they have your home address and name. When you register on Facebook or ANY social site, email account, or whatever, the IP address of the computer you register on IS a record of your account. So, if your real name is actually "John Smith" for example, but you register under a fake name "Joe Blow," Facebook can find out if John Smith is Joe Blow simply by checking the IP address on the account, or looking at teh IP address tagged to every message, and then trace that address back to the owner of the internet account through the provider.

The best way to have a fake account you do NOT want discovered is to buy a computer second hand with cash (no check, no credit card), do not give the seller your name, address, or anything else. Therefore, there is no record linking your name to that computer. Every network card has a MAC address. So, if you buy your computer OR network card at Best Buy, Walmart, etc and use check or credit, that computer can be traced back to you by the same route. Here is how:

1. John Smith buys a computer at Walmart with a check.
2. The computer has an ID linked to the manufacturer, Walmart lets manufacturer know John but computer #3 (for axample)
3. Computer has a network card with MAC address ABCD123456
4. John Smith has an internet account, IP address 12345670
5. John Smith opens a "fake" Facebook account from this computer. Being smart, John uses the free internet access from the local coffee shop so it can not be traced back to his home service.
6. Account name is "Joe Blow."
7. "Joe Blow" dislikes his friend Mike and says a bunch of nasty things about him, Mike sues Facebook to release information about Joe Blow, so the court orders Facebook to provide account information so Mike can sue Joe Blow for defamation.
8. Facebook (or gmail, Yahoo Mail, hotmail, MySpace, whatever.) releases this information

Account owner: "Jow Blow"
Physical Address: Unknown
IP Address (from where the message was sent): IP of the coffee shop
Date/time message was sent: The EXACT date and time the message was sent from the coffee shop.

Now, Mikes attorney contacts the coffee shop. Did you buy coffee? They can get transaction records for that date and time, you are screwed if you paid with check/card. IF you were likewise smart, you paid cash, therefore no record of you being at the coffee shop. HOWEVER, you were stupid because you used your own computer to send the message. Mike's attorney contacts the internet provider for the coffee shop and obtains an activity record for that date, Lo and behold, there is a record of activity from MAC address ABCD123456 at exactly the same date and time. The attorney then cross references the MAC address with manufacturer, the manufacturer of the internet card tells the attorney it was sold to HP, and HP says the card was placed into computer serial number XXXXX, which was sold to Walmart. Walmart then pulls up the sales records and finds out computer serial number XXXXX was assigned as computer #3, sold to John Smith and paid by personal check.

Therefore, through a long and painful process, your "fake" Facebook account of "Joe Blow" has been traced back to you, and you now face the expense of proving you did NOT open that account, fighting off a defamation lawsuit.

Opening fake accounts to defame, embarrass, expose, or scam other people is not legal. The information you post online is less private than you think. Consider this.

Oh, want to try something interesting?

On your computer, click on your START button (if you have Windows) and select the RUN command. Type COMMAND, a black box will open. Type IPCONFIG. A bunch of information listing the MAC address and your IP address is given. This is the information sent over the internet EVERY TIME you connect. At any time, some one can find you based on that alone.

How are you safe?

1. Buy your computer with cash only, do not give your name, address, or any information. DO NOT buy from a retailer, they have surveillance footage which can be looked at. There in the video footage, Someone bu