Stop Social Media Impersonators

Paste the handle into the GACS Social Scan. It checks account age, follower-to-engagement ratios, lookalike-handle patterns, post history, and cross-references the GACS blacklist of 96,000+ scam entities. Verdict in under 5 seconds.

On X, Instagram, and TikTok, paid blue checks are sold to anyone with a card. Impersonators routinely buy verification to add legitimacy. A check confirms a paid subscription, not identity. Always verify the handle and account age separately.

Report the impostor through each platform's official takedown form, lock down your real profiles (2FA, login alerts, hide email and phone), warn your followers from your verified account, and submit the impersonator to the GACS scam database so other victims find it in search.

Yes. 1 free scan per anonymous device — no signup needed to try it. After that, create a free account (Google, Apple, X, or email) for unlimited scans, your dashboard, saved history, and re-alerts. No payment, ever. The paid Identity Protection tier is for creators and brands who need continuous monitoring across X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Telegram.

They copy the display name, profile photo, bio, and recent posts onto a new handle that swaps a letter, adds an underscore, or uses a lookalike character (rn for m, 0 for o). Then they follow the real account's followers and DM them with an investment pitch, 'giveaway,' or urgent help request. The GACS Social Scan measures handle distance and detects these clones automatically.

Bots amplify engagement (likes, follows, replies) at scale and usually don't pretend to be a specific person. Impersonators target one real identity — usually a creator, founder, or brand — to defraud their audience. The Social Scan flags both, but impersonators are higher-severity and trigger the takedown playbook.

Yes for public Telegram channels and groups — paste the t.me link. WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted so the scan checks the invite URL and the destination (often a fake exchange landing page), not the chat itself.

X and Instagram typically remove confirmed impersonators within 24–72 hours when you submit a government-ID-backed report. TikTok averages 48 hours. YouTube channel impersonation takedowns can take 5–10 days. Submitting the impostor to the GACS public registry the same day means search engines warn victims before the platform acts.

No. Most impersonation targets are ordinary users with 500–5,000 followers, because scammers exploit trust between real friends and small communities. If your profile is public and you've ever posted about crypto, investing, or running a business, you're a viable target.

Yes. The free GACS browser extension scans every social profile you visit in the background and flags impersonators inline on X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Install from the /extension page.

Check four signals: account creation date (under 90 days old + crypto/finance posts = high risk), handle similarity to a known figure (vita1ik vs vitalik), reply-to-post ratio (impersonators reply to viral threads with scam links), and whether the blue check was bought versus legacy-verified. Paste the handle into the GACS Social Scan to get all four in one verdict.

Impersonators reply to high-engagement threads from a lookalike of the original poster, pushing a fake giveaway, airdrop, or 'support' DM link. The reply appears right under the real tweet so victims trust it. Always click into the replier's profile and compare the handle character-by-character before engaging.

Yes. The free GACS browser extension overlays a verdict badge on every X profile you visit and inline-flags impersonator replies under real accounts. Install from /extension.

Look for: a private account that recently became public, fewer than 10 posts created in a single day, ghost followers (no profile pics, no posts), recycled story highlights from the real account, and a bio link to a freshly-registered domain. The Social Scan checks all of these automatically.

Brand-deal DM scams are the #1 Instagram impersonation pattern in 2026. Scammers buy Meta verification, copy a real brand's bio, and DM creators asking them to fill out a 'partnership form' that harvests login credentials. Real brands negotiate via email from the brand's verified domain, never via DM with a Google Form link.

If they are using your photos under a handle that resembles yours and posting as you, yes — it is impersonation and Instagram will remove it under their impersonation policy with a government-ID-backed report. If they are just reposting your content with credit removed, that is copyright infringement, filed via the IP report form.

TikTok scam accounts typically: stitch a real creator's video, run a 'giveaway' in the comments with a bio link, use a handle that adds 'official' or '_real' to a real creator's name, and have a Linktree with one outbound link to a fake crypto, OnlyFans, or investment site. Paste the @handle into the Social Scan.

Almost never when the host asks you to send crypto, gift cards, or 'verification fees' to claim a prize. Real TikTok creators do not ask viewers to send money to receive anything. Block, report under 'Scam, fraud or spam,' and submit the handle to GACS.

Paste the t.me invite link into the scam checker. Red flags it surfaces: the group is under 30 days old, member count is inflated by bot accounts, admins use display names that copy a known project, and pinned messages contain investment pitches, airdrop claims, or fake exchange links. Pig-butchering rings use Telegram heavily — never accept a 'mentor' or 'analyst' DM from a group.

No. Every Telegram airdrop bot that asks you to connect a wallet, sign a transaction, or enter a seed phrase is a drainer. Real token airdrops are claimed on the project's verified website, never via a Telegram bot DM.

Hardware security keys (YubiKey, Google Titan) are strongest — they cannot be phished. Authenticator apps (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password) are next. SMS 2FA is the weakest because of SIM-swap attacks. For high-value accounts (email, exchange, social with large following), use a hardware key plus a backup authenticator app.

Hide them. Public follower lists are the #1 source of impersonator targeting — scammers scrape your followers and DM them from a clone of your profile. On Instagram, X, and TikTok, you can hide the followers list in privacy settings without making the account fully private.

Monthly at minimum if you have under 10,000 followers, weekly if you have more, and continuously (via Identity Protection) if you have a public business or accept payments from your audience. New impostors typically appear within 48 hours of a viral post.