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Here are 7 tips on how to spot a fake account on facebook.

1- Study the name. This is the first piece of information you will -with no doubt- know, from the moment this person invites you. If the name is an abbreviation, or a nick name, that is one indication - but that alone does not indicate a fake account.
2- If the name is a full name (first and last are clearly stated), have a look at the profile picture in parallel. There must be a resemblance between the name and the image. An example would be: A western look with an Asian name or vice versa.
3- Check the picture(s) carefully. Profile pictures can be an important indication about the profile owner, whether or not it is a celebrity picture copied from a website or a magazine, some body parts, or a real picture taken in natural conditions.
4- If possible, check picture albums. Those too will indicate how normal this person's life is. Usually, fake accounts have few images, and are most of the time for one person, or emphasis on body parts to try and attract a higher number of friends.
5- Carefully study the friends list. Usually, real accounts have the higher number of friends from his/her neighborhood. The more the mix, the higher the fake indicator. If common friends exist between you and whoever is adding you, can be used as an additional sign.
6- If you can view this person's wall, try to find out the last time he/she commented on a post, or posted something on their own. See how frequent they use Facebook. Normally fake users and abusers, do not log in on a regular basis, and their comments are very broad. Ex: "Thank you for adding me".
7- Finally, always keep in mind that this profile/person adding you is a stranger until he/she proves the opposite.


Those 7 are some indications to spot a fake account on Facebook. They are based on my personal experience using the internet social media and chat rooms. They as well are not limited to Facebook. In other words, you can apply the same rules above to all other networking websites such as My Space, twitter, hi5, MSN, yahoo, etc ...

Source: IT Essentials FZE Blog - Technology news and articles.
By: Wissam Abdel Baki
http://itessentials.me/technology-artic ... n-facebook

These rules will trigger false positives lots of times.
I know lots of people that have genuine facebook accounts and do not use them regularly and their info is not update and is not real.

These are some interesting tips. I think most of the time the accounts are fake when the person doesn't have lot of photographs.