Someone pretending to be me reached out to a lot of my friends on Facebook and requested friendship. Those who know me immediately knew that someone else was pretending to be me.

It's not a new problem, but it is widespread and Facebook will be glad to remove them once you contact them.

Knowing how to report this is what I'm going to show you here, and feel free to share it with your friends. Facebook understands that personal accounts and pages that impersonate other people go against their standards and it's simply not tolerated. If you see an account that's pretending to be you, someone you know, or a public figure, let the folks at Facebook know.

The first thing to determine is if you're reporting a profile or a page.

If you have a Facebook account and want to report a profile:

  1. Go to the profile of the impersonating account.
  • If you can't find it, try searching for the name used on the profile or asking your friends if they can send you a link to it.
  1. Click on the cover photo and select Find Support or Report Profile.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions for impersonation to file a report.

How to report a page:

  1. Go to the impersonating Page.
  2. Click from the top right and select Find Support or Report Page.
  3. Select Scams and Fake Pages.
  4. Select the option that best describes the impersonating Page.
  5. Click Send.

You can report an impersonating Facebook account by filling out a form.

You can also report a Facebook Page that's impersonating a public figure by filling out this form.

Note: You can also report impersonating accounts in Messenger. Learn how to report someone that's pretending to be you or someone else in Messenger.

How can you keep this from happening to you again? Well, first off, change your password frequently. Another way is to avoid opening up messages from or accepting friend requests from people you don't personally know.

I had to crack up when my good friend Mike Monteiro wrote and said, "There's only one YOU baby!! Often imitated but never duplicated!" Well, maybe not until now.

By the way, because of this, I'm going to be limiting who I accept friend requests from on my personal Facebook account. If you want to follow along and interact with me on Facebook, please do so on my brand new page here. And I swear, it's really me!

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

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