Most people on the internet are not exactly what they claim to be. It would surprise many that some people operate under false identities to do illegal activities. The most common is having a secret profile to scam people or destroy reputations. That is why now more than ever, people should become socially and consciously aware of how to find hidden social media accounts. Luckily, you are about to read effective tips and tricks on how to find hidden social profiles for free here in this guide.
7 Easy Ways to Find Hidden Social Profiles For Free
Learning how to find hidden profiles on social networks for free is rewarding because, with the information you get, you can avoid several problems now and in the future. Here are 7 cheap ways to discover false social profiles online without further ado.
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Run a Nickname and Username Search
One way to find someone’s secret account online is by running a nickname or username search. Most social media platforms’ basic principle is that anyone creating an account must use a nickname or username. It is important as it is the primary identifier of individuals on the network. However, you can use this to your advantage by finding a list of people who could bear that username or nickname in your circle.
Additionally, you can run a series of searches online for individuals bearing a name similar to the username or nickname. For example, someone that bears Mary Kate may have usernames around @MaKate, @MaryK, or @Markate. The goal is to develop a list of creative ideas to find this person across various social networks.
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Check Your Friend’s List
If you suspect a friend is behind the secret social network, you can investigate further by checking their list. People who create hidden profiles often forget not to follow their actual accounts or engage in conversations and tweets. Fortunately, it is an advantage to explore. You can cross-check the username or nickname with a suspected friend. Or better still, you can check the list of people following or that follow the account and see if anyone or anything looks familiar. If you don’t find the person, you should find their favorite sports or brands, which could be a clue.
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Run a Reverse Image Search
If you’ve been in contact with someone with a hidden profile, you can ask them to send their photo. Most times, they feel reluctant to do so simply because they don’t want to be discovered. If, eventually, they send a picture; you shouldn’t believe what you see.
Instead, you should take further steps. A reverse image search is another way to find secret social media accounts. You will have to put the photo on a search engine, like Google, and wait until it brings up results on places the face or picture has appeared. From these results, you can tell if such a person is legit or operating under a false identity.
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Use Employment Details
Let’s say the person fails to provide a photo; you can trick them into giving other details about themselves. What a scammer wants the most is for their victim to trust them wholeheartedly, and that involves providing false information to gain that trust. In this case, they may be willing to provide their employment details, which is always false. You can check this company out on LinkedIn and reach out to them, asking about the person via their contacts. If LinkedIn doesn’t work, you can run a search on Google about the company and its employees. Whichever method you decide to use, there is definitely a chance that you will find out the person’s identity.
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Reverse Phone Number Search
Phone numbers are also effective to find hidden social media profiles. In fact, this method is highly underrated. If a scammer agrees to provide a phone contact, it is the easiest avenue to uncover such a person’s id. The reason is that every phone number is linked to a cell provider with information about every registered user. You can run a reverse phone number or address book search to get information about the owner. Some software or websites provide this service for free or paid and even give more than enough information about the person based on what is available to the public.
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Create A Secret Profile
Another technique to find someone’s hidden social media accounts is to get smarter. If someone operates under a secret account, it is even more advisable to go the same way to find out about them. You can create your own secret profile to spy on the person. However, you would have to be careful while doing this to avoid being discovered. For instance, avoid following yourself and certain people when you create another account. It would be best if you also acted like you support whatever the scammer does so that you can know their intentions and next steps. You can expose them once you’ve known enough.
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Use a Private Investigator
Usually, there are professionals in the business of finding people offline and online. They are called private investigators. You can hire one to reveal the identity of someone behind a secret social profile if you don’t know what method to use anymore. The resources of these individuals are unlimited, and there is no specific way to tell how they get the job done, but they do. When you get a PI, state your concerns and what you want them to discover. A few offer their services for free, while you may have to pay fees for most. Most times, they give a result timeline or promise to give progress reports on their discovery.
Conclusion
Getting tips and tricks to find hidden social profiles for free is brilliant. That way, you can protect yourself against scammers or hackers who would go to any length to obtain your sensitive information. Use any of the methods described above and uncover the identity of the person behind a secret account online.