Introduction We’ve all been there. A friend request from a stranger with a profile picture that looks like a stock image, or a suspicious message from someone who seems to know you but hides behind a fake name. "Dummy accounts"—profiles created to spam, stalk, or catfish—are a persistent nuisance on Facebook.

While Facebook works hard to detect and remove these accounts, sometimes you need to do a little detective work yourself to protect your privacy or report harassment. This guide walks you through the ethical and legal methods to identify the person behind a dummy account.


When someone takes a photo on a smartphone, the image file contains EXIF metadata. This can include:

How to extract:

Note: Facebook strips GPS data from uploaded photos. However, photos sent via Messenger before 2019-2020 often retained some metadata. Newer versions strip it, but it's still worth checking.

Even dummy accounts fill out the "About" section to look real. Look for: