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Social media is a place where you can meet new friends, a love interest, and even a potential employer. At the same time, you can meet all kinds of crazy characters from stalkers to traffickers. Many people have fallen victim to cons through people they met on social media. Similarly, there have been reports of missing persons who disappeared after meeting someone from social media.

Though it’s hard to tell a genuine social media user from criminals, there are red flags you can look out for. Here are some of them.

1.Follower Count

It sounds vain to focus on a person’s follower count before meeting them. However, that’s the essence of social media. The more time you spend on it, the more followers you gain. Therefore, if someone is super active but they have a surprisingly small number of followers, they could be scammers or malicious users. It’s also hard to verify an account with few followers as they have little to no interactions with other people.

2. They Have Suspicious Posts

Criminals lure social media users with promises of gifts and giveaways. They then use the fake giveaways to hack into our account, scam you off money or even kidnap you. You should look out for accounts that only offer free things as they could be potentially dangerous. Never meet someone you don’t know simply because they promised you a monetary reward. Remember, if the deal sounds too good, think twice.

3. They Are Prying

Ill-intentioned people on social media want to know every aspect of your life. If they’re a trafficker, they tend to target young girls from middle-income families who aren’t very close with their parents. As such, when they go missing, it will seem like they simply ran away giving them time to traffic their victims. Avoid telling strangers about your personal life and if you feel someone is being too invasive, don’t ignore this red flag.

4. They Hide Their Identity

This doesn’t necessarily mean that if a person doesn’t post himself on social media, he may be a criminal. However, once you start to interact with someone and they still keep their identity hidden, this is a sign that they don’t want to be known. Always insist on seeing a real-time picture before meeting someone from social media. Additionally, you can ask for their number so as to talk to them over the phone.

5. They Have Super Flashy Photos

Social media is indeed a popularity contest. However, you should watch out for someone who’s always bragging about their possessions. As mentioned, most criminals use flashy things to gain attention. This is also an unattractive quality in someone you want to have a relationship with. Therefore, whether you’re looking for friendship or a relationship, stay away from people who only post about “their” cars and money as this may not lead to a long-term commitment.

6. They Have Many Grammatical Errors

Most online criminals live in non-English speaking countries and the ones that speak English aren’t as well-educated. As such, their social media posts and comments are full of grammatical errors to a point that they don’t make sense. This is a big red flag and though you can befriend people from all over the world, be careful when interacting with such people. If they also display red flags, then stay away from them.

7. They Instigate Fights

Who wants to meet or befriend a cyberbully? Unfortunately, these are some of the most active social media users, and eventually, you may cross paths. Check what they post on their accounts. If they’re always negative or instigating fights, it’s best to leave them alone as they can be toxic people to have in your life.