Social media is a powerful tool for modern organizations. It amplifies their message, promotes products and services, and fosters direct connections with customers. But alongside these benefits comes a growing risk: it also offers threat actors an easy way to exploit brand trust, damage reputations, and launch cyberattacks targeting loyal followers.
What is Social Media Brand Impersonation?
For the most part, brand impersonation on social media takes three forms:
1. Direct impersonation
Sometimes called brandjacking, direct impersonation usually takes the form of fake social media accounts.
Social media is famous for its practically non-existent barriers to entry. As long as someone has an Internet connection and an email address, they can create a free account on any of the dozens of social media services.
And that's exactly what cyber criminals do; they create fake accounts in the name of a target organization that claim to be official. Once setup, they do everything possible to make the account seem legitimate, including copying banner images and account descriptions from the target organization's official social media accounts.
Once an account is ready, the owners will post messages, take part in ongoing conversations, use slogans and hashtags associated with the brand, and even comment on the real brand's posts and pages in response to customer questions. Since social media is designed to be consumed quickly, many people simply aren't alert enough to tell the difference between real and fake accounts under these circumstances.
2. False or misleading brand mentions
As easy as it is to set up a fake account, it's even easier to claim that a message, product, or URL is associated with a trusted brand when it really isn't. In these cases, cyber criminals will name drop trusted brands or individuals in their social media posts and communications to add credibility and/or claim endorsement. This tactic has been used to help sell dubious products or services, damage the reputation of targeted organizations, and even spread malware.
Since most people don't take time to verify the content of social media posts, it's easy for them to fall victim to this basic social engineering tactic.
3. Sale of counterfeit goods or services
Everyone is familiar with knock-off merchandise. In the real world, few of us are likely to be fooled by cheap imitations, although we might seek them out from time to time.
Online, things are different. It's very easy for criminals to advertise and sell counterfeit goods and services using real product imagery, as well as create websites or social media accounts that closely mimic those of legitimate brands. That means that for the unwary, it's easy to be misled into buying what you think is a legitimate item, only to discover your mistake when it arrives.
What's the Big Deal?
Brand impersonation is no longer a question of if, it’s a matter of when.
At first glance, it might not seem like a major concern. Luxury brands like Gucci or Rolex still thrive despite knockoffs being sold on the street. But online brand impersonation is a different beast entirely with a reach that's global, instant, and far more damaging.
Take fake social media accounts: they don’t just embarrass organizations, they can outpace official channels. After the Deepwater Horizon spill, a parody BP account gained twice the followers of BP’s own corporate page, highlighting how quickly control of the narrative can slip away.
And the consequences go far beyond bad PR. Brand impersonators often lure customers into phishing traps, steal login credentials, harvest payment info, or distribute malware, all under the guise of a trusted brand. Over time, these attacks erode customer trust and inflict lasting harm on brand reputation.
What Can Brands Do About It?
Brand impersonation on social media isn’t going away and many platforms aren’t keeping up.
Even the largest social media networks struggle to curb fake political accounts. So where does that leave fake business profiles? Likely buried at the bottom of the priority list. And if the biggest platforms are falling short, it’s safe to assume that niche forums, download sites, auction platforms, paste bins, and discussion boards aren’t doing much (if anything) to address brand abuse.
So how can organizations protect themselves from bad actors who hijack trusted names for scams, malware, and profit?
The answer lies in proactive monitoring — searching the web for brand impersonation, counterfeits, and fraudulent accounts, and acting quickly to take them down. But this isn’t just a job for marketing. It requires a specialized approach that spans more than 600+ digital and social channels, from mainstream platforms to fringe forums. Monitoring can be tailored to catch specific risks—like non-parody impersonation, fake support accounts, or threats targeting executives.
At Fortra Brand Protection, our Digital Risk Protection solution delivers comprehensive threat intelligence and mitigation across email, mobile apps, domains, social media, and the deep, dark, and open web.
