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Is it Sarrah Rahamah? A supervised classification model to detect fake identities on Facebook within the Sudanese community

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Abstract

Fake accounts that are run by fake identities are causing many problems within the Sudanese online community on Facebook. While research is focused on automatic and semi-automatic accounts, human fake accounts are often neglected. A general characterization of these accounts needs to be considered based on the cultural context they exist within. This research interviewed 250 Sudanese persons on Facebook who fell victim of eight of these accounts. Data was manually harvested for both confirmed fake accounts and confirmed real accounts. The dataset included 231 instances which was imbalanced and skewed toward the real accounts. Over-sampling with SMOTE was applied to treat the over-fitting problem of the machine learning models. Supervised classification algorithms achieved an accuracy of up to 89.7% and an AUC of 0.96 in detecting fake accounts. Furthermore, human-based methods, such as profile image verification and history, were identified by the interviewees as ways to assert the legitimacy of an account.

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Notes

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDEiRoxQcoM, accessed August 28th, 2019.

  2. https://www.sudanakhbar.com/356560, accessed August 28th, 2019.

  3. https://www.alnilin.com/12977511.htm, accessed August 28th, 2019.

  4. https://goo.gl/uLA4pT, accessed August 28th, 2019.

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  1. Computer Information Systems Department, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Mariam Elhussein

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  1. Mariam Elhussein
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Correspondence to Mariam Elhussein.

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Elhussein, M. Is it Sarrah Rahamah? A supervised classification model to detect fake identities on Facebook within the Sudanese community. Pers Ubiquit Comput 27, 107–118 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-022-01664-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-022-01664-2

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