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Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

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Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#81
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>after reading through this thread, i find some very concerning things. The use of the word nontrivial is one thing. Calling something nontrivial does not mean you have expertise, there are a number of analytic tools that are being called non trivial or too complex, and that means it is non trivial to the caller. The rest of us who use these techniques as often as breathing find them trivial to say the least. The lac…

...and you win the prize for realizing something that is trivially obvious, you sir are a cut above the rest, now continue to use the gift of a brain given too you and do some good in this world, there are major problems that people like you should work to resolve. A++ for you.

[deleted]

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should look at what microsoft did to sneak its way into a win10 install, you should also look at what google does to snarf permissions with a button by another name. the breadcrumbs can start here. https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190201 your smart kid figure it out youll learn more that way versus being spoon fed. BTW im sure that posting such code here would be a criminal activity that dang and others would frown upon…

Original: Link? Edit: >You should look at what microsoft did to sneak its way into a win10 install, you should also look at what google does to snarf permissions with a button by another name. the breadcrumbs can start here. > https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190201 > your smart kid figure it out youll learn more that way versus being spoon fed. That has zero technical information, just a lot of vague hand-waving. Give me s…

thats right, find a BlckHT forum and have a look around, gain thier trust and infiltrate, you will love it im sure.

Follow the bread crumbs my lad, and you will find a magic looking glass.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#83
post #5

cameradust, browser fingerprinting, graphic/sound card canvas, memory canvas mouse usage, keyboard usage, cpu serial number, MAC, router MAC, system logs, telemetry

cameradust? that's clever if it means what i think it means, aka looking at artifacts in a photo caused by "gunk" on your lens.

I wonder how that's affected with post processing - most cell phone camera's seem to have a ton of post processing applied these days that you think would cause that sort of gunk to count for less.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#84
post #37

I think there's a much simpler answer than some sort of "deep browser fingerprinting" or other scary voodoo. 1) User requests account deletion. Facebook does not delete it, keeps track of his phone number via shadow profiles. (Mike is still mike@gmail.com, 800-555-1234) 2) User creates a new Proton Mail address. (Fakey@protonmail.com) 3) One of his friends adds that email address to his contact. (Mike, mike@gmail.com…

My one and only facebook profile was a complete fake and yet it managed to recommend I follow many of my real family and some of my social circle. My guess this was simply based on my location because the people it recommended were also family/friends of people who had used facebook from my house.

IP address, ever heard of that nearly impossible to anonymize thing?

Facebook can also build a profile based on loads of their logo image using the IP... Including rough geolocation if it is shared.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll need to change your IP as well. Something you have never logged in as to create the account. Sock puppet accounts can be associated by IP and social graph searches.

I used VPNs. But FB keeps a track of a lot of public VPN & Cloud providers and then throws a ton more "captchas" your way - asking for your picture, govt id, phone number verification etc. As for searches - I've searched a lot of random stuff totally unrelated to my personal account JUST to throw FB off while acting like a real user (liking, reading, scrolling etc.).

It only takes one to five high probability data points to link you to the original identity near flawlessly. Something rare. Clicking on a nonpublic person is one of those.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NordVPN

NordVPN is in a weird spot. https://restoreprivacy.com/lawsuit-names-nordvpn-tesonet/ I use PIA but do your research.

NordVPN owners are weird, their side businesses are shady, but the VPN is completely legit.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#87
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. There are many 3rd party companies that sell data packs that derive residential IPs from VPN IPs (we use some at work). A trusted/good VPN is a must Are you implying that ProtonVPN is not trusted/good? I'm seriously interested in what you know about this particular VPN provider as this is the one OP mentions he's was using.

Yea definitely don't take that as me insinuating anything about ProtonVPN. However _absolutely_ take that as me saying "just because you're behind [insert VPN name], doesn't mean someone can't derive your actual IP" (however that may happen). There are companies that sell this service. Again, I specifically mention this because this is how we at [large, known ad tech company] deal with user VPN traffic

Can you say what companies? or at least how to find them? I tried searching but only found junk.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#88
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the drive to my location... makes sense.

Why would it have to happen on the drive?

You could use it to find questions to check how lucid they are.

Equally they said something that piped the interest of employee to check after.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#89
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My one and only facebook profile was a complete fake and yet it managed to recommend I follow many of my real family and some of my social circle. My guess this was simply based on my location because the people it recommended were also family/friends of people who had used facebook from my house.

IP address, ever heard of that nearly impossible to anonymize thing? Facebook can also build a profile based on loads of their logo image using the IP... Including rough geolocation if it is shared.

Hence my guess that it was likely based on location.

Re: Created a fake account and Facebook still figured out who I am. How?

#90

People suggesting outlandish, complex fingerprinting methods should read through the post comments. OP admitted they didn't clear browser cookies since they last used their old personal FB account. Mystery solved.

"complex fingerprinting methods" sounds spooky, but in 2018 that's just a pug and play library, equivalent to cookies.
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