Facebook fake profile of me: reporting and legal action

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 1 Nov 2026 · Cyber law

A fake Facebook profile in your name is identity theft under Section 66C of the IT Act, 2000, and cheating by personation under Section 66D if it is used to obtain money or favours. Report it inside Facebook, preserve the URL and screenshots, then file an FIR under Section 173 of the BNSS, 2023 so the account can be traced.

The first question about a fake Facebook profile is not who made it. It is what the profile is doing. An impostor account that collects money from your friends is a cheating case. One that publishes sexualised images is an obscenity case. One that posts allegations about your character is defamation. One that messages your colleagues to extract information is impersonation for a different purpose, and sometimes the beginning of a larger fraud. The same fake profile can do all four in a week, and the remedy changes as the conduct changes.

What does not change is that the account itself is unlawful. Creating a profile in another person's name with their photographs, and using it to interact with people who believe they are dealing with that person, is the conduct Section 66C of the Information Technology Act, 2000 describes. The criminal complaint and the platform report are separate mechanisms and both should be used on the same day.

Read the conduct before choosing the section

What the fake profile is doing	Offence	Where it is tried
Using your name and photographs to run the account	IT Act 2000 s 66C, identity theft	Magistrate, on a police report
Asking your contacts for money, gifts or OTPs in your name	IT Act 2000 s 66D read with BNS 2023 s 318 and s 319	Magistrate, on a police report
Posting allegations intended to damage your reputation	BNS 2023 s 356, defamation	Magistrate, usually on a private complaint
Threatening to publish material unless paid	BNS 2023 s 351, criminal intimidation, with s 308 extortion where property is demanded	Magistrate or Sessions, depending on the charge
Publishing obscene or sexually explicit content	IT Act 2000 ss 67 and 67A	Magistrate or Sessions, depending on the charge
Publishing private images without consent	IT Act 2000 s 66E	Magistrate
Harassing you or people close to you through the account	BNS 2023 ss 78 and 79 where the targets are women	Magistrate

Section 66C carries imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to one lakh rupees. Section 66D carries the same. Section 318 of the BNS punishes cheating, with the aggravated form for dishonestly inducing delivery of property carrying a longer term. Section 356 of the BNS punishes defamation with simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or community service, and Section 351 punishes criminal intimidation with imprisonment up to two years, rising to seven years for threats of death or grievous hurt.

Where the fake profile is extorting money by threatening to publish private images, the charge is not only obscenity. Section 308 of the BNS deals with extortion, and the combination of a threat and a demand for property is what converts a harassment complaint into a case that police treat as serious from the first day. If the images involve a child, Section 67B of the IT Act and the POCSO Act, 2012 apply and the complaint must be routed to the child protection unit without delay.

Reporting it to Facebook so the takedown actually happens

Open the fake profile and use the three-dot menu to report it. Choose the impersonation category, then the option that says the account is pretending to be you or someone you know, and follow the identity verification steps. This is not the same as reporting a post. Impersonation reports are handled by a different team, and they require proof of identity, usually a government document, which you should upload only through the official form and never through a message.

In India the platform also has a grievance officer under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, with an obligation to acknowledge within twenty-four hours and dispose of the complaint within fifteen days. Write to that officer with the profile URL, the report reference and a short statement that the account is impersonating you. A takedown that arrives in ten days is worth far more than a report that sits unactioned, because the impostor uses that window to reach more people.

Keep the takedown confirmation. It proves the platform accepted that the account was fake, which is powerful in a defamation or compensation claim, and it fixes the date the content came to the platform's knowledge under Section 79 of the IT Act.

Preserve the evidence in the right order

The fake profile can vanish between your first screenshot and your second, so preserve before you report. Record the screen while you scroll through the profile from the header to the last post, keeping the URL bar visible. Capture the profile's numeric identifier from the page source or the share link, because the display name will change. Save the messages the impostor sent to your contacts, which those contacts should preserve themselves rather than forwarding to you.

Build a simple evidence file: the URL, the handle, the date you first saw it, the posts, the conversations, the people contacted, the money requested and the payments made. If your contacts paid, collect their statements and their transaction references, because their loss is the offence and your identity is the weapon. A complaint that includes three paying victims is investigated; a complaint that says someone made a fake account is filed.

Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 requires electronic records to be produced with a certificate, so keep the device on which you took the screenshots and do not delete the originals after sending copies. If you have already reported the profile and it was removed, your saved recording is the only evidence left, which is another reason to record first.

The legal steps, in sequence

Report the impersonation to Facebook and keep the reference number and the takedown response.
Tell the people who were contacted through your own phone and email, not through any account the impostor can reach. Ask them to preserve their messages and, if they paid, to file their own complaints.
File on cybercrime.gov.in under the social media crime category, uploading the recording, the URL and your identity proof. Keep the acknowledgement number.
Write to the grievance officer at Meta India with the URL and the reference numbers, and ask for removal within fifteen days. This creates the written record that the platform was on notice.
Give a written FIR at the police station under Section 173 of the BNSS, 2023, naming Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act and, as applicable, Sections 318, 351 or 356 of the BNS. Attach the evidence index and ask for the FIR number and a certified copy.
If the police decline, apply to the Magistrate under Section 175(3) of the BNSS for a direction to investigate. For defamation, a private complaint before the Magistrate is also available and is sometimes the faster route, because defamation is generally prosecuted on a complaint rather than on a police report.
Ask the court for takedown and restraint orders where the material is still live. A civil suit for a permanent injunction, or an application in the criminal proceedings, can direct the platform to block the content, and Section 69 of the IT Act provides the government blocking mechanism for unlawful content on a court order or on its own assessment.

Criminal complaint or civil suit, or both

The criminal track punishes the conduct and produces the identity of the person behind the account. The civil track recovers money and stops the publication. They are not alternatives, and running both is normal where the impostor took money and is still posting.

Question	Criminal complaint	Civil suit
What it achieves	Investigation, arrest, punishment	Injunction, damages, account of profits
Who starts it	Police on an FIR, or the complainant before a Magistrate	The affected person, through a plaint
Standard of proof	Beyond reasonable doubt	Preponderance of probabilities
Typical duration	Months to years	Years, with interim relief possible in weeks
Best used when	Money was taken, threats were made, images were published	Reputation is damaged and the account is traceable, or money must be recovered

For defamation, the civil and criminal routes overlap. A suit can produce an early injunction against continued publication, while the criminal complaint addresses the conduct. The choice depends on whether you want the content down quickly or the person punished. An injunction against an unidentified account is difficult to enforce; a criminal requisition to the platform is what produces the name.

What decides the outcome

Whether the fake profile can be tied to a real person decides almost everything. The platform holds the registration IP, the phone number and the login pattern, and the police can requisition those. If the account was created on a number obtained with forged documents, the trail continues to the retailer and the KYC record, and that takes longer. Complaints that give an exact URL and date range get answers; vague complaints do not.

The nature of the harm decides priority and the section. Financial loss to identified victims, threats, and sexual content produce fast action. An account that merely duplicates your name is a weaker case, though still actionable under Section 66C, because the impersonation itself is the offence.

Your own conduct matters here more than in most cyber cases. If you posted the impostor's details publicly and invited people to attack him, or if you named a person you suspected and were wrong, you may face a defamation complaint under Section 356 of the BNS. Keep your public statements to the fact of the fake profile and the reference numbers, and let the investigation establish who is behind it.

Finally, the strength of the identity proof decides the takedown. A report with a government photo identity, an older account in the same name and a matching photograph is resolved quickly. A report from an account with no history, claiming to be someone with a common name, is treated with suspicion, which is why the earliest and most complete documentation should go in the first submission.

Mistakes that help the impostor

Do not message the fake profile to ask who is behind it. That confirms you have seen it and gives him time to delete the account or escalate. Do not ask friends to report the account in bulk without telling them to keep their own screenshots; a flood of reports without evidence can be treated as coordinated abuse and closed.

Do not create a counter-profile to expose him. A second account in your name confuses the platform's impersonation review and can result in your genuine account being restricted. Do not pay a removal agency. And do not delete your own genuine account in frustration, because the impostor then becomes the only profile in your name and your identity proof loses its reference point.

Do not wait because the profile has few followers. Impersonation accounts build slowly and then approach your contacts in a batch, so the takedown is cheapest before the damage is done.

When to involve a lawyer

An impersonation report and an FIR can be handled by the victim. A lawyer helps when the profile has taken money from several people and you are being blamed for it, when the police treat the matter as a platform issue and will not register an FIR, when the content is defamatory and you want an early injunction, when the impostor is someone known to you and the case will be contested, or when you have been accused of creating the fake profile and need to answer a notice under Section 35 of the BNSS, 2023. A cyber crime lawyer in West Bengal can draft the complaint and the Section 175(3) application together, and where the material is still online, seek blocking orders before the appropriate court in Kolkata. If the matter is at the stage of a charge sheet or an arrest, the guide to bail and anticipatory bail explains the options.

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Frequently asked questions

Is creating a fake Facebook profile a crime in India?

Yes. Using another person's name, photographs or identity features to run an account is identity theft under Section 66C of the IT Act, 2000, punishable with up to three years and a fine up to one lakh rupees. If the profile is used to obtain money or favours, Section 66D and Section 318 of the BNS, 2023 are added.

How do I report a fake Facebook profile of myself?

Open the profile, use the three-dot menu and choose the impersonation report, then complete the identity verification through the official form. Separately write to Meta's grievance officer with the URL and reference number, because the 2021 Rules require acknowledgement in twenty-four hours and a decision within fifteen days.

What evidence should I save before reporting a fake profile?

Screen-record the whole profile with the URL visible, save the handle and numeric account ID, and keep the messages it sent to your contacts. If anyone paid money, collect their statements and transaction references. Keep the original device, since Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 requires the electronic record with a certificate.

Can the police trace who created a fake Facebook profile?

Often yes. The platform holds registration details, login IP logs and device identifiers, and the police can requisition them from Meta India once an FIR is registered. If the account was opened on a phone number obtained with forged documents, the trail continues through the retailer and the KYC record.

What if the fake profile is asking my friends for money?

That is cheating by personation under Section 66D of the IT Act and Section 318 of the BNS. Your friends are the victims of the financial loss and should each file a complaint with the transaction references. Report to 1930 and your bank immediately, because a freeze request only works while the money is still in the beneficiary account.

Can I sue for defamation over a fake Facebook profile?

Yes. A civil suit can seek an injunction and damages, and a criminal complaint under Section 356 of the BNS is also available. Defamation is generally tried on a private complaint before a Magistrate. The practical difficulty is identification, which is why the police requisition for subscriber records usually comes first.

How long does Facebook take to remove an impersonation profile?

There is no fixed period, but the 2021 Intermediary Rules require a grievance to be acknowledged within twenty-four hours and resolved within fifteen days. Impersonation reports supported by government identity proof are usually resolved faster than reports based only on a name and a photograph.

What should I do if Facebook refuses to remove the fake profile?

Use the appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee against the grievance officer's decision, and pursue the criminal complaint so that a court can order blocking under Section 69 of the IT Act. A written refusal from the platform is itself useful evidence in a defamation or compensation claim.

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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