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    Twitter's Newest Impostor: Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay's Wife

    By Brian Anthony Hernandez | Mashable – Wed, Jan 25, 2012

    Twitter has another celebrity impostor -- someone pretending to be actress Stephanie March, wife of chef Bobby Flay.

    On Tuesday morning, Flay addressed the many questions swirling around on Twitter regarding the @StephanieCMarch account, which launched Jan. 21 and racked up roughly 1,300 followers before Flay dubbed it inauthentic.

    [More from Mashable: Obama’s State of the Union Address Sees 760,000 Tweets [INFOGRAPHIC]]

    The impostor profile was deleted sometime between 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. ET, shortly after Flay sent this stern tweet:

    The incident marks the second time this year that an account of a high-profile person has been deemed fake. On Jan. 3, the account bearing media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s wife’s name, Wendi Deng Murdoch, was outed as not being controlled by her or anyone connected to her. Twitter immediately admitted in a tweet that it had mistakenly verified @Wendi_Deng.

    Although Twitter didn't verify @StephanieCMarch and had no role in having people believe it was really March, both cases highlight the troubles with recognizing which profiles on any social networks are real.

    Pinpointing the bogus profiles may get harder as social networks, not only Twitter, continue to grow and even loosen their naming regulations. Just this week, for example, Google+ altered its Common Name policy and began allowing users to employ nicknames and full-fledged pseudonyms.

    SEE ALSO: 10 Best Spoof Twitter Accounts of 2011

    Phony accounts are not new to Twitter. What's different with these two impersonations is that you couldn't tell they were spoof accounts. Generally, fake accounts are easily identified as parodies.

    Do you think this incident highlights a greater need for social network account verification? Sound off in the comments.

    Speaking of parody profiles, @AngryBobbyFlay exists and so do these other funny spoof accounts:

    1. Android PR

    Who knew that cute little green bot had a wicked streak? If you're a fan of the Android platform -- heck, even if you're not -- then follow this account for some Google-centric fun.

    Click here to view this gallery.

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    1 comment

    • Zenith
      Zenith  •  29 days ago
      Yes, there should absolutley be tighter regulations surrounding social networking account set-up. There should also be very strict (and severe) punishment for anyone caught impersonating someone else- like beheading. :)
     Post a comment
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