PSA - How To Tell If That Nice Account You Follow Is Fake (Or At Least Lying): A Handy Guide

This came across my feed last night, because a mutual had "liked" it. I thought, "Oh, that's sad." Then I did a double take, because I have seen that profile pic before. 1/?

This same profile pic was used by not one, but two different romance scammers who followed me over the past year or two. So I started with the profile pic (left). This pic is all over, but most prominently in the IG account of one Marco Folino (right...more on him later). 2/

So I scrolled through "ER Trauma Nurse's" media posts (faster than looking at all tweets). Yes, figuring these things out is entertainment for me. Welcome to the Covid era.
These are a different guy entirely. Did he think no one would notice? (Paul is also not a real person.) 3/

Also not the same guy as the profile pic, although this may be "fake Paul Palomo" again. Definitely not "ER Trauma Nurse".
And here's another completely different guy, but in scrubs, from a stock photo. 4/

But look, this is where he works. Ope, nope! More stock photos! 5/

Wow he works in so many places! Ope, nope! Still more stock photos! 6/

WOW, he fixes broken arms AND delivers babies! Ope, nope! Just a stock photo and a stolen photo from a newspaper in Iowa. 7/

The one that pisses me off the most. Stolen valor. The "here" in the picture is Atlanta, and is *not* Oklahoma after the tornado in May 2013 (sorry I cropped out the post date by mistake). And it's a stock photo used on an African edition of Wikipedia. #StolenValor 8/

Well holy shit this motherfucker gets around. Except he doesn't. Fishing photo is a stock photo used on travel websites all over (US, Thailand, Greece, etc). Modeling photo is some famous model in a Taylor Swift video, not a JCP photo shoot and NOT the guy in the profile pic. 9/

WOW he even owns this internet-famous squirrel! Wait, no he doesn't, the squirrel was rescued by a Belarusian soldier! 10/

I did ALL of these pic comparisons in about 30 mins last night. You don't need all of them anyway, just ONE. Whoever "ER Trauma Nurse" is, they aren't a hot Porsche-driving, life-saving, squirrel-owning nurse/model/gay porn star in their spare time. They are A SCAMMER. 11/

If all of this is ok with you, fine. But go in KNOWING what is happening when some crazy hot person randomly follows you out of the blue, with no mutuals and no good reason for the follow. Just please check them out before they suck you in to whatever scam they're running. 12/

Oh, M. Folino (post 2 above)! He is an IG STAR! A doctor (or med student) at FMRQ in Quebec and personal trainer/fitness buff. Except I don't think he is. I can't find any credible proof he exists IRL, nothing about his medical practice, just a few sketchy articles. Beware! 13/13