US 12,307,531 B2
Detection and prevention of fraudulent activity on social media accounts
Sharon Hüffner, Munich (DE); Harold Nguyen, Burlingame, CA (US); Richard Banks Sutton, San Mateo, CA (US); and David Oshiro Nadir, Carlsbad, CA (US)
Assigned to PROOFPOINT, INC., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed by Proofpoint, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 5, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/329,512.
Application 18/329,512 is a continuation of application No. 17/146,450, filed on Jan. 11, 2021, granted, now 11,710,195.
Application 17/146,450 is a continuation of application No. 15/395,385, filed on Dec. 30, 2016, granted, now 10,896,473, issued on Jan. 19, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/347,089, filed on Jun. 8, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2023/0325946 A1, Oct. 12, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06Q 30/02 (2023.01); G06Q 10/06 (2023.01); G06Q 10/10 (2023.01); G06Q 30/018 (2023.01); G06Q 40/02 (2023.01); G06Q 50/00 (2012.01); G06Q 99/00 (2006.01); H04L 9/40 (2022.01)
CPC G06Q 50/01 (2013.01) [G06Q 30/0185 (2013.01); H04L 63/1425 (2013.01); H04L 63/1441 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for detecting imposters on a social network on the Internet, the method comprising:
detecting, by a fraud detection and prevention system operating in a computing environment, a public message communicated to a social media account of a social network platform on the Internet, wherein the fraud detection and prevention system monitors the social network platform from outside of the social network platform using a link provided by an entity that owns the social media account;
responsive to detecting the public message, monitoring public messages communicated to the social media account, the monitoring performed by the fraud detection and prevention system for a predetermined time period using an application programming interface provided by the social network platform;
repeatedly comparing, by the fraud detection and prevention system until the predetermined time period expires, a brand profile of the entity associated with the social media account to metadata of each of the public messages, the comparing comprising determining whether each respective public message bears statistically significant similarities to the brand profile; and
depending upon whether a respective public message bears statistically significant similarities to the brand profile, discarding the respective public message or identifying the respective public message as being communicated from an imposter account on the social network platform.