Deception and extortion: Exploring the effects of impersonation through parody social media accounts

The study aimed at expanding the literature on parody and fraud by examining the dark side of parody accounts. To this end, we adopted a qualitative approach by interviewing twelve former and six active parody account handlers. Further we also covertly engaged fraud parody accounts while also entreating individuals who have had interactions with such people to voluntarily provide screenshots to unveil their modus operandi. We further adopted Miles and Huberman’s Qualitative Data Analysis Interactive Model to analyse data. Findings from the study indicate that parody is an essential part of the social media ecology with clear guidelines in the creation and management of such accounts. While individuals take advantage of this provision to build brands for themselves, others also ride on the anonymity provided by such to engage in fraudulent activities. This study deviates from previous studies on parody accounts as a satirical tool in politics and crisis to study the phenomenon in relation to fraud. Lastly, considering the scarcity of literature in this stead, this study serves as a starting point for researching the area of parody social media accounts and fraud.