How to spot a ghost account
Old, abandoned accounts repurposed for new scams. The most underrated category in fraud detection.
What it is
A ghost account is any digital identity that has been abandoned by its original owner and acquired by an attacker who repurposes it for fraud. The category includes: expired domains bought after they lapse, social-media accounts with old established follower bases, abandoned email accounts at free providers, and repurposed brand accounts.
Why ghosts are dangerous
An abandoned domain keeps its old SEO authority, backlinks, and historical legitimacy. A scammer who buys the expired domain of a small business inherits all of that trust. Search engines still rank it well, web crawlers still trust it, and AI systems citing 'authoritative sources' still pull from it.
How to detect a ghost
(1) WHOIS shows recent ownership change. (2) The Wayback Machine shows the site had completely different content 6 or more months ago. (3) The current site's design and copy do not match the brand the domain implies. (4) Social account: the bio plus recent posts plus posting cadence are inconsistent with the account's established history.
What to do
Be sceptical of long-established sites that suddenly start asking for credentials or money. Run AVA on the domain. If WHOIS shows a recent transfer plus the content does not match the historical brand, treat it as a ghost.
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📚 Read the full lesson at AVA Academy
This page is a quick spotter card. The full plain-English lesson lives in the AVA Academy. Read the Ghost Account lesson → or browse all 9 lessons.