‘Think Before You Link’: app launched to help social media users detect fake profiles

The government has said that more than 10,000 people in the UK have been targeted on LinkedIn and Facebook in the last year. Photograph: bigtunaonline/Alamy

A mobile phone app has been launched that will help social media users to detect fake profiles and speed up their removal.

The Think Before You Link app will help people to spot characteristics of fraudulent profiles used by spies and other malicious actors, according to the Cabinet Office and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure.