[Image: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/montreal-canada-march-20-2016-snapchat-395057875 alt text: Person installing the Snapchat app on a smartphone.]
[Meta: Figuring out the owner of a Snapchat account might be confusing. We give you our best tips for narrowing down who owns a Snapchat account.]
When using Snapchat, it’s easy to simply accept all friend requests and make connections with profiles you don’t know the owner of. This can be a fun way to make new connections, but it might also make you susceptible to accidentally adding fake accounts or individuals with deceitful intentions. If you’re wondering who really owns a Snapchat account that you’ve added, our article can help you out.
Below, we give you the best methods for figuring out who owns a Snapchat account and the common reasons why you might want to investigate this information.
Why Find Out Who Owns a Snapchat Account?
You might want to find out who owns a Snapchat account for several reasons. We list the most common ones below for you to review.
- Detect fake accounts – fake accounts may belong to your friends as they try to prank you, or they may be created by individuals that are interested in trying to get information out of you, which is more sinister.
- Stop scams – Snapchat scams, such as collecting pictures and images and threatening to release them to the public, are becoming more common these days. Finding out who owns a Snapchat account helps to stop you from accidentally becoming a victim.
- Curiosity – you may suspect that a Snapchat account belongs to an old friend or a coworker and want to reach out to them. Knowing the owner of the account helps you know for sure if you have the person’s identity correct.
Don’t worry if your specific reason isn’t on this list – this search can be subjective and unique to specific situations. As long as you aren’t trying to find out this information with the intent to do something illegal, it’s perfectly fine to research this information for your own peace of mind.
Methods for Figuring Out Who Owns a Snapchat Account
If you want to find out who owns a Snapchat account, you’re in luck. There are several methods that you can utilize to figure out this important information.
1) Check Your Contacts List
One of the first steps in figuring out who owns a Snapchat account is checking your contacts list. Snapchat will sync your phone’s contacts to the app if you allow it, and this information can be found under the options of “add friends” and then “all contacts.”
If the contact’s username and profile picture (this is usually a bitmoji) match the profile that just added you or wants to make contact with you, then you have most likely found the owner behind that particular Snapchat account.
2) Search the Username
Snapchat usernames are chosen by the individual creating the profile and can be changed once a year. The username you select must not have been used by anyone else previously, not even yourself, and a profile username can be found underneath their name on the profile.
Of course, if this is a fake account or you don’t know the person who owns it, their profile and username might not mean much. However, you can take this information and search other social media profiles with it – the username could lead you to other accounts with more identifying information, or they could turn up absolutely nothing indicating the profile is fake.
Instagram and Facebook are the best alternative social media accounts to search for a Snapchat username on.
3) Use an Online Search Tool
An online search tool is a great way to find out who owns a Snapchat account and determine whether or not it is fake. A search tool like this one on Information.com requires the name and location of the person you are searching for; you can find the name on the Snapchat user’s profile information.
Once you run the search, any public record information or information about other social media accounts that might be associated with that particular name will be located and compiled into a report for you to browse.
If nothing comes up, there is a chance the name is fake, meaning the profile’s owner is not someone you should be making contact with. However, if the Snapchat profile is associated with a particular phone number, such as your friend’s phone number, this will likely show up, and you can figure out if your friends are playing jokes on you or not.
4) Ask the Person Directly
For this method, the results are often varied. You can ask the person owning the Snapchat account directly what their name is and how they know you, but be prepared for them not to give you a straight answer. This is especially common if your friends are pranking you or if the person is a scammer.
Any information that doesn’t make sense, requests for money, or requests for photographs of you, either normal or more risqué, should be ignored, and the account should be blocked to prevent the person from gaining any information about you.
5) Review Their Profile
A quick review of the Snapchat account’s profile can give you important information that helps you find out who owns the account. To check the profile, tap on their profile bitmoji or picture. This will take you to their profile page. If you have already added them as a friend, you will be able to see their Snapchat score and other information like their zodiac sign and the date you became friends on Snapchat.
If you haven’t added the person, you will just be able to see their profile picture and username. You may be able to take a picture or a screenshot (the person will be notified if you screenshot their profile picture with your phone) and run the image through a reverse image search engine to see if it’s connected to any other social media accounts. With this information, you can figure out who owns the Snapchat account or if it is a fake account.
Using Snapchat Safely
Snapchat is a fun app to use and make new connections or chat with your friends and family. However, sometimes it can be confusing to find out who owns a Snapchat account. Use the search methods in our article to discover this information, and always err on the side of caution if you suspect the owner of a Snapchat account is being deceitful or running a scam. Doing this will help you use Snapchat safely and ensure your experience with the app is a fun one.
