Facebook’s identity theft warning system Will send you an alert if someone is pretending to be you online

In an attempt to reduce bullying and harassment, Facebook has now introduced a tool that can detect and warn you when someone is pretending to be you.

In future, if someone steals your identity and creates and account using your profile photo and name, the social network will send you an alert that asks you to verify whether or not the account is impersonating you.

The process of alerting users to fake accounts is automatic, but flagged profiles are reviewed manually by humans at Facebook.

Testing of the new feature began in November last year and it is now being rolled out globally.

Facebook has a longstanding policy against impersonation and this form of harassment can be particularly problematic for women in certain countries.