A method, comprising: determining (40a, 41), by a fraud detection and prevention system, a brand account for which a brand owner of the brand account has subscribed for brand protection by the fraud detection and prevention system, the fraud detection and prevention system having a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the brand account being an account on a social network, the fraud detection and prevention system operating in a computing environment outside the social network; determining (40a, 42), by the fraud detection and prevention system using a link to the brand account on the social network, metadata of legitimate content used on the social network by the brand owner, the link provided to the fraud detection and prevention system by the brand owner and comprises an application programming interface of the social network, the determining comprising retrieving the metadata from the social network via the API; deriving (40a, 43), by a profile engine of the fraud detection and prevention system, a brand profile based on the metadata of legitimate content used on the social network by the brand owner, the brand profile applicable across multiple brand accounts on the social network that are owned by the brand owner; detecting (40b, 51-52), by a scanning engine of the fraud detection and prevention system via at least one application programming interface, a public message to the brand account on the social network and public replies to the public message by non-brand accounts on the social network, the public message originating from a social media account on the social network; responsive to the detecting, monitoring (40b, 52-56), by a monitoring engine of the fraud detection and prevention system over a predetermined time period through the scanning engine, public messages sent to the social media account on the social network, the monitoring comprising: analyzing metadata of a non-brand account that is in communication with the social media account that originated the public message; and determining whether a statistically significant match exists between the metadata of the non-brand account and the brand profile; and responsive to a determination by the monitoring engine of the fraud detection and prevention system that the statistically significant match exists between the metadata of the non-brand account and the brand profile, identifying, by a notification engine of the fraud detection and prevention system to the brand owner, the non- brand account as an imposter account or a potential imposter account. determining (40a, 41), by a fraud detection and prevention system, a brand account for which a brand owner of the brand account has subscribed for brand protection by the fraud detection and prevention system, the fraud detection and prevention system having a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the brand account being an account on a social network, the fraud detection and prevention system operating in a computing environment outside the social network; determining (40a, 42), by the fraud detection and prevention system using a link to the brand account on the social network, metadata of legitimate content used on the social network by the brand owner, the link provided to the fraud detection and prevention system by the brand owner and comprises an application programming interface of the social network, the determining comprising retrieving the metadata from the social network via the API; deriving (40a, 43), by a profile engine of the fraud detection and prevention system, a brand profile based on the metadata of legitimate content used on the social network by the brand owner, the brand profile applicable across multiple brand accounts on the social network that are owned by the brand owner; detecting (40b, 51-52), by a scanning engine of the fraud detection and prevention system via at least one application programming interface, a public message to the brand account on the social network and public replies to the public message by non-brand accounts on the social network, the public message originating from a social media account on the social network; responsive to the detecting, monitoring (40b, 52-56), by a monitoring engine of the fraud detection and prevention system over a predetermined time period through the scanning engine, public messages sent to the social media account on the social network, the monitoring comprising: analyzing metadata of a non-brand account that is in communication with the social media account that originated the public message; and determining whether a statistically significant match exists between the metadata of the non-brand account and the brand profile; and analyzing metadata of a non-brand account that is in communication with the social media account that originated the public message; and determining whether a statistically significant match exists between the metadata of the non-brand account and the brand profile; and responsive to a determination by the monitoring engine of the fraud detection and prevention system that the statistically significant match exists between the metadata of the non-brand account and the brand profile, identifying, by a notification engine of the fraud detection and prevention system to the brand owner, the non- brand account as an imposter account or a potential imposter account.