The embodiment of the invention discloses a method for identifying potential users and a corresponding device, which are used for solving the problem of low potential user identification accuracy in the prior art. The method comprises the steps of selecting N confirmed users and acquiring values of characteristic variables of the N confirmed users; taking the N confirmed users as an original sample set, and constructing a random forest classification model based on the original sample set; constructing a loss function of the random forest classification model, and regularizing the loss function by using an L1 norm and an L2 norm; solving the optimal solution of the independent variable when the dependent variable of the regularized loss function is minimum, and updating the weight coefficients of all the base classifiers according to the optimal solution to generate a new random forest classification model; inputting the value of the characteristic variable of the to-be-identified userinto the new random forest classification model to obtain an output result; and determining that the to-be-identified user is a potential user or a non-potential user according to the output result.