How to Identify Scammer Pictures: What to Look Out For When Talking to Someone Online

When talking to people online and swiping on dating apps, we often wonder if the person we are communicating with is who they say they are. Maybe they aren’t wanting to video chat because “their camera is broken” or they asked for money to help with something they really need. Either way, our gut feeling senses that something isn’t right. On the other hand, they have a profile picture and have sent numerous pictures of themselves, so how can they be fake? In this article, we examine how to identify scammer pictures using Social Catfish‘s reverse search platform.

How to Identify Scammer Pictures Using Social Catfish’s Reverse Search Platform

1. Reverse search for their name. If you reverse search for their name and the image pops up under that similar name, then you know that it’s most likely a real person. However, if nothing shows up for their name, then its a sign you may be talking to a scammer.
2. Reverse search for their email address. If the name and image pop-up while reverse searching their email, then chances are you are talking to a real person. However, if nothing pops up for the email address, that’s usually a red flag.
3. Reverse search for their phone number. If the phone number is associated with the name and image, then it’s most likely a real phone number. However, if it’s associated with a VOIP line with no name, that means you are most likely talking to a scammer.
4. Reverse search for their social media username. If you have their social media username, you can search for it using our platform and see if their image comes up under that same username.
5. Reverse search for their image. By directly putting their image in our search bar, you can see exactly where their picture comes from. If there are many results for that same image from different people, chances are you are talking to a scammer.

Additional Ways to Identify Scammer Pictures

1. You can search their email address up on social media. By searching their email address on Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, etc. you can see if any profiles pop up using the same image you have.
2. Get the IP Address sent to your email. First, look at the message source of the email you are looking at. By looking at this, you should be able to get the geographic area of where your message is coming from. By doing this, you can see if the scammer is lying to you about where they are from, which will then tell you if they are using a fake picture.
3. Is the picture heavily edited or of a supermodel? If the image is of someone who is too good to be true or looks heavily edited, this could be a sign that you are talking to a scammer. They choose the best-looking image of someone to lure people in and steal their money.
4. Does the person in the picture look familiar? Scammers often steal images from social media influencers and make them their own to trick people into falling in love with them.
5. Are they not willing to video chat? This is usually because they are using a fake image, and don’t want you to know that they aren’t actually that person.

Social Catfish is Here to Help You!

If you feel like you’ve been in contact with a scammer, Social Catfish is here to help you! As mentioned in the above steps, you can reverse search the information you have, such as a name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image to see who it is you’ve really been talking to.