How to Spot a Fake Photo

The Art of Reverse Image Search

By RecOsint | Dec 4, 2025

Is that Profile Real? Scammers and "Catfish" accounts steal photos from innocent people to create fake identities. – The Trap: They look attractive and trustworthy. – The Reality: That photo belongs to a model in another country. How do you prove it?

The easiest first step. – How: Right-click an image in Chrome and select "Search Image with Google". – Result: It finds where else that image appears on the web. – Limitation: Good for objects/products, but weak for finding specific people.

Google Lens

Most OSINT investigators prefer Yandex (The Russian Search Engine) over Google for faces. – Why: Its facial recognition algorithm is aggressive. – Power: It often finds the original social media profile of the person in the photo, even if the background is different.

Yandex Images

This is the nuclear option. PimEyes uses AI to search for a specific face, not just the photo. – Scary Accuracy: Upload a photo of a person, and it finds every other photo of them on the internet—even from group shots or news articles.

PimEyes (Face Search)

In digital world, seeing is NOT believing. – Rule: Before sending money or meeting an online friend, run their photo through these tools. – Result: If the photo appears on 50 other websites under different names, it’s a scam.

Verify Before You Trust