Romance scammers rarely use their own face. They copy photos from real people’s social media, often people who post a lot of clear, friendly pictures. If your photos are being used, you can’t always stop it, but you can find copies early and get many of them taken down.
1. Reverse search your own photos every month
- Pick the 3 to 5 photos of you that are most public: profile pictures, photos you’ve shared publicly, and any professional headshots.
- Open Photo check, upload each one, and run all four searches. Each one checks a different part of the web.
- Look for your photo under a different name, on accounts you don’t own, or on sites you’ve never used. Save screenshots and links of anything you find before you report it.
Your photo is stored for 24 hours so the searches can read it, then deleted.
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2. Ask PimEyes to remove your face
PimEyes is a face search site that lets anyone upload a face and find matching photos online. It has an opt-out form that asks it to stop showing your face in its results. The opt-out asks you for a photo of your face and a photo of an ID document so it can confirm it’s you. Cover any details on the ID that it doesn’t need, such as the document number, if the form allows it. The opt-out only affects PimEyes’ own results, not the sites where your photos are posted.
3. Get stolen photos taken down
- Social media and dating apps: use the platform’s “report” option on the fake profile and choose impersonation (“pretending to be me” or “pretending to be someone I know”). Most large platforms have a dedicated impersonation form, and some ask for ID.
- Websites: if you took the photo yourself, you usually own the copyright. Look for a “copyright”, “DMCA” or “report content” link and send a takedown request with the link to the copy and a link to your original.
- Search results: once a page is removed, search engines drop it over time. Google also has a form to request removal of outdated content.
- If someone is using your photos to ask people for money, report it as a scam where you live:
- US: ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the FBI’s IC3.
- Australia: Scamwatch.
- UK: Action Fraud (or Report Fraud in Scotland via Police Scotland 101).
- Canada: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
- New Zealand: Netsafe.
4. Make your photos harder to reuse
- Keep personal accounts private, and limit who can see older photos and tagged photos.
- Post fewer clear, close-up face photos publicly, especially ones that look like dating-profile pictures.
- Tell friends and family: if they ever see a profile with your photos and a different name, they should tell you and report it.
Questions
How often should I check my photos?
Once a month is a sensible habit, and any time a friend says they’ve seen a profile that looks like you. Use the photos you post most, like your profile pictures.
Will a reverse image search find fake dating profiles using my photos?
Usually not. Dating apps are behind logins, so search sites can’t see inside them. Reverse searches find copies on the public web, such as fake social media accounts and scam websites.
Does the PimEyes opt-out remove my photos from the internet?
No. It asks PimEyes to stop showing your face in its own search results. The photos stay wherever they were posted, so you still need to report copies to those sites.
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