Are their photos really theirs?
Romance scammers often use photos stolen from someone else. Upload a profile photo and run four reverse image searches in one tap.
1. Get a clear photo
- Screenshot the profile photo on your phone or computer (dating apps usually don’t let you save photos).
- Crop to the face and remove app buttons, captions and borders. Less clutter gives better matches.
- Check more than one photo from their profile. Scammers often mix stolen photos from different places.
2. Add the photo
JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 8MB. Your photo is stored for 24 hours so the searches can read it, then deleted. We strip hidden location data before uploading, and we never look at, share or analyse your photo.
Results explained
Each search checks a different part of the web, so run all four. One may find a copy the others miss, and some are better with faces or with finding where a photo first appeared.
If you find a match
Look at where the photo appears. The same photo under a different name, on a stock photo or modelling site, or on someone else’s Instagram are all red flags that the photos may be stolen. A stock-photo hit means the photo is available for anyone to use, so it can’t tell you who you’re really talking to. A match to their own name and profile is a good sign, but it isn’t proof on its own.
If you find no match
No match is not proof they’re real. New, private or AI-generated photos often have no matches anywhere. The best check is a live video call where you can see them talk and move.
What these searches can’t see
Dating app profiles (Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and others) are behind logins, so searches can’t look inside them. Photo check won’t find dating profiles, and no reverse image search can promise to. It searches the public web only.
Catfish photo red flags
- Stock or model-style photos: studio lighting, plain backgrounds, magazine poses.
- AI-generated face tells: odd or mismatched ears and earrings, blurry or uneven teeth, warped glasses or jewellery, melted or nonsense background details, strange hair edges.
- Lighting that’s too perfect in every photo, like a professional shoot.
- Only a few photos, or all from the same day and outfit.
- No everyday photos with friends, family or pets that tag them.
- They refuse or keep putting off a live video call, or the camera is always “broken”.
Seeing one of these doesn’t prove a scam, but a few together is a reason to slow down. Take the romance red-flag quiz or read how to protect your own photos.