Catfishes have gotten skillful when it comes to scamming people not only financially, but romantically as well.

And meanwhile, some are better than others, there’s only so much they can do to hide the fact they’re not who they say they are.

This is exactly why we use reverse image search tools!

– How to know if someone is a catfish after searching their picture?

Before I ramble on about the methods, let’s first talk about what a catfish’s results look like.

First of all, an abundance of results: if they’re a catfish, the picture they’re using is likely to have been used on social media sites like Facebook and image-sharing platforms like Pinterest.

Also, catfishers typically use good-looking people’s pictures, so don’t be surprised if you come across a person with a large following.

And yeah, it could be that the person you’re talking to is having their pictures used by other people, but that’s for you to conclude

If you’re not on a dating app that offers a background check, here’s how you do a reverse image search to catch a catfish:

1. Pick the Face option on SwindlerBuster.

SwindlerBuster is a 3-in-1 type of deal because you can find Tinder users through their images, names, and phone numbers.

If you suspect you’re being catfished by someone who might be double-timing you on Tinder, upload their image on SwindlerBuster and let it do all the work.

You’ll learn if the flirty cutie you just met is actually a liar, hoping to prey on the innocent with false promises.

• Another thing with SwindlerBuster is that it’ll find all the Tinder members who have uploaded the same image—the more of those, the higher the chances of you being catfished.

2. You can reverse image search catfishers on Google for free!

If you didn’t know, one of Google’s many functions is reverse image searching!

To use that feature, go to Google Images, and on the search bar click the second icon (the little camera).

When you click it, you’ll get the option to upload an image on Google Lens—do just that.

Pick the image of your choice, and click on Open or Choose.

3. Sort of similar, you can also try Bing Visual Search.

Bing is an adequate tool for reverse image searching! Give the Bing Visual Search a try:

Visit Microsoft Bing, and click on the second icon on the search bar—pick the image of your choice!

View the results and see if that picture is being used anywhere—if it is, verify that the person in the picture is NOT the person who you’re keeping in touch with.

4. Duplichecker, the tool that helps us find similar pictures across the web.

At the end of the day, it only takes to know where an image is being used to expose a catfisher.

To see all the similar images, go to DupliChecker and upload your image.

After clicking on Search Similar Image, you can pick the search engine you’d like to view your results on:

• Google;
• Bing;
• Yandex, etc.

I prefer Yandex because it never fails to find me what I’ve been looking for!

Scrolling through countless links is tiresome, but unfortunately, the process of busting a catfisher is tedious.

5. Among other search methods, SocialCatfish lets us search with an image.

I’m sure you’ve heard of SocialCatfish at one point—it’s commonly used to find cheaters on dating sites, do background checks, find out other details, etc.

And even though they’re all very useful (especially for online dating), what we need right now is the Reverse Image Search tool.

Upload the image on the box and click on Search—wait a short while for your results to be ready.

6. The PimEyes face-recognition engine.

This is a superb choice if you’re suspecting a person of catfishing as another person.

PimEyes gives users the opportunity to find out where the same pictures are published across the web—websites and social profiles.

Just upload the picture on the site; it’s built for easy usage and maximum accuracy, after all.

7. Give TinEye a try when reverse-looking up the catfisher’s picture!

It works similarly to the other reverse image search sites: upload the selfie and research the results to make sure that somebody is attempting to catfish.

See what other profiles are using the same picture—if you’re being catfished, that picture should’ve been used multiple times.

You might even find the actual owner’s profiles.

8. Find out if you’re being catfished with SmallSEOTools.

With this website, you can see if someone is faking their identity and using another person’s images.

You can pick from different search engines for maximum precision.

You’ll learn all the information you need to make up your mind regarding the person you’re skeptical about.

9. The FaceCheck site was specifically made for this!

If you need to verify that someone is using their own pictures, then FaceCheck is just what you need.

It’s a seriously impressive facial recognition service that brings up the places where the face of a person in a specific picture appears.

Find their social media and even criminal records to prevent any scams by knowing for a fact who you’re keeping in touch with.

With FaceCheck, catfishing, romantic scams, and other falsifications are very unlikely to take place.

Am I being catfished? How can I find out someone is a catfish by picture alone?

Luckily, most of the time we can tell when a person is catfishing us—certain clues just jump out.

Catfishers react in a very specific way.

Because they’re lying about their identity, they have certain restrictions, specifically regarding pictures.

– All of their pictures have notably low quality.

Catfishers steal pictures from other people, meaning that they go through the trouble of saving them on their own devices, and then re-posting them for the world to see.

It may not sound like a long process, but the damage it does to the picture is huge—it takes its quality down a peg.

– Despite that, those images are seemingly taken by a professional.

A model posing for a professional picture, great lighting and all, for example.

Even though the picture has such low quality, they look as if they were taken by a professional, in a professional setting!

– They don’t have a lot of images either.

Their profile probably consists of one or a couple of pictures only—they’re not theirs, so how can they get more?

They think 1 or 2 pictures are enough to fool people, so they roll with it!

The point is, catfishers don’t usually use a lot of pictures—but I wouldn’t put it past them either.

– They ABSOLUTELY refuse to video chat with you!

If this person is a catfish, it’s only normal for them to avoid anything that might expose them—a video chat wouldn’t be the brightest idea.

– You have never received real-time pictures from them.

A catfish is not the person they proclaim to be, so unless they ask the person whose identity they’ve stolen to cover up for them, I don’t see them sending candid pictures anytime soon.

– Their images are heavily edited.

This can be a bit of tricky as some images aren’t too obvious, but for the ones that are, know that catfishing may be the case.

Catfishing comes in many ways—technically speaking, it is pretending to be someone else through altering one’s pictures.

– They’re also horribly-cropped.

If this person’s images are shaped very weirdly, I’m talking about white outlines and things that shouldn’t be cropped, being cropped.

This is another case of a catfish who doesn’t bother protecting their secret!

– Catfishers don’t have any pictures with other people in their profile.

They never post pictures with their friends or family—because they’re trying to scam, they’re not using their own pictures.

– When you try reverse image searching, the following things take place:

• The image is being used by other people;
• Their selfie can be found on image-sharing websites (Pinterest, Tumblr, and others);
• You see one person in the search whose pictures might belong to;
• The picture is found in different colors, sizes, and other alterations!

To find out for a fact that you’re talking to a catfish, I seriously recommend taking action.

Consider reverse-searching people’s images if you have met them online and think of getting closer to them.

Reverse image searching works for catfishes.

We need to use all available methods to expose a catfish; they have the power to do some real damage.

Do not, under any circumstances, give out sensitive information to people you only know online!

And be extra careful when using dating sites—that’s where most catfishing happens.

Good luck and stay safe.