How to Verify Someone You Met Online

How to Know If Someone Is Real Online: The 8 Checks

No single check settles it. Together they build a picture that a fake profile cannot hold up for long. Start at the top: the first two catch most fakes in under five minutes.

Check 1 of 8

Reverse Image Search Their Photos

Start here, because it is fast and it catches the laziest fakes. Most stolen photos come from somewhere public, and somewhere public is exactly what an image search can see.

1. Save or screenshot their clearest photo and crop it to the picture alone.
2. Upload it to Google Lens (in the Google app or at google.com) and to TinEye.
3. Look for the same picture under a different name, on a stock photo site or in a model's portfolio.

Found it under someone else's name? You can stop. That profile is not theirs.

Found nothing? That proves less than it feels like. Cropped, flipped and filtered photos slip past image search, and AI faces have no original to find. On a phone, here is how to reverse image search on iPhone.

Check 3 of 8

Check Their Social Media Footprint

Real lives are messy online. Years of posts, friends who comment, photos someone else took and tagged. Fake ones look curiously tidy.

• Account age. A profile created a few weeks ago, especially with old-looking photos, is a red flag.
• Photos by other people. Pictures that friends posted and tagged are far stronger evidence than any selfie.
• Real interaction. Look for comments and replies from people who seem to know them, not just likes from strangers.
• The same username elsewhere. Search their handle in quotes. Real people tend to reuse it across platforms.

A thin profile is not proof on its own. Some people simply do not post. But thin plus brand new plus no tagged photos is a pattern.

Check 4 of 8

Cross-Check What They Have Told You

Everyone shares a few facts early on. Each one is something you can check quietly.

• Their job. Most professionals have a LinkedIn profile or a mention on their employer's website. Doctors and nurses appear on public registers, such as the General Medical Council in the UK or state licensing boards in the US.
• Their city. Do they know the local details? Does the time they message fit their time zone?
• Their name. Search it in quotes with their city or school and see whether the person you find matches the face.

Watch for the cover stories scammers favour: deployed soldier, surgeon with an overseas charity, engineer on an oil rig. Each one conveniently explains why they cannot call or meet.

Check 5 of 8

Ask Questions Only a Real Person Can Answer

Scripts are good at romance and bad at Tuesday. Ask about the specific, the local and the right-now, then come back to it later.

• “What can you see from your window right now?”
• “What did you have for lunch? Send me a photo.”
• “What is the café on your street called?”
• “Can you send me a voice note?” A voice that does not fit their age or accent is worth noticing.

Then the real test: bring up one of their answers a week later. A real person remembers what they told you. Someone juggling several scripts often does not.

Check 6 of 8

Ask for a Live Video Call

This is the single most decisive check, and it takes a minute.

Keep it short and unplanned: “Free for a quick video call now?” works better than booking one for Sunday, which gives a fake time to prepare. Most real matches agree within a week or two of chatting. Someone who still refuses after several asks, with a new excuse each time, has answered your question.

Can a Video Call Be Faked?

Sometimes. Live face-swap filters and deepfake tools exist, though they tend to slip when the face moves. During the call, ask them to:

• turn their head fully to one side,
• wave a hand slowly across their face,
• hold up a number of fingers you choose.

Blurring around the edges, a face that slides out of place or a call that suddenly drops are all worth noting.

Check 7 of 8

Ask for Proof of Identity, Safely

Start with the verification the apps already offer. On Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, the photo verification badge means a live selfie matched the profile photos when it was taken. That is useful. It is also all it means: not a checked name, not a checked age, and Tinder itself says the blue check is not a guarantee.

Some people go further and ask for a photo of an ID with the numbers covered. You can, but know its limits. A picture of a document is easy to fake, so it proves less than a video call and a real footprint.

Check 8 of 8

Watch for Money and Pressure

Everything above tells you who they are. This tells you what they want. Stop at the first of these, however much you like them:

• a request for money, gift cards or crypto, for any reason,
• a tip about an investment, trading app or crypto platform,
• a push to keep your relationship secret from friends,
• urgency: a fee that has to be paid today, a flight that needs booking now.

Real people who care about you can wait until you have met. Our guide to romance scammer photos shows the faces and stories that come up again and again.

What to Do If They Fail the Checks

1. Do not send anything. No money, no photos, no personal details.
2. Save the evidence. Screenshot the profile, the messages and anything you found.
3. Report and block. Use the report button on the app or site where you met.
4. Report any loss. If money has gone, call your bank and report it to the police. In the US, you can also report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Passed every check? Good. Meet somewhere public, tell a friend where you will be and get yourself there and back. Our online dating safety guide covers the first date itself.

Verifying Someone Online: FAQ

Related guides: what is catfishing, how to tell if a dating profile is fake, how to verify a photo and how to identify someone from a photo.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Dating app features change, so check each app's help pages for the latest detail. Face search results are leads, not proof of identity. Do not use face search to harass anyone.