Spot the fake

This person doesn’t exist

Nice photo, friendly bio, an Add Friend button. But Leah joined this month, and you have no friends in common. Her face was made by AI, in seconds, for free. Leah has never existed.

Scammers use faces like this for fake profiles, fake friends and fake ‘it’s me’ accounts. So could you tell one from a real photo?

Sometimes the photo slips

Some AI images still get small details wrong, so the edges and the bits that should join up are worth a look. Real photos have blur, odd angles and cropped hands too, though, so treat a clue as a reason to look closer, not as the answer.

Hands

Knuckles in the wrong place, a finger too many, a grip that doesn’t quite work.

Earrings and glasses

Anything that should match on both sides or meet cleanly at a hinge. Watch for one that melts into skin.

Wires and straps

A cable that splits or goes nowhere, a strap that fades into a shoulder, strands of hair that dissolve into the background.

Text and backgrounds

Lettering that looks like letters but spells nothing. A horizon that steps up behind the head, a wall that bends.

The face can look perfect. What matters next is what the account asks you to do.

Now imagine Leah, from the photo above, messages you

• Her photo proves nothing. The best fakes have no slip-ups at all, and even a real photo can be copied.
• A new account and no friends in common are reasons to be careful. They aren’t proof either way.
• The ask is what settles it. That code is the login code for your account. Whoever gets it gets in.
• So you don’t send it. You don’t need to work out who Leah really is. Whatever the profile looks like, your code stays with you.

The habit Someone you don’t know asks for money or a code? Don’t send it. Someone you do know? Check with them first: ring the number you already have saved, or ask them in person. Keep passwords and login codes to yourself, whoever’s asking.

One of them has never existed.

Tap the face you think is AI — or hit Zoom in to look closer first.