Someone is using my photos on a fake account. What can I do?
Report the fake account to the platform as impersonation, with a link to your real profile, and take screenshots first. Then warn your friends and followers, so nobody sends money to "you", and keep the evidence in case someone is scammed and the case needs to be reported.
Stolen photos are the raw material of romance and marketplace scams. The person in the photo usually finds out when a stranger messages them, angry, asking for their money back. It is not your fault, and you are not liable for what the scammer did, but it helps to act quickly.
Step by step
- Screenshot the fake profile, its URL, the photos and any messages you received about it.
- Report the account on Facebook, Instagram or the dating app as "pretending to be me".
- Post a warning on your real account and ask friends to report the fake one too.
- Set your profile and photo albums to private for a while, so fewer photos can be taken.
- If someone was scammed with your photos, tell them to report to the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group or the NBI and give them your screenshots.
Frequently asked questions
- Will Veritaza flag me because a scammer used my photos?
- Veritaza looks for the same photo elsewhere on the internet and reports what it finds, with the link, so the person checking can see that the photos belong to someone else. If you think something about you is wrong, email ola@veritaza.com and we correct or delete it.
Want to know if there are warning signs about the person you are talking to? Veritaza checks the photos, the messages, the number, the email, the name and the ID, for ₱199.
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