Romance Scam Investigation
Upload the photo you were sent. Find out where it was really taken.
If someone you met online sends photos claiming to be in a city they aren't, that's a signal. Geolocate the image and compare it to the claim. This is a safety tool, not a marketing exercise.
Case study: the "London" photo that was Los Angeles
The claim
A romance scammer on a dating app sent a photo of themselves standing on a residential street. The caption: "Outside my flat in London, missing you."
Oceanir result
Coordinates: 34.0901, -118.4065. Beverly Hills area, Los Angeles. Confidence: 94%. The model flagged three cues inconsistent with London.
The cues that exposed it
- - Palm trees lining the street (no London street has mature Canary Island date palms).
- - Stucco and Spanish-tile architecture, vernacular to Southern California, not Greater London.
- - A blue-and-white California license plate visible on a parked car in the background.
Resolution
A reverse image search confirmed the photo was a stock image licensed from a Los Angeles photographer. The "London" narrative was fabricated from the first message.
What to do next
Report to the dating platform
Use the in-app report function. Attach the photo and your geolocation evidence if the form allows.
Preserve screenshots
Screenshot every conversation, the profile, payment receipts, and the Oceanir result. Date-stamp them.
File an IC3 report if you lost money
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov) handles romance fraud with financial loss. Attach everything.
Do not confront the scammer
Confrontation gives them time to delete evidence and warn co-conspirators. Stop communicating and report.
Warning signs of stock photo scams
Geolocation is one signal. Combine it with these patterns to confirm a stock photo scam.
- 01
Reverse image search finds the original stock photo on a licensing site.
- 02
The photo has watermark remnants or compression artifacts in a corner.
- 03
Backgrounds are inconsistent across photos the person sends (different lighting, different seasons, different cities).
- 04
Lighting is too perfect, with no natural shadows or color cast, suggesting studio work.
- 05
The person claims to be somewhere the visual cues contradict (London claim, palm trees in frame).
- 06
The photo has been cropped to remove a logo, but the crop itself is visible at edges.
- 07
Multiple photos appear to come from different people or different time periods entirely.
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Frequently asked questions
Can Oceanir trace a photo a scammer sent me?+
Oceanir geolocates the photo from its pixels. If a scammer sends a stock image claiming it's London, Oceanir may return Los Angeles with palm trees and California plates as cues. Upload the photo and review the coordinates, confidence, and visual evidence.
Is geolocation evidence enough to report a scammer?+
It's one piece. Pair it with screenshots of the conversation, the dating platform profile, and any payment receipts. File with the platform first, then with the FBI IC3 (ic3.gov) if there's financial loss. Geolocation evidence strengthens the report but is rarely sufficient on its own.
What if the photo resolves to a stock image location?+
Stock images often resolve to studios or generic outdoor sets. If Oceanir returns a location with cues like studio lighting artifacts or watermark remnants, run a reverse image search on TinEye or Google Images to find the original licensed photo. That confirms it's not the scammer's own.
Should I tell the scammer I found them out?+
No. Confronting a scammer gives them time to delete the profile, change platforms, and warn others in their network. Preserve your evidence, report to the platform, and stop communicating. Let authorities handle escalation if money was lost.
Does this work on screenshots from messaging apps?+
Yes. Screenshots carry no EXIF or GPS, and Oceanir does not rely on metadata. It reads the visual content of the frame. Screenshots from WhatsApp, Telegram, or dating app chats all work for geolocation.