PimEyesCommon money-scam patterns
- Romance scam. An online partner has an emergency (medical bill, customs fee, plane ticket) and needs money now.
- Investment scam. A new friend shows big profits from a crypto or trading platform and offers to "teach" you.
- Military or overseas worker. They're deployed or working abroad and can't access their own money.
- Sextortion. After intimate photos are exchanged, they threaten to share them unless you pay.
Check them in four steps
- Don't send anything yet. Real people can wait an hour.
- Save their profile photos and any photos they sent you.
- Run a Deep Search in PimEyes on each face.
- If the face appears under different names or on a different person's profile, stop all contact and report the account.
If you already paid
- Contact your bank or card provider straight away; some payments can be stopped or reversed.
- Report it: in the US to the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov) and the FBI's IC3 (ic3.gov); in the UK to Action Fraud; elsewhere to your local police.
- Don't pay anyone who promises to recover your money for a fee. That is a common second scam.
Common questions
How can I tell if someone asking for money is a scammer?
Search their photos. Scammers use stolen pictures, so the same face often appears under other names. Pressure, secrecy and requests for gift cards or crypto are other red flags.
Can a reverse image search catch a romance scammer?
Often, yes. Because scammers reuse stolen photos, a face search frequently finds the real owner of the pictures or earlier scam reports.
What should I do if I've been scammed?
Contact your bank immediately, report to the FTC and IC3 in the US (Action Fraud in the UK), and keep all messages as evidence.