Research scammers, be your own detective.



DO YOUR OWN SCAM RESEARCH, CHECK IF YOU ARE IN CONTACT WITH A SCAMMER IN 10 EASY STEPS

Step 1.

Get their email address.

You would be surprised how many things you can find out about a person from a simple email address.

Step 2.

Enter their email address in Google.

Does anything show up? Especially any references to scams? If their email is showing on any scam list, they are scam. No doubt and no mistake.

Step 3.

If you have their phone number, research it in Google, too.

Make sure you enter it in this format: XXX-XXX-XXXX. Does their area code at least match their city? Of course they’ll come up with the stories why it doesn’t match, but this is still a red flag.

Step 4.

Enter the sentences from their messages or profile description in Google.

Does anything show up? Put it in quotes, to make sure you are searching for this exact phrase. No need to enter the entire message or description, just the most prominent parts. See if you can find the same exact sentences on somebody else’s profile or on any scam list.

Step 5.

Check their pictures in Google Image Search.

Google Image Search is a very useful tool, in case you haven’t heard of it. See if their picture is used elsewhere, associated with another name or is already scamlisted.

Step 6.

Try our Scamdigger Images Search tool.

Enter their picture in our Lookup scammers by picture search tool and it might tell you if his picture is already posted on our site.

Step 7.

Check their Hangouts picture

If they have gmail, check their Google Hangouts picture, to see if it’s the same person on the photo.

Step 8.

Check their IP.

Our IP search tool will tell you if their IP was used in scams before or belong to a “bad neighbourhood”.

Step 9.

Take our test “Are you talking to a scammer”.

Not only it will give you some answers, but you can get many important clues right from the test’s questions, at least you will know what to look for and what is considered a suspicious behavior.

Step 10.

Use Background Check Services

There are many background search services you can use, for example:

 

Good luck in your research!