When we are meeting someone online, we often think that if they are willing to video chat that they are who they say they are. However, scammers are becoming more intelligent as they figure out newer ways to scam their victims. One of their tricks that they use to scam their victims are fake video chats. They do this by taking a video of the person they are pretending to be, and voicing over it during the video call. However, even though they have the technology to do this, they still haven’t mastered it yet. We are still able to tell if we are on a fake video chat by asking yourself five simple questions that we will go over in this article.

How Romance Scammers Fake a Video Call

Scammers can use many third-party platforms, such as ManyCam and OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). Basically, they download a software and add the video of the person they are pretending to be in the program. Then, they choose how they want the video to be viewed when doing the video chat. Finally, they turn on the option to voice-over in the video, and can now trick their victim into thinking that they are that person.

How to Tell That a Video Chat is Fake

• Is the quality of the video good or bad? If the video is blurry, cloudy, staticy, and isn’t high definition, then that’s when you might want to question the authenticity of the person you are talking to because you are more than likely talking to a scammer.
• Does the video size look off to you? A lot of the times, scammers will stretch out or shrink the video to fit the size of what the video in the video chat is supposed to be. This can result in the face looking longer or wider than usual. If you notice any funkiness in the shape of the person’s face and surroundings, that could be a sign that something is wrong.
• Do you notice the video looping or cutting out suddenly? This could be a sign that the scammer is either playing the same pre-recorded video over and over again, or that the pre-recorded video ended on your video chat.
• Are they showing their face in the video? If their phone is staring at the ceiling the whole time, or the screen is black, this could be a sign that they are hiding their true identity.
• Do their lips and face expressions match what they are saying? If the person’s lips are moving but the words being said don’t quite match the video, this could mean that you’re in a fake video call. This could also go for their facial expressions as they react to what you say. If it doesn’t match the feeling of the conversation, the video is probably pre-recorded.
• They make excuses as to why they can’t hold up any fingers. They tell you that their hand is broken, they can’t hold up their hand without holding the phone, and other ridiculous excuses as to why they can’t hold up their fingers. This means that the video was pre-recorded and they aren’t real.

How to Tell That a Video Chat is Real

• The video of your online partner is high quality. If their face and the surroundings around them are high quality, then this could be a good sign you are talking to a real person.
• The video doesn’t look stretched out. The video fits the ratio of the video chat dimensions without looking stretched out.
• The video feed is continuous and doesn’t loop or stop. Their video is unique and live throughout the whole video conversation instead of looping the same video.
• They aren’t afraid to show their face. They are showing their face without trying to hide part of it or making you stare at their ceiling.
• They interact with you over the video. They show you their pets, family and friends, and surroundings and tell you about it as you’re video chatting.
• Their lips and facial expressions match what they are saying. They react to what you are saying with the right facial expressions and respond accordingly. Their lips and pauses match what they are saying and how they are saying it.
• They are more than willing to hold up as many fingers as you want them to over video chat. If you told them to hold a certain amount of fingers up, they could do it with no problem.

Social Catfish is Here to Help You!

At Social Catfish, we want to help you verify the identities of those who might seem suspicious to you. If you have their name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image, you can reverse search and see who the suspected person was that you’ve been in contact with if you think you’ve been a victim of a fake video chat.

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