New York ranks in the top 5 states nationally for romance scam losses. Scammers use AI-generated profile photos to catfish New Yorkers on dating apps. Faux Spy detects those fake photos instantly—before you swipe, match, or share a single message. The extension works on every dating platform and gives you 10 free checks daily, no account needed.
🕵️ Add to Chrome — Free 🦊 Add to Firefox — Free10 checks/day free. No account required.
Romance scams aren't a small problem in New York. The FTC recorded 64,003 romance scam complaints nationally in 2024, with victims losing $1.14 billion combined. New York sits in the top 5 states for these losses—concentrated heavily in the NYC metro area where high incomes make victims attractive targets.
The average loss per victim nationally? $37,521. That's not pocket change. New York victims, many of them professionals in finance, tech, and media, often lose significantly more. These aren't people with poor judgment—they're intelligent, busy people who trusted someone they met online.
What changed in 2024: The FBI confirms increasing use of AI-generated photos in romance scams. Scammers no longer need to steal photos from Instagram. They generate fake faces that look flawless, consistent, and impossible to reverse-image-search. This is why traditional catfishing tactics no longer work.
A romance scam used to work like this: steal someone's photo, build a fake profile, build trust over weeks, then ask for money. The victim could Google the photo, find the real person, and catch the lie.
Now it works like this: AI generates a completely fake face—no real person behind it. The photo passes the Instagram reverse-search test. It matches a believable backstory. The scammer's story about being stuck overseas, needing medical money, or having a business emergency becomes believable because they have a "real" photo to back it up.
These AI photos have tells. The teeth are too perfect. The eyes have an uncanny symmetry. The skin texture is slightly too smooth. The background has impossible geometry. But catching these tells requires time, skepticism, and technical knowledge most daters don't have in the moment. Faux Spy catches them for you—instantly, with a confidence score, every time you hover over an image.
The free plan gives you 10 checks per day. If you're a serious dater or work in dating safety, Faux Spy Pro unlocks unlimited checks, plus deepfake detection and manipulation detection for $9.99/month or $99/year.
If you've already been scammed or suspect you're being catfished, stop sending money immediately. Block the person. Save all messages and photos.
Report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): Go to ic3.gov and file a report. Include all conversation records, any wire transfer details, and the scammer's profile information. The FBI uses these reports to track organized scam networks.
Report to the FTC: Visit reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FTC aggregates romance scam data and uses it to pursue enforcement actions against scam networks.
Report to the New York Attorney General: New York's Consumer Fraud Bureau handles financial crimes. You can file a complaint at ag.ny.gov or call 1-800-771-7755.
Report to the dating platform: Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn all have abuse reporting mechanisms. Flag the fake profile directly on their site.
Do not send additional money, do not wire funds, and do not share personal banking information. Romance scammers are skilled manipulators who will escalate pressure and emotional manipulation if you engage.
You live in one of the fastest-moving, most competitive dating markets in the world. The NYC metro area has no shortage of real people to meet. You don't have time for fake profiles.
Faux Spy levels the playing field. You get the same AI-detection technology that law enforcement and platform trust and safety teams use—directly in your browser, free, in seconds. No more guessing whether a profile is real. No more hoping the person you're texting isn't a scammer on the other side of the world.
The extension is built for speed. You're swiping through profiles at 9 PM on a Tuesday after work. You don't have 10 minutes to analyze each photo. You hover. Faux Spy tells you yes or no. You move on. That's it.
New York ranks in the top 5 states nationally for romance scam losses. Nationally, the FTC received 64,003 romance scam reports in 2024, with victims losing $1.14 billion total. New York accounts for a significant portion of these losses, with the NYC metro area being particularly hard-hit due to its high concentration of affluent, digitally active singles.
The national average loss per romance scam victim is $37,521. New York victims, concentrated in the NYC metro area, frequently face losses at or above this average due to the state's higher income levels and the sophistication of the scammers targeting wealthy professionals in finance, tech, and media.
Use Faux Spy's Chrome extension. Hover or right-click any profile photo on Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X, or any other website. You'll get an instant verdict: No AI Detected, AI Photo, AI Art, Digital Art, Possible Manipulation, or Inconclusive. The extension analyzes pixel-level patterns and neural artifacts that AI image generators consistently leave behind, even in photos that look perfect to the human eye.
Stop all communication immediately. Do not send money under any circumstances. Report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov, the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and the New York Attorney General's Consumer Fraud Bureau at ag.ny.gov or 1-800-771-7755. Block the scammer on the dating platform and save all conversation records as evidence.
Yes. Faux Spy works on Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X, and any other website. Install the free Chrome extension, then hover or right-click any image on any site. You get 10 checks daily for free, no account required. Faux Spy Pro ($9.99/month or $99/year) unlocks unlimited checks plus deepfake and manipulation detection.
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Faux Spy takes the guessing out of online dating. Check any profile photo in seconds, get 10 free checks daily, and protect yourself from romance scammers using AI fake photos. Install now—no account, no credit card, no friction.
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