How to spot a fake hookup profile: seven tells

A fake profile is any account that isn't a real person who is genuinely available to meet you. On a casual site that can be three different things: a scammer after your money, a piece of software designed to get you to pay, or a person paid to chat. You don't need to know which one you're dealing with. The tells overlap, and the answer is the same: don't pay, don't share personal details, and walk away.

The seven tells at a glance

1. The photos look like a shoot

Model-quality photos with nothing from ordinary life are the most common sign of borrowed pictures. Real people's photos have bad lighting, a friend's elbow, a kitchen in the background. A profile made entirely of studio lighting, perfect angles and a different outfit in every shot is likely to be using someone else's pictures.

Test it: save one photo and run a reverse image search (Google Lens and TinEye both do this). The FTC suggests the same check for romance scams. If the same face turns up under a different name, on a modelling page or on a stock photo site, you have your answer.

2. They reply in seconds, at any hour

Instant, round-the-clock replies are a classic sign of a script or a team working shifts. You message at 3:47am and get an answer by 3:48, and again at lunchtime, and again at midnight. Real people sleep, work and leave their phones in the other room. Our guide to chat bots goes into the patterns.

3. Flattery with no detail

Generic praise is cheap to send to hundreds of people at once. "You look amazing, I'd love to get to know you" could be sent to anyone, and probably was. A real person who's read your profile tends to mention something in it. Ask a question that needs a specific answer and see whether you get one.

4. A push to pay, or to move off the site

Pressure is the tell, whichever direction it pushes. Some fakes are there to get you to buy a membership: the interest peaks exactly when you hit the paywall. Others want you on WhatsApp, Telegram or Snapchat within a few messages, where the site can't see what happens next. A real person who wants to meet you can wait a day.

5. Any request for money, cards or "verification"

A request for money is the one tell that needs no other evidence. A ticket to come and see you, a phone bill, a sick relative, a "safety verification" on another website that needs your card details: all of these are scams. Scammers prefer payments that are hard to reverse, such as bank transfers, gift cards and crypto.

No genuine match needs your money before you've met, and no legitimate site asks you to verify your identity for another member on a different website. Our billing traps guide explains the verification scam in detail.

6. The story keeps shifting

Details that change are a sign someone is running several conversations, or several characters. They're 29, then 32. They live nearby, then they're working abroad. They're a nurse, then in the army. Scroll back and compare what they've told you.

7. They'll never video call or meet

Endless excuses mean you'll never find out, which is the point. There's always a reason: a broken camera, a night shift, a bad signal. A short, non-explicit video call settles it in thirty seconds, and someone genuine will usually agree, even if not on the first day.

Three quick tests

• Reverse image search one or two of their photos.
• Ask something specific that a script can't answer well, such as what they think of something in your profile.
• Suggest a quick video call or a drink somewhere public. Note how they respond.

One tell on its own proves very little: plenty of real people reply fast or take good photos. Three together is a pattern, and patterns are what you should act on.

Example: the same chat, two ways

Genuine-sounding: "Ha, you like climbing? I tried the wall at the leisure centre once and lasted ten minutes. Free Thursday for a drink?"

Scripted-sounding: "You seem so special, I knew it the moment I saw you. I can't wait to show you more pics, but my messages are limited, can you upgrade so we can talk properly?"

(Both are made-up examples, not real messages.)

What Just Naughty Singles checks, and what it doesn't

Every photo uploaded here is reviewed before it appears. Members who sign up through a VPN, or whose accounts are flagged, have to pass an ID and selfie check, and any member can choose to take that check for an optional ID badge. What members write about themselves, such as their age, location and what they're looking for, is not checked by anyone.

So the badge tells you someone has proved who they are. A profile without one may be completely genuine, but you're taking it on trust. Profiles are also shared with partner sites in the same network, so the person messaging you may have joined through another site. Our safety page covers the rest, and how it works explains the network.

What to do if you've spotted one

1. Stop replying. You don't owe a fake profile an explanation.
2. Screenshot the profile and messages before it disappears.
3. Report it. On Just Naughty Singles, report it through the members help centre with the username and what happened. On any other site, use its own reporting tool.
4. If you've paid or shared card details, call your bank first, then report it: ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US, Report Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Scamwatch or ReportCyber in Australia. Where to report a dating scam lists every country we cover.
5. If they're threatening to share images, read the sextortion guide before you reply.