Finding out who this man is from his online photograph

[PoliticalSatay]

Hi MN
Really hoping someone can help with this.
A close friend of mine has been having an online friendship / flirtation with a man for around three years. They speak to each other through a forum but message privately and speak on the phone regularly.

My friend has lots of photographs of this man throughout the years he has sent her, we do not know if the man she is speaking to is the man in the photographs or not and would like to find out who he is.
How can we search for his image online to check who he is?
Have tried Google Image Search but it doesn't bring anything up, has anyone used this successfully and can they give me any tips please? It will make a big difference to my friend if we can find out more about the man in the photographs.
Tia xx

A good private detective would be able to look at the tech aspect of this and get to the bottom if PDQ I imagine.

Would you consider this route @PoliticalSatay

But presumably these friends and family know who you are. And as you’d want to meet a random off the internet fairly promptly it would be understandable as you don’t have a relationship.

I get how someone can feel they have an emotional connection with someone they’ve been speaking to for a while, even if they haven’t met. But the lack of anything other than text engagement is 100% suspicious.

They do speak on the phone regularly.

I'm not going to pay for a private detective. I've suggested this to my friend but she doesn't want to pay for this. That's why she suggested seeing if we could find out who he is via the photographs she has been sent.

Pimeyes is much better than GoogleIS. Yandex is pretty good too.

I don't care. It's just a thread on Mumsnet. It's odd how worked up it's getting you.

All she needs to do is press the FaceTime or video button.
If he’s matching with the AI photos people found here then he’s clearly hiding something.

Have you told her you’ve found the pics?

Can you do that on an android phone? How do you press the video botton, do you have to have the camera open at the same time. Trying to work out how I might be able to do video calls

Sorry not sure but there would usually be a very quick option to switch. For example changing from a call to FaceTime or WhatsApp call to video call.

I think she is a bit scared about finding out the truth! So asked me to do it.

So what does she think now she knows he’s fake?

Just by way of an update I saw my friend tonight for the first time since I found all of the photos of the man she has been speaking to. The photos I found online are of an international model of some kind and therefore I think highly unlikely to be the man she has been speaking to for the past three years. I told my friend last week that there was a way she could buy credits and find out about the man eg with credits click through and find him on instagram thereby finding out who the model really is. My friend tonight said she hadn't done this and could I do this for her? I said no I didn't want to, this was something she could do. All the while my friend was talking about how good the conversations have been with this man recently how they feel close and about her strong feelings. I am fond of my friend but I probably need to take a bit of a break from the friendship because it is heartbreaking seeing someone live in such a fantasy bubble and refusing to come out of it. Feel exhausted tonight. X

Sorry for garbled post v tired!

I’m not sure why you’ve worded it like that. Why not just say look I found the photos and it’s a model and you’ve been lied to!

Thanks that's what I said!! She can now find out who the model is which will enable her to find out she has been lied to :)

the :) was in response to your response not to my friend being lied to. I'm pretty furious about it so going to take a short break as hard hearing about it. I completely understand it on one level but it is hard to hear about.

I don’t see why she would need to know who the model is though? Isn’t that just leading her to think that it may be this model? Which is obviously isn’t. If it’s easier just make up a name for him! Just say this guy she’s been talking to has used another persons photos and so has been lying to her.
she seems like she’s in denial!

Friend is in denial unfortunately. The name he has given on the online forum isn't a name that matches the photo if you search. I don't think my friend wants to come out of the fantasy, that was made clear last night. I think i'm going to have to take a break from the situation because it is starting to feel very very frustrating and all based on complete nonsense. We will never find out who the man she is speaking to is. I think I have reached my limit hearing about it tbh.