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Spotting deepfakes: faked videos and images
Faked videos keep getting better. There are still tell-tale signs – and simple habits that protect you far more reliably than any detection tool.
What a deepfake is
A deepfake is a video, image or piece of audio faked with artificial intelligence. It can make people appear to say or do things that never happened – for fraud, extortion or disinformation.
What to look for
With video, a second calm look pays off. Pause it and check:
- Eyes and blinking – unnaturally rare, or just odd.
- Mouth and lips – does the movement match the sound exactly?
- Hair, teeth, ears – often blurred or smeared.
- Light and shadow – do they agree across the whole frame?
- The edge of the face – any flickering or hard edges?
With photos and images
Faked images give themselves away through different details than video:
- Hands and fingers – the wrong number, bent or merged together.
- The background – distorted text, nonsense signage, repeating patterns.
- Jewelry, glasses, teeth – asymmetric or “melted”.
- Too perfect – flawless skin, syrupy light, everything ironed smooth.
A reverse image search helps: upload the image to a search engine and check where it first appeared, and in what context.
Context beats technique
Instead of studying pixels, ask: does this fit at all? Would this person really send you a message like that? Is the request coming through an unusual channel? Why now, and why under pressure? A fake almost always shows up in the context long before you can see the artifacts.
The defense that matters more: behavior
For any surprising, emotional or financial demand, regardless of the medium:
- Verify through a second channel: call back on the real, saved number – never the one given in the video or chat.
- Agree a family code word: anyone who cannot say it is not the real person. This also protects against deepfake calls .
- No money and no data under time pressure – be especially careful with money, logins, ID documents and anything that has to happen “right now”.
Our take
Detection tools are a nice extra, not something to lean on. What protects you reliably is a simple reflex: under pressure, stop and verify through a channel you already trust. The same logic sits behind every good defense against phishing .Already fallen for one?
If a faked video or call led you to send money, act right away using Sent money to a scammer . For related tricks, see the scams overview .
Frequently asked questions
Are there apps that reliably detect deepfakes?
Detection tools exist, but in practice they are less reliable than advertised and they lag behind new faking methods. Do not rely on them alone.
How do I recognize a deepfake call with a cloned voice?
By the combination of urgency, a demand for money or data, and pressure. Hang up and call the person back on their real, saved number. A family code word exposes a fake immediately.