Use Reverse Image Search Engines To Avoid Online Scams

Lifehacker featured a great tip today courtesy of Redditor lifedeathandtech that’ll help you avoid scams when you take your chances buying camera equipment from sites like Craigslist. When you see a listing that seems suspicious, or you get an e-mail reply that seems a bit automated, plug the post’s photos into Google Images and see if they’re being used elsewhere.

All you have to do is drag and drop the image into Google Image Search or use the Search by Image extension on Chrome or Firefox. It’s not a foolproof method, but if the poster pulled the photos off the internet you’ll know. Now, if only this would help weed out the people trying to scam wedding photographers.