Was the screenshot edited? How to tell if it has been edited in Photoshop?
It's super easy to fake screenshots with tools that are freely available on the internet. That's why there are more convincing scammers than ever on the net. It's time we also improve our skills at spotting these scams. I'm going to show you some clever ways to identify a fake screenshot. 🕵️♂️🖼️
Beware of Desktop Captures
I wouldn't trust any random screenshot taken inside a desktop web browser. Chrome, Firefox, and their various versions allow you to edit the code of the page itself. With little effort, you can change virtually any element on a website. It's called "Inspect Element." Just right-click with your mouse anywhere on a website to open the browser's context menu. You'll see "Inspect" at the bottom of that menu.
The Inspect Element tool shows the HTML, CSS, and Javascript code that makes up a website. Editing this code can create a perfectly convincing fake. You don't need to be a programming expert to make small changes here and there. For example, you could highlight any text on a page and replace it in two quick steps. Sure, the page will return to its original state when you click the button. update it, but it is more than enough for screenshots or screen sharing. 👀
If you really need to trust a screenshot a stranger sent you, I would ask them to refresh the page in a video to verify its authenticity (though that's not foolproof either).
Phone screens are a game different. Most of the time, there are telltale signs without getting complicated. You can get more technical with image forensics tools; I'll show you how. They are great help. But detecting fake phone screenshots (which are the ones we deal with the most, compared to desktop ones) isn't always an exact science. 📱🔍
Unfortunately, if someone is motivated and has enough skills, it is sometimes impossible to detect the fake. Unlike photos taken with a camera, fake photos are screenshots Phones do not present a technical challenge for anyone who knows the basics of Photoshop. ⚠️
With that out of the way, here are the telltale signs I mentioned earlier. 👌
Look for inconsistencies in the pixels
If a counterfeiter is creating a receipt, it is probably will copy and paste elements of the image. This creates small patches of pixels that don't line up perfectly with the rest of the image. In this case, you'll pay special attention to two things: amounts and dates. Zoom into the image and look for subtle inconsistencies.
You may notice blurring or out-of-place sharpness. The original capture will have the same resolution throughout. Unnatural color gradations or subtle shifts in shadows could also give away a fake. 👁️
Font and Spacing May Be Incorrect
Not everyone can identify a source. Even the graphic designers more skilled may have difficulty finding the exact font that is captured on a screen. applications Phone spoofers rarely use Arial, Times New Roman, or common fonts. When a spoofer can't find an exact match, they may edit the text with a similar font. 🔤
As with font type, you'll also have trouble figuring out the correct size and spacing. It's hard to get it right when you're relying on guesswork or trial and error. 📏
Some Items May Not Belong
Most of the applications The phone versions we use are frequently updated and their interface changes subtly (rarely drastically) all the time. A counterfeiter could have mixed elements from different versions of the same application, and you will be able to notice those errors if you are familiar with the app's interface. 🛠️
Reverse Lookup
Now let's get a little more technical. The forger could have downloaded the original screenshot Internet and then modify it. That's why it's always a good idea to do a quick reverse lookup. Run the suspicious screenshot through TinEye and Google Images. 🔍
Metadata is like an ID for an image file. It shows things like when the image was taken and on what device. Phone screenshots often include the name of the phone within the metadata. And, if someone photoshopped that screenshot before sending it to you, that metadata would be missing. 📉
You can check the metadata of a file by right-clicking on it and selecting “Properties” from the menu. Look for the “Properties” tab. "Details" to review metadata information.
The Messaging apps also remove the metadata of an image, by the way. So, just because the device name is not in the metadata, that doesn't necessarily mean the image is fake. Although, if you find the sender's device name intact in the metadata, that's a positive sign. 👍
This is about as technical and scientific as you can get when it comes to detecting image fakes. I highly recommend the app Forensically. It's a free web app that can analyze any image in depth and create heatmaps of elements that have been edited. It's easy to learn and use. Let me walk you through it. 🛠️
Check out this UFO hovering over an entire city (it's the example Forensically uses by default). Let's find out if it's authentic. Just by hovering over the edges of the UFO, you can see that the pixels don't look right. Switching to Error Level Analysis, we see that the entire disk and its shadow glow in a different color. Fake items always light up like this. 🛸
Another interesting way to find counterfeit items is through clone detection. It will detect any identical pixels in the image. Note the corner of this heatmap where the paraglider has been cloned. 🌈
To make the edges of the pasted content more visible, do a Level Sweep. This will allow you to hover over the edges to find the general area that has been manipulated. Principal Component Analysis is great for finding exact, fine details. Here they are presented as noise. 🔍
The rest of the settings are a bit advanced, and you'll probably never need them. However, there's one more thing I should explain to you. Sometimes, an image file stores its own thumbnail, which this tool can extract. "Thumbnail Analysis" reveals the original, unedited version.
Can You Decide Which Is Which?
Pay attention to the dollar amount, it looks strange. The font doesn't match and the size is not the same. We can also zoom in on the finer details. 🧐
Let's move on. Nothing was found in the reverse lookup, but the metadata is blank (which raises suspicion). Now I'm going to pass it on to the forensic tools. Clone Detection shows me hotspots that have been copied. The original doesn't have these pink spots and Forensically doesn't detect anything, even if I move the sliders to the maximum.
The same point also shines through when I run through Principal Component Analysis. The amount of text stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the text, so we know the screenshot is fake. ❌
In comparison, the original has consistent text elements throughout.
You can apply the forensic techniques you learned here to almost any image. There are no definitive guarantees, but they should help you verify sensitive screenshots. 🔎✅
