Check an online identity before you send money

Already paid or shared a code? Start with the recovery steps below and contact your bank or payment provider promptly.

A name search can help you investigate a story; it cannot prove who is messaging you. Keep separate questions separate: does the named person exist, do the records describe that person, and does that person control this account? Compare original sources and dates, and use a contact channel you can verify independently. Do not send money or gifts to an online romantic contact you have not met in person. Never send someone a verification code to prove your identity. For an ordinary purchase, check the platform’s payment and buyer-protection rules before paying.

For personal research, Recordwell accepts a first and last name, an @username with @, or a supported public-profile link. All three lead to candidate review. People who share a name remain separate, and no fixed count of matching details proves identity. Recordwell does not offer phone, email or photo lookup, or establish who controls an account. If the records and the story conflict, keep that connection unresolved.

Four checks and the questions they leave open

No single check proves identity. Each one closes a different gap, so run them together, starting with the ones that need nothing from the other person and ending with the ones that need their cooperation.

1. Test the name against the story

Ask for the name the person is willing to share. A refusal may leave the identity unresolved, but privacy preferences are not proof of fraud. Do not pressure someone for documents, an address or details about their workplace.

Read name-search results as separate candidates. Compare the original pages, the dates they describe and any contradictions. Two copies of one listing are one source, and an age range plus a city can fit more than one person. If you cannot distinguish the candidates, leave the result unresolved.

Illustrative example. A match on a dating app says he is Mark Delgado, 47, a structural engineer from Tampa finishing a contract on an offshore platform. The name search shows three people called Mark Delgado: one aged 45 to 50 with Tampa addresses going back a decade, one in his twenties in Texas, and one in his sixties in New Jersey. The first fits both the age and the city, and the state engineering board lists a licensed engineer by that name. In this fictional example, the records fit the claimed age and city, but they do not establish who is sending the messages. A supported public-profile link would still leave that connection unresolved.

In this fictional case, the request to wire money is a reason to stop the payment and review the conversation. The name-search result does not establish whether the sender is the engineer, an impersonator or someone else. Keep that identity question unresolved; do not send money to an online romantic contact you have not met in person.

A thin result isn’t proof of fraud either. Young adults, recent arrivals and people who rent and move often leave less behind. The signal is a mismatch between the result and the story, such as a claimed twenty years in one city with no trace there, not a thin result on its own.

2. Check the photos with a separate tool

Recordwell doesn’t search images or match faces. For photos, use a reverse image search tool such as Google Lens, Bing Visual Search or TinEye, and check every picture you were sent, not just the profile photo. The FTC’s advice on romance scams recommends exactly this step.

A match on another page is a lead to examine, not a verdict about the sender. Open the original pages and compare their dates and context. An empty reverse-image search does not establish that a photo is original or belongs to the account holder.

3. Ask for a live video call, and make it specific

Someone may decline a video call for privacy, accessibility or other reasons. That can leave questions unanswered, but it does not prove fraud. Do not pressure someone to call or treat a completed call as proof of identity.

Keep the call on your terms: choose the time, keep it short and ask for something a recorded clip can’t do. Video is no longer proof by itself, though. The FBI has warned that criminals use generative AI to produce video for real-time chats while posing as executives, police officers and other authority figures, so count a call as one piece of evidence rather than the final word.

4. Confirm through a channel they don’t control

Anything the other person sends you can be fabricated: an ID photo, a business card, a link to a company website, a screenshot of a bank balance. Verification only counts when you find the contact route yourself.

• A claimed credential: use the issuing body’s public register, if one exists. A register entry concerns the named professional; it does not authenticate the person in your chat. Do not contact someone’s employer to investigate a dating conversation.
• An investment professional: look them up on FINRA’s BrokerCheck, which shows a broker’s or investment adviser’s licenses, employment history and any violations.
• A licensed trade or profession: use the state licensing board’s own lookup.
• A friend of a friend: ask the mutual contact directly, not through the new person.

For a personal purchase, the online seller guide covers the checks to make before you pay.

Red flags that you’re dealing with a scammer

A red flag for a scammer is any move that makes the story harder to check or the money harder to get back. One is a reason to slow down. Do not count warning signs as a score or treat completed checks as permission to pay. A request for money, codes or account access needs its own response. The CFPB’s list of classic warning signs comes down to the same moves.

Red flags in the identity

• No surname, a surname that changes, or a name that appears nowhere the story says it should.
• A life built to explain every absence: an overseas contract, a deployment, an oil rig, a medical mission.
• No live video, or calls that always end after a few seconds.
• Photos that look professionally shot, with no candid pictures and no friends in them.
• A brand-new account presented as a long-established person or business.

Red flags in the request

• Money in any form, especially by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency or a payment app.
• A verification code, a login link or remote access to your phone or computer.
• Urgency or secrecy: “today only,” “don’t tell your bank,” “this stays between us.”
• A push to move the conversation to another app soon after you meet.
• An investment platform that always wins, a job that makes you pay to start, or a prize with a fee attached.

Impersonators add one more tell. The FBI says it will never call or email private citizens asking them to move money by wire transfer, cryptocurrency, gift cards or prepaid cards. Treat any “official” who asks for payment that way as an impostor.

How common scam scripts use a fake identity

These examples show common approaches and useful next steps. None of the checks can guarantee that a person, offer or payment is safe. The linked guides explain the individual situations.

If the contact came through a dating app, the catfish check walks through the romance version step by step.

Before you pay, send a code or share personal details

Use this list to keep unresolved questions visible. Completing it is not permission to pay or share a verification code. For an online romantic contact you have not met in person, do not send money or gifts.

• You have a full name, and it belongs to a real person whose age range and city fit the story
• The photos don’t appear under anyone else’s name
• You’ve seen and heard the person on a live call that you set up
• A willing mutual contact may help connect you; a third party’s statement is not proof of account control
• The payment method lets you dispute or reverse a charge
• Nobody is rushing you or asking you to keep it quiet
• You’ve told someone you trust what’s going on, as the FTC recommends

Can a scammer be traced?

Sometimes, but mostly by investigators and payment companies rather than by the person who was scammed. A scammer’s name, photos and phone number are the easiest parts of the operation to fake. The money is harder to hide, because it has to land in an account somewhere, and banks, payment apps and many crypto exchanges verify who their customers are.

That’s why speed and paperwork matter more than detective work. According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, its Recovery Asset Team, which works with banks to freeze fraudulent transfers, helped freeze about $679 million of roughly $1.16 billion in attempted theft across 3,900 incidents that year. The report’s advice for a fraudulent transfer is blunt: time is of the essence, so contact your bank immediately and ask it to recall the funds.

Payments

The strongest trail. Your bank, card issuer, payment app or exchange can act on it, and law enforcement can obtain the account holder’s records.

App and social media accounts

Platforms keep account records and can remove accounts you report. They release account details to law enforcement, not to the people who were scammed.

Phone numbers

Often spoofed or internet-based. Carriers can trace some calls when law enforcement asks; a lookup rarely tells a victim anything reliable.

Names and photos

Usually borrowed. The name a scammer used may belong to someone whose identity was stolen.

Your part is to make your report easy to connect with others. The IC3 FAQ asks for the account the money went to, the transaction date and amount, who received it, and anything you know about the person, such as a name, address, phone number, email or website. IC3 doesn’t investigate complaints itself; trained analysts review them and pass information to law enforcement and partner agencies as appropriate. The FTC shares the reports it receives through Consumer Sentinel, which is free and available to any federal, state or local law enforcement agency.

Already sent money or shared a code?

Move fast, in this order.

1. Call whoever moved the money. Your bank, card issuer, payment app, gift card company, wire service or crypto exchange. Say it was fraud and ask them to stop, reverse or recall the payment. The FTC’s page on what to do if you were scammed covers each payment method.
2. Lock your accounts. If you shared a code or a password, change it in the real app, sign out devices you don’t recognize and turn on two-step verification.
3. Save the evidence before you block. Screenshots of the profile, the username or number, the full conversation, receipts, wallet addresses and transaction IDs.
4. Report it. File with the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, report the account to the platform, and consider a report to your local police.
5. Expect a second approach. People who lost money are targeted by fake recovery services, some posing as government agencies or law firms. Real agencies don’t charge to help you get money back.

What Recordwell can and can’t tell you

What you can search

A first and last name, an @username with the @ prefix, or a supported public-profile link. All three lead to candidate review. Recordwell has no phone lookup, reverse email search or face matching.

What the report organizes

Lawfully available records and open web information found under that name: places connected to it over time, matters filed publicly, business registrations and professional licenses, and publicly visible profiles and mentions.

How it treats a match

People who share the name stay separate. No fixed count of matching details confirms a candidate. If the evidence cannot distinguish the people, keep the result unresolved. Coverage varies, so a missing record isn’t proof that nothing exists, and the original record held by the issuing office is what settles anything important.

What it can’t do

Identify an anonymous account, trace a payment or a phone number, or monitor anyone. It isn’t a consumer reporting agency, so its reports can’t be used for employment, tenant screening, credit or insurance decisions.

Check the name you were given