Although our world is full of unbelievable examples of good and righteous things, bad things also exist in this world in all kinds of ways. But do you know what’s the worst? Frankly, we don’t know or want to know about the worst things. But we will surely talk about one of the most dangerous things in the world– lies.
Lies can take any shape and form. They are like the wind– able to reach even the most unexpected places through the smallest holes. And when too much of it accumulates in one place, the wind can turn into the most violent of storms, destroying everything that existed before and everything it gave life to.
As such, it’s important to spot the slightest breeze of lies as soon as possible. And that’s the difficult part.
A fake WhatsApp screenshot is just one form lies can take. And if you come across a suspicious screenshot, it’s important to find out whether it is original or fake. But how do you do that?
Fortunately, identifying a fake WhatsApp screenshot is not as difficult as spotting a web of lies. All it takes is a little focus and the ability to spot small details. And to help you do that efficiently, we will tell you how to spot those details. Let’s start.
How to Identify Fake WhatsApp Screenshots
WhatsApp is not just another app that lets you hang out online with friends and family. Not that you cannot hang out that way on WhatsApp, but the app is much more than a place for hanging out.
The “green-colored chat bubble with a phone” icon has become engraved so deep within our daily habits that it is now a part of our lives, so much so that for many of us, some of the most important discussions of our lives happen within WhatsApp. Truly, these chats can essentially make or break relationships.
In such a scenario, you cannot let your thoughts or decisions be shaped by a fake screenshot someone just shared with you. Before looking at and believing in any screenshot, it’s very important to carefully look at it to ensure it’s real.
But the good news is that ascertaining the authenticity of a WhatsApp screenshot is often not difficult at all. There are always some anomalies that stand out. You just need to look at them with a careful eye.
Here are some of the things you must look at while deciding whether a screenshot is fake:
Look and feel
The overall look and feel of the screenshot can give away any apparent errors that often occur while preparing fake screenshots. You just need to see the screenshot carefully and check for these discrepancies:
1. If you know that the sender of the screenshot uses an iPhone, but the screenshot is from the Android app, beware. This might be just a careless attempt to send a fake screenshot.
2. Compare the screenshot with your original chat screen, and identify any discrepancies. If possible, check whether the profile picture is correct. Also, ensure that the screenshot contains all the usual icons on the chat screen.
3. If the screenshot is from a group chat, you should look out for the info displayed just below the group name at the top. This space usually contains the name of all group participants, or it may also contain the text, “tap here for group info.”
4. Platforms that help create these fake screenshots often leave their watermarks. If you spot a watermark on the screenshot, bingo! That’s a fake screenshot.
Fonts
Naturally, this is one of the first things you need to look at. WhatsApp has its own unique font that is the same as your phone’s font. So, whenever you receive a chat screenshot that seems fishy, just look at the chat’s fonts more closely. Here’s what you can do:
Zoom in on the screenshot, and look for any anomalies between the font of the WhatsApp screen (messages, profile name, and any other written info below the profile name at the top) and the font style and size of the status bar at the top.
Time and date
You need to be more aware of when your screenshot should have been taken and when it has actually been taken. Finding discrepancies in the timestamps of messages is an effective way to identify fake WhatsApp screenshots.
First of all, check whether the format of the timestamps is the same as that of the time shown on the status bar. The timestamps on WhatsApp messages are always in the same format as the phone’s settings. This means that if the phone follows a 12-hour format, the messages on WhatsApp also show the time in the same format.
So, if you see a screenshot with a message sent or received at, say, 4:00 pm but the time at the status bar at the top shows 16:00, something is definitely not right.
Secondly, and obviously, you need to check whether the timings of the subsequent messages make sense. If the time at the status bar reads 4:00 pm, but the messages of the same day show anything after 4:00 pm, you can spot a fake screenshot immediately.
Spacing
The spacing of the messages, timestamps, and icons should not be overlooked when trying to identify a fake screenshot. No matter what the font or time format is, the spacing on your chatting interface remains fixed.
Watch out for any inconsistent spacing between messages. For example, if the time format is 12 hours, there is always a space between the time value and am/pm. For example, the time should always be 4:00 pm and not 4:00pm.
Similarly, there should be a space between the time and the tick marks.
The Rupee symbol (₹)
This indicator is specific for Indian users. WhatsApp has lately rolled out the payments feature for all Indian users. And to make payments simpler, the payments interface shows up as a ₹ icon at the bottom of the chat, just beside the typing space.
Whether you use the payments option or not, you will see the icon on the chat screen. So, if you know that the message’s sender uses the payments feature, you can try to locate the ₹ icon on the screenshot between the paperclip icon and the camera icon beside the white typing space.
If you don’t find it despite knowing that they use this feature, you can be sure that the screenshot is fake.
In the end
Let’s recap everything we have discussed in this blog. We have talked about everything you might need to identify a fake WhatsApp screenshot.
WhatsApp screenshots can be faked using several online platforms that offer these services for free. In this blog, we have discussed how you can identify fake screenshots with the help of several minute details such as icons, fonts, and spacing. We have talked about each of these indicators in-depth, so you can be a pro at spotting fake screenshots in no time.
We are sure that after reading this blog, you won’t need any further help identifying fake screenshots. But even if you need clarification, you don’t need to go anywhere. Just drop a comment right away.
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