Bonus Episode - Google Just Handed Scammers a Gift

Google quietly removed one of the most powerful free tools everyday people had to protect themselves: reverse image search. It helped users spot fake profiles, recognize romance scams, and confirm when something wasn’t right. So why would they take it away?

Because awareness costs clicks.

In this bonus episode, we dig into how Big Tech profits from your engagement — even when that engagement leads you into the hands of scammers. We expose why tools that empower users get buried, how platforms benefit from deception, and what happens when protecting profits matters more than protecting people.

“Your attention is more valuable to them than your safety.”

This isn’t just a rant. It’s a warning.

Transcript

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Bonus episode, Google just handed scammers a gift. Recently, Google quietly removed the ability to perform a reverse image search on our devices. A tool, myself and many others relied on to verify photos, spot scams, and protect themselves online. It's a small technical change with massive real world consequences. In this bonus episode, we'll look at what was lost, why it matters, and how big tech's pattern of quiet rollbacks may be leaving users more vulnerable than ever, especially when it comes to fraud and online deception. I'm recording this extra episode because this has been bothering me, and if you've ever tried to protect yourself online, it should bother you too. A few weeks ago I was at one of my sister's homes and she wanted to listen to one of the upcoming episodes that hadn't dropped yet in the episode I that everyone who gets contacted by somebody online should immediately do a reverse image search to check the identity. My sister asked me to show her how to use the search, but when we tried it together, nothing worked like it used to. It kept changing to Google Lens, trying to sell us products. I thought there must have been an update that I wasn't aware of. So I contacted my cousin who is up on all things tech. He couldn't get it to work either. Last week I heard a report that the option had been dismantled in favor of trying to sell us something instead. Using the reverse image search was how I initially found out that Pedro had stolen another man's photos to use as his own. There was no other social media information on Pedro other than that LinkedIn profile. The man whose identity he stole was on LinkedIn, YouTube. Instagram TikTok with hundreds to thousands of followers. So Google quietly without any announcement removed. One of the most important digital safety tools we had, you used to be able to right click on a photo or upload an image, and Google would show you where it came from. Stock photo sites, social media. Scam databases, even Reddit threads, warning about fake profiles, and it was fast and free, accessible to anyone. Now it's been replaced with Google Lens, a shiny, AI driven visual search tool that mostly just tries to sell you something. You upload a photo and it recommends handbags or curtains or sneakers. Try it yourself. Paste a picture of someone and instead of flagging it, it'll just ask you if you want to buy the shirt they're wearing. This isn't an accident. It's part of a pattern one by one. The tools we use to fight back, to verify, to think critically, to see the truth are being dismantled because the truth doesn't sell as well as illusion. This is what I mean when I say digital ambush. And the worst part, we're being disarmed by the very platforms that once claimed to protect us, and Google's not the only one. Meta, as I covered in this week's episode, was caught creating the fake AI personas to build emotional trust with users. Not to warn, not to educate, but to manipulate. To increase engagement, to drive ad revenue. Grandpa Brian wasn't real, neither were dozens of other AI generated friends. And here's something else most people don't know. Amazon has been accused of training. Its Alexa voice assistant to recommend certain brands over others based on paid partnerships. That means the helpful voice in your living room might just be a walking advertisement and you'd never know. TikTok, they've admitted to manually pushing certain creators or videos to go viral. Not because they earned it, but because it served a business purpose. That's not a for you feed, that's a for them feed. YouTube, they'll shadow, ban certain terms, quietly burying content that criticizes their parent company or partners. Search for scam or fake profile and see how many results are actually helpful. Not many. And then there's Google Maps, which is increasingly placing paid businesses at the top of local searches. Even if those businesses have poor reviews or aren't relevant, that puts profit ahead of accuracy and in some cases, safety. So, yeah, I'm angry and frustrated, and you should be too. Because Google didn't just remove a search feature. They took away a valuable tool. A tool many of us used to spot and protect ourselves, and they replaced it with something that helps them sell products while the scammers go undetected. So in essence, they are enabling the scammers. Enriching themselves and steamrolling any protections for their users. It's digital disarmament and the timing isn't accidental. AI is exploding. Fake profiles are multiplying, and the truth, it's harder and harder to find out, but here's what they haven't taken from us yet. There are some tools out there still. 10 i.com, a reverse image search engine that may work. Yandex images not always perfect, but often more revealing than Google. Browser extensions like search by image. They let you choose which engine to use. I'll put these options on my Facebook page, but I tried the first two without any luck. One or more of my future episodes may contain the advice to do reverse image searches. They were recorded prior to my knowledge of this tool being removed, and there's one more tool you already have and they can't remove that one. Your awareness, your skepticism, your voice, don't give these up. Reverse image search wasn't perfect, but for millions, it was a line of defense, one of the few available without cost training or institutional power. Now that this defense is gone, that line is erased without warning and more people will suffer. We know scams thrive in confusion, isolation, and in darkness. And when tools like this are taken away, it's not just privacy that's lost it's agency. Big tech often says they're committed to safety, but users deserve to ask and to have an answer about whose safety are they actually committed to and at what cost. The battlefield is getting darker. But that just means it is time to shine a brighter light. Don't let them make you blind. Don't let them make you small. This is Enola with Romance Scam Rebellion. Thanks for listening. I.