A photo of an injured dog by the roadside. A dating profile with pictures that look almost too perfect. A donation appeal showing a family stranded on a rooftop after a flood. Scammers are already using AI-generated images to support fake stories, build trust, and persuade people to send money or share personal information. Instead of asking whether an image looks real, it’s better to ask whether there’s any evidence that it’s genuine. What you actually need to know You can’t reliably spot AI images by eye anymore. Advice like “count the fingers” or “look for garbled text” is becoming outdated because today’s AI image generators usually get those details right. Instead of looking harder, verify the image and be skeptical of the story around it. Distrust the situation, not just the…