Stolen Faces: Tasmanians Speak Out After Their Photos Appear on Strangers' Profiles

Hobart graphic designer Priya Sandhu noticed something wrong in May when a friend messaged to say her headshot, taken at a Salamanca Place studio two years ago, was being used by a fake profile on a local buy-and-sell Facebook group. She was not alone. Across Tasmania, a growing number of residents are discovering their photographs stripped from websites, LinkedIn pages and social media accounts and recycled by scammers, catfishers and fraudulent traders.

The issue has crystallised quickly. With winter driving more Tasmanians online, tourism slows, communities cluster around local Facebook groups and neighbourhood apps, the conditions for image theft are ripe. Consumer advocacy workers say the complaints they are fielding in mid-2026 represent a sharp uptick on the same period last year, though precise state-level figures remain elusive because most incidents go unreported to police.

Communities on the Front Line

The Kingborough Community Connect Facebook group, which serves residents across the Channel Highway corridor south of Hobart, flagged the problem publicly in June after at least four members reported their profile photos had been lifted and used by accounts soliciting cash. Administrators of the group, which has more than 12,000 members, began issuing weekly warnings and pinned a post explaining how to do a reverse image search using Google Images.

In Launceston, the Paterson Street-based Community Legal Centre has fielded inquiries about image misuse from residents in the Ravenswood and Newnham suburbs, according to a notice the organisation published on its website in late June. The centre noted that while image theft itself is not a standalone criminal offence under Tasmanian law, it can underpin fraud, harassment or identity crime prosecutions. Staff there have been directing people to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner in Canberra, which accepts removal requests for image-based abuse under the Online Safety Act 2021.

Elderly residents appear particularly vulnerable. A volunteer with Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania, a statewide network of more than 45 community centres, described receiving multiple calls in June from older people who had no idea their photos had been taken. That network has started incorporating basic digital literacy warnings into its regular programs, including sessions at the Glenorchy Neighbourhood House on Main Road.

What the Evidence Shows

The eSafety Commissioner's annual report for 2024-25 recorded more than 18,000 image-based abuse reports nationally, a 12 percent increase on the prior year. Tasmania accounts for a small share of that total, broadly proportional to its population of roughly 560,000, but advocates say the state's tight-knit social networks make individual incidents feel more acute. When a fake profile uses a Hobart face to scam a Hobart victim, the social damage can spread quickly through overlapping circles of friends.

Reverse image search tools are free and take under a minute to use, but awareness remains patchy. Google's reverse image function and TinEye, a dedicated image-search service, can both identify where a photo appears online. The eSafety Commissioner's website provides step-by-step instructions tailored to major platforms including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and the office can compel some platforms to remove content within 24 hours under the Online Safety Act.

People who discover their image has been duplicated should screenshot the offending profile, note the URL and date, and lodge a report directly with the platform before filing with eSafety. Tasmania Police's cybercrime unit on Liverpool Street in the Hobart CBD can be contacted if the theft is linked to financial fraud. Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania has also committed to running at least two dedicated digital-safety information evenings before September, with dates to be confirmed through the network's website. Community group administrators are being urged to set membership approval requirements and discourage members from posting high-resolution personal photos in public-facing groups.