30 Fake Viral Photos That We Believed Were Real

The internet is overflowing with fake images these days, making it hard to know what to believe. With more and more people learning how to use various photo editing programs every day, fake photos are becoming increasingly common.

Viral images are just part of life now. Scrolling down your Facebook feed, you’re probably going to see numerous viral photos, but how can you tell if they’re real or not? Sometimes it’s obvious when a picture is fake, but at other times fake photos are incredibly believable.

Here are 30 fake viral photos that we believed were real.

1. No, this isn’t the behind-the-scenes photo of the iconic MGM intro. This lion was being diagnosed at the vet’s office.

2. The mustache wasn’t enough; they had to add those angry eyebrows.

3. The rice wave is a sculpture that is sold in a fake food shop in Tokyo.

4. Beloved astronaut Chris Hadfield was just trying to surprise his co-workers with some Easter eggs.

5. This “magical castle” is a combination of a photo of a rock in Thailand and a castle in Germany.

6. The photo was photoshopped so well; it wasn’t so easy to understand it was actually fake.

7. This iconic selfie of a pilot was a photo of him when he was safely landed.

8. A photo of a kid sleeping near his deceased parents’ grave in Syria turned out to be completely staged.

9. Venice wasn’t frozen. A photo of frozen Lake Baikal in Russia was photoshopped in it.

10. Lenticular clouds are already pretty cool as they are, but people just felt the need to photoshop it.

11. The woman wasn’t squatting like a frog; she only lifted one leg.

12. Black lions don’t exist — Photoshop, unfortunately, does.

13. The cloning tool works like a charm.

14. #10yearchallenge gone wrong.

15. No biker was harmed in this shot because there was no biker.

16. A snap of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe is actually just a solo picture.

17. This wasn’t the first dab in history. The photo is a behind-the-scenes snap from the movie Dunkirk, shot in 2017.

18. Why would anyone Photoshop the original picture? It’s already cool as it is.

19. Although giraffes, like other animals, can have dwarfism, this photo is actually fake.

20. The bear in the photo is captured in a stock image that can be easily found online.

21. The internet is filled with photoshopped images of archaeologists finding huge skeletons that might belong to giants.

22. It is still nice to have an island shaped like the moon, though.

23. Don’t feel sorry for the car, the cow is just chilling somewhere else.

24. Just a satellite image shaded in different colors.

25. Einstein was just happily riding his bike. No explosions, whatsoever.

26. Paris Hilton only wants us to stop being desperate, not being poor.

27. The “Turtle Mountain” is just the simple, yet beautiful “Pilot Mountain” in North Carolina.

28. Someone made it appear that the Romney family misspelled their last name to “Money.”

29. The viral photo of a pooping cheerleader never happened.

30. A photo of a tourist taken moments before 9/11 is a complete hoax.