Comparison
Photo forensics vs live capture: two ways to check a damage claim.
Forensic tools inspect a picture after it reaches you, looking for edits, metadata and traces of AI generation. Live capture takes the picture out of the customer's hands: they show the item to their phone camera, in real time, against the order. One judges a file that may already have been altered. The other never accepts a file.
Photo forensics
How photo forensics works
Tools such as Sorquil and Claimscan analyse the image a customer uploads.
Metadata
Camera model, timestamps and location in the file's EXIF data, when they are still there.
Pixel analysis
Compression, noise and lighting patterns that can reveal an edit or a pasted region.
AI detectors
Models trained to recognise the statistical traces of image generators, with a probability as the output.
The output is a likelihood: a score or a heatmap that someone on your team has to interpret. Forensics works on whatever file it is given, which is its strength when a photo is all you have.
The limits
Why inspecting the file keeps getting harder
Metadata rarely survives
Messaging apps, email clients and screenshots strip or rewrite EXIF data, so the most reliable signal is often missing on genuine photos too.
Detectors trail generators
Each new image model is trained to look more like a camera. A detector tuned on last year's generators is checking against the past.
A real photo of the wrong thing passes
An untouched photo of an item damaged months ago, or of someone else's order, has nothing for forensics to find.
Nothing ties the photo to the order
A clean file says nothing about whether this is the item you shipped, in the box you sent, to this customer.
Live capture
How live capture works
Verilo replaces the uploaded photo with a short guided capture in the customer's phone browser.
Label against tracking
The shipping label is read live and matched to the tracking number on the Shopify order.
Item against your catalogue
The item is compared with your own product images, so a different product does not pass.
Signals a file cannot fake
Movement, torch reflection and a hand interacting with the item show a physical object in front of the camera, not a screen or a printout.
Each step is shown one at a time, the order is varied, and every photo is stored with the time it was taken and a SHA-256 fingerprint. There is no file to edit, because the customer never sends one.
Side by side
The two approaches compared
| Photo forensics | Live capture | |
|---|---|---|
| What is checked | An image file the customer chose to send | A physical item, live, step by step |
| An edited or generated image | Passes if the detector misses it | Cannot be submitted: no upload exists |
| Tied to this order | No | Label matched to tracking, item matched to your product images |
| Old damage or another item | An untouched photo of it passes | The item, label and packaging are captured now |
| Customer effort | Attach a photo | About a minute of guided steps |
| What you get | A probability to interpret | Verified, Needs Review or Unable to Verify, with each check explained |
| Where it lands | A separate tool or report | Inside the Gorgias or Zendesk ticket |
Choosing
When each makes sense
Forensics is useful when a photo is all you will ever have: a claim that arrived weeks ago, or a marketplace where you cannot send the buyer a link.
For claims your own store handles, live capture moves the check to the moment the evidence is created. That is the difference between asking whether a file was faked and making sure there is no file to fake.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can AI-generated photos fool forensic tools?
Sometimes. Detectors learn the traces of generators that already exist, and newer models are built to look like camera output. Live capture avoids the question because no uploaded image is accepted.
Does Verilo detect AI images?
Verilo does not inspect uploaded images, because nothing is uploaded. During the capture the phone's torch fires and the phone moves: a real surface reflects and shows depth in a way a screen, a print or a generated image does not. The label and the item are checked against the order in the same take.
Is live capture harder for customers?
It takes about a minute in the phone's browser, with no app or account, and it usually replaces several rounds of "please send another photo".
Does Verilo decide whether a claim is genuine?
No. Verilo reports how strong the evidence is. Your team makes the refund or replacement decision.
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