The detection of counterfeit photographs is critical in the digital age because of the widespread development of digital media and its significant impact on social networks. The legitimacy of digital content is being threatened by the growing sophistication of picture counterfeiting. With the help of pre-trained VGG-16 models and deep learning techniques that integrate Error Level Analysis (ELA) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), this study presents a fresh solution to this problem. The study thoroughly assesses and contrasts these models with a dataset that has been carefully chosen to bring the presented findings intoperspective. To ensure a reliable evaluation of each model's performance 5000 experi-ments were carried out in total. With an accuracy rate of 99.87% and an accurate identification rate of 99% of hidden forgeries, the results demonstrate the exceptional effectiveness of the ELA-CNN model. However, despite its robustness, the VGG-16 model only achieves a significantlylower accuracy rate of 97.93% and a validation rate of 75.87%. This study clarifies the relevance of deep learning in the identification of image forgeries and highlights the practical ramifi-cations of various models. Moreover, the research recognizes itsconstraints, especially for highly advanced counterfeits, and proposes possible paths for enhancing the accuracy and scope of detection algorithms. In the ever-changing world of digital media, the thorough comparative analysis provided in this study offers insightful information that can direct the creation of accurate forgery detection tools, protecting digital content integrity and reducing the effects of image manip-ulation.