Tom Sandoval & Raquel Leviss Wore Matching Necklaces Months Ago

Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss may have been sending clues all along about their secret romance -- and the proof may have been in the pudding ... or rather, the jewelry.

Social media sleuths were hard at work this weekend, and dug up an interesting coincidence ... the "Vanderpump Rules" stars were seen wearing undeniably similar-looking necklaces at various points last year ... with almost the exact same pendant, a lightning bolt cutout.

There's a handful of photos of TS and RL that surfaced online, which shows them wearing the unique pieces -- and now, in light of Tom's cheating scandal, folks are thinking something was going on well before anyone knew about it ... and it was right under our noses!

Now ... this isn't a smoking gun per se, but it is interesting. In light of how everything's unfolded between Tom and his longtime partner, Ariana Madix, some say this is a bad look.

Frankly, they may be right ... these lightning bolt necklace pics date back to October of 2022.

As we told you ... Ariana and Tom split after she discovered text messages that showed he'd been with their fellow ‘VR’ costar. Ariana told friends she found out Tom and Raquel had actually been seeing each other secretly for months -- as far back as the summer. If that's proven to be true ... it's certainly possible they were flashing their romance in plain sight.

Tom has since come out to apologize to his friends and family for his cheating scandal ... but somehow managed to leave off Ariana herself from the apology.

Tom and Ariana got together back in 2013 ... and while they never got married, they were certainly a principal pair on the reality show for years. Of course, fans are devastated.