The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in a new era of technological marvels, but it has also unleashed a sinister wave of scams that prey on trust and emotion.
Nikki MacLeod’s Heartbreaking Loss
Nikki MacLeod’s ordeal began in late 2023 when she joined a Facebook group for retirees interested in literature and history.
A user named “Alla Morgan” reached out, claiming to be a 45-year-old woman working on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea. Their chats started casually, with Alla sharing stories of her isolated life at sea and her love for poetry, which resonated with Nikki’s academic background.
Over weeks, Alla sent Nikki carefully crafted messages, followed by photos of a smiling woman with short brown hair against a backdrop of oil rigs and stormy skies. Then came the videos: short clips of Alla walking along a deck or sitting in a cramped cabin, speaking warmly about wanting to meet Nikki one day. The footage looked so real that Nikki never suspected a thing.
Alla’s requests for money started small—£50 here for a better internet connection, £200 there for a phone repair. She explained that her isolation on the rig made it hard to access her own funds. Trust deepened, and so did the demands. Alla claimed she needed £5,000 for a plane ticket to leave the rig and visit Nikki, followed by more for “unexpected taxes” and “emergency gear.”
By the time Nikki grew suspicious after six months and £17,000 sent, Alla vanished. A friend suggested Nikki report it to the police, who confirmed the videos were AI-generated deepfakes, crafted to deceive her.
A Similar Tale from Shanghai
In Shanghai, a 38-year-old office worker named Liu faced a parallel nightmare in early 2025. It started with a random message on WeChat from “Jiao,” a woman claiming to be a 29-year-old entrepreneur from Shenzhen. Jiao’s profile featured polished photos of her in stylish outfits, posing with sketchbooks or walking through bustling streets.
She soon sent Liu videos too—clips of her sipping coffee in a café or showing off a design project on a tablet, her voice soft and engaging. Liu, single and eager for connection, fell hard.
After two months of daily chats, Jiao confided that she needed money to launch a clothing brand and cover her mother’s hospital bills after a supposed car accident. She backed up her story with a scanned ID and medical records, which Liu didn’t think to verify.
He transferred 50,000 yuan initially, then more in chunks—totaling nearly 200,000 yuan, or $28,000—into a bank account she provided. When Jiao stopped replying in February 2025, Liu contacted the police.
Investigators revealed that Jiao didn’t exist; her videos were AI creations blending real footage with fabricated faces, and the documents were forgeries. Liu never met her, not even on a live call.
The scammers had played him from start to finish.
The Global Reach of AI Scams
The pattern repeats worldwide.
In Dallas, Texas, 34-year-old Sarah Thompson, a graphic designer, lost $15,000 in late 2024 to an AI-generated “fiancé” she met on Tinder. “Mark” claimed to be a 37-year-old engineer stuck in Dubai after a contract went sour.
Their relationship blossomed over three months, with Mark sending photos of himself at construction sites and videos of him speaking earnestly about their future together.
Sarah, charmed by his rugged looks and British accent, believed him when he said he needed $3,000 for a flight home, then $12,000 more for “customs fees” on equipment he was bringing back. The videos showed him pacing in what looked like an airport, pleading for help.
After wiring the money, Mark ghosted her. A reverse image search later showed his photos were stolen, and the videos were deepfakes.
In Toronto, Canada, 72-year-old retiree Harold Bennett lost $10,000 in October 2024 to a scammer posing as his grandson, Ethan. Harold got a frantic call late one night from “Ethan,” begging for bail money after a supposed DUI arrest.
The voice matched his grandson’s perfectly—same cadence, same slight stutter. In a panic, Harold sent the cash via a wire transfer. When he called Ethan’s real number the next day, his grandson was fine and hadn’t been arrested.
Police traced the call to an AI voice-cloning scam that had scraped Ethan’s voice from old social media videos.
How AI Makes Scams So Convincing
AI’s role in these scams is what makes them so terrifyingly effective.
Deepfake technology can stitch together videos of nonexistent people, blending real clips with synthetic faces and voices.
In Nikki’s case, the scammers likely used stock footage of oil rigs and added Alla’s AI-crafted image. For Liu, Jiao’s videos might have been built from snippets of unrelated women, her face swapped in seamlessly.
Sarah’s “Mark” and Harold’s “Ethan” relied on similar tricks—AI tools that mimic speech patterns or generate lifelike visuals in seconds. Some scammers even use AI for live video calls, with software smoothing out glitches to keep the illusion intact.
A cybersecurity analysis warns that these tools are now cheap and widely available, putting everyone at risk.. Emotional manipulation seals the deal as scammers craft sob stories about love, family, or desperation, exploiting our instinct to help.
This isn’t a fringe issue anymore.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported in February 2025 that AI-driven romance scams surged by 30% on its platforms over the past year. Scammers create fake profiles with AI-generated headshots, wooing users with promises of love before begging for cash.
Globally, experts estimate AI scams drain billions annually—$3.1 billion in the U.S. alone in 2024, according to fraud trackers. The technology’s accessibility fuels the fire as what once required a skilled programmer now takes a $20 app and a laptop.
The Unexpected Twist
Here’s the kicker: these scams don’t just target the naive. Nikki was a PhD holder who taught at universities. Liu managed budgets for a living. Sarah designed visuals professionally, and Harold had used computers for decades.
AI scams exploit universal human traits, empathy, loneliness, trust not just tech illiteracy. Women, men, young, old, educated, or not, anyone can fall prey.
AI is a marvel and a menace. It powers creativity and connection, but it also arms scammers with tools to deceive like never before. The next message you get, be it a flirty stranger or a panicked “relative”, could be a lie hiding behind a screen. Double-check everything.
In a world where AI blurs reality, a little doubt might be your best shield.