Woman Loses $10K to Jon Bon Jovi Impersonator’s AI Scam

She believed she had found a once-in-a-lifetime romance. Instead, a scammer turned her lifelong admiration into a painful lesson.

For months, Leslie Pickett was convinced she was communicating with Jon Bon Jovi, the rock icon she had admired since she was 14. The person on the other side of the screen contacted her constantly, shared seemingly authentic videos and ultimately convinced her to send thousands of dollars.

When the elaborate impersonation finally fell apart, the Louisiana woman had lost more than $10,000 and was nearly forced to give up her home.

WOMAN NEARLY LOSES $1M IN LINKEDIN ROMANCE SCAM

“My heart was shattered,” Pickett told News Media. “I was still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But there was nothing behind it except bad intentions. That was the part that hurt the most.”

Her experience is featured in National Geographic’s documentary special “Super Scam Me,” where Emmy Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller investigates the growing world of online fraud. As part of the project, van Zeller travels to Africa and confronts a suspected scammer in person.

“We are living in the age of scams,” van Zeller told News Media. “Romance scams are among the fastest-growing—and, in my view, the most devastating—forms of financial crime. One in seven Americans has reported losing money to a romance scam. That is why raising awareness now is so important.”

News Media contacted Bon Jovi’s spokesperson for a response.

Pickett, who primarily used Facebook, was encouraged by her daughter to try Instagram. In late 2024, she found Bon Jovi’s verified profile and left a comment. Just minutes later, an account that appeared to be the singer responded. The account, however, did not carry a verification badge.

“He answered my questions so thoughtfully that I truly believed it was him,” Pickett said. “I didn’t really understand the significance of the check marks. I had some doubts, but I thought, well, a girl can dream.”

The impostor allegedly told Pickett that Bon Jovi wanted a more private way to interact with fans. He claimed the singer’s management would close the account if it discovered the secret communication channel.

Their conversations continued for months, sometimes several times during the day and again late at night. They connected over music and personal interests, while the impostor recalled details from their first exchanges, declared his love and sent flowers to Pickett’s home. He also shared prerecorded videos, and eventually the pair participated in a live video call.

Unaware that generative AI was being used to imitate the rock star, Pickett became certain she was speaking with Bon Jovi. The scammer further claimed that he and his wife had secretly filed for divorce but were keeping the matter private to protect his public reputation.

Pickett shared the photographs and videos with her cousin, who initially questioned whether Bon Jovi would really pursue a hidden relationship with a fan. But after examining the material, he reportedly changed his mind and said, “That’s him! There’s no doubt about it.”

“It felt like I was talking to my best friend,” Pickett said. “He told me he wanted to meet someone ordinary—not someone interested in fame, money or material things. We didn’t focus on any of that. We talked about everyday life. I had questions, but I kept hoping and praying that it really was him.”

Months later, the man posing as Bon Jovi started asking for money.

“He had an exclusive performance in Nashville, where he only let a thousand people buy tickets,” Pickett recalled. “The show was legitimate. Unfortunately, I tried to buy tickets, but they sold out in four minutes. When I told him about it, he suggested a meet and greet. He had never asked me for money before. He said, ‘To get you in the meet and greet, you’re going to have go through management since there are no tickets left.’ He gave me emails to his management, and he walked me through how to do everything. I’ve never even heard of the word ‘crypto.’”

“That was a red flag, but the money was given with intent,” Pickett continued. “I was supposed to get something in return. Meet and greets are also a common thing with famous people so I didn’t see it as scammy at all. The bitcoin and crypto were the only things that made me go, ‘Why am I not logging into a regular site?’ He said, ‘Those get hacked all the time. This is the safest way to do it.’ He put me at ease.”

The requests for money started small but added up over time. Pickett sent $100 or $150 at a time, only to be told the payments hadn’t gone through. The impostor then instructed her to send larger amounts through different payment methods, including Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and cryptocurrency. When one method supposedly failed, she would try another, sometimes staying up at night trying to figure out how to send the money.

“Nothing felt abnormal until I realized the money wasn’t coming back into my account,” Pickett said.

Van Zeller described the scammer’s interactions with Pickett as a “slow burn.”

“At first approach, it started as a normal conversation,” van Zeller explained. “People think he approached her and said, ‘Hi, I’m Jon Bon Jovi. I’m madly in love with you. Send me money.’ That’s not the case. It took him seven months before he asked Leslie for money. Many people think, ‘How can you give money to a stranger?’ But for Leslie, and many other victims, this was at a point when he wasn’t a stranger. With some victims, they speak to scammers for months, even years.”

Advances in artificial intelligence made the deception even harder to detect.

“I had the chance of watching some of the videos that the fake Jon Bon Jovi sent Leslie,” van Zeller said. “At one point during this experiment, I was dating three George Clooneys, several Brad Pitts and a few Keanu Reeves. A few sent me videos that were very bad, but some were very good. I received one video from a fake George Clooney that you can watch in the documentary that looked very real. These weren’t the old deep fake videos of the past that are full of distortions. These looked professional, believable.”

“In the videos, he would say my name,” Pickett recalled. “He would send me videos all the time. One time, I told him, ‘Pull on your right ear, cross your eyes and stick your tongue out.’ He would send me that within five minutes. That’s how good AI is.”

In July 2025, the scammer told Pickett he was flying to Louisiana for a meet and greet. He sent her photos of himself seated at a table in a hotel she recognized. The light fixtures, furniture, carpet, utensils and even the napkin rings all matched.

According to Pickett, the scammer told her they needed to complete a security clearance check through Google Chat before they could finally meet in person. When Pickett tried to join the video call, he abruptly hung up. He texted her afterward, claiming there was a security breach because his management believed she was trying to record the call.

The impostor then told Pickett that if she was willing to pay more money to his management, they could arrange another security check, and he would even remain in town for a while. This time, he requested a much larger amount of Bitcoin.

“At that point, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is just not real,'” Pickett said. “That’s when my heart sank because I knew I had been duped. That’s when I decided to reach out to Mariana for help.”

Even after realizing she had been deceived, Pickett wondered whether the man she had been talking to for months was someone living in the United States who genuinely cared about her — someone who wasn’t interested only in money but wanted a meaningful relationship.

Van Zeller and Pickett teamed up with a former hacker who helped them trace the scammer’s internet protocol (IP) address. The hacker set a trap designed to lure the impostor into claiming more Bitcoin. The IP address led them to Lagos, Nigeria. They then used Google Earth to identify what they believed was the house from which the scammer had been messaging Pickett.

By then, Pickett said she had lost “over $10,000” to the scam. She had fallen so deeply into debt that her home was facing foreclosure.

“I was devastated,” Pickett said. “By then I was starting to suspect he was fake. But when Mariana got confirmation, it rocked my world. He could have just come clean, but he just took advantage of my kindness. That’s what crushed me.”

Today, Pickett is still rebuilding her finances while working a full-time job. She said the emotional toll has been even harder to overcome, leaving her struggling to trust others. She has also become an advocate for scam victims, using social media to warn others about the dangers of interacting with unverified accounts.

“My ultimate goal today is to slow it down and eventually stop this industry,” Pickett said. “It devastated my family. It devastated me. It put me in financial dire straits. It affected me emotionally. I wanted to crawl under a rock. No one should ever feel that way. I would never want anyone to go through what I went through.”