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.

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“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.”

A nationwide campaign tour can work up quite an appetite—especially when the mission is helping progressive candidates win seats across the country.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a brief stop at In-N-Out after an event in Bakersfield, California, where she was campaigning as part of a broader effort to help Democrats take control of the U.S. House.

The New York Democrat visited the popular West Coast chain in Delano on Friday. She later walked out smiling, carrying a red, white and yellow bag emblazoned with the restaurant’s unmistakable logo.

Inside, Ocasio-Cortez waited in line with her arms folded. Once outside, she offered a brief wave to photographers as members of her security detail escorted her away.

The burger run came after Ocasio-Cortez spent roughly 15 minutes campaigning for Democrat Randy Villegas, who is trying to unseat Rep. David Valadao, a Republican representing a heavily Hispanic California district. Democrats redrew the district to improve their chances after Republicans pursued similar redistricting efforts in Texas and elsewhere.

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Valadao has sought to separate himself from President Trump in a district Trump carried by only 2% over Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. The California lawmaker voted to impeach Trump in 2021 but supported the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” in 2025.

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign schedule was far from over. She was set to head to Las Vegas later Saturday for a Get Out the Early Vote rally with Rep. Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat.

“The same forces rigging the economy against working people are betting we stay home this November. But the people who make Nevada work will never fold — we’re going all in!” Horsford’s campaign said.

The In-N-Out stop followed another fast-food detour during Ocasio-Cortez’s recent visit to Michigan, where she made her first trip to Culver’s with left-wing Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. After ordering a ButterBurger and cheese curds, she declared: “My life has changed!”

Her enthusiasm for In-N-Out has not always been as strong. During another closely contested midterm cycle in 2022, Pod Save America host Jon Lovett asked her directly what she thought of the chain’s fries.

“Thank you for saying this because every time I come out here, everyone’s like: ‘Oh my god, In-N-Out, In-N-Out.’ And I’m like, my controversial, nonpolitical opinion is that it’s overrated,” she said at the time. Ocasio-Cortez clarified that her criticism was not aimed at the burgers, but at what she called the restaurant’s “dry fries.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing accusations that he gave undocumented immigrants guidance on how to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The Democratic Socialist drew sharp criticism from political opponents after posting a video on Friday explaining New Yorkers’ rights during encounters with ICE officers.

Speaking entirely in Spanish during the roughly 90-second video, Mamdani said ICE agents cannot legally enter private areas without a judicial warrant.

“In a document, look for the words ‘United States District Court’ and a judge’s signature,” Mamdani said. “You can ask the officers to pass the order under the door.”

He also told immigrants stopped or questioned on the street that they have the right to remain silent and may ask agents, “Am I free to go?”

Conservative lawmakers quickly condemned the video. New York Representative Nick LaLota mocked the mayor’s approach, saying, “NYC is becoming more like Paris every day.”

‘Today, the socialist mayor is using taxpayer resources to instruct illegals, in Spanish, how to evade accountability,’ LaLota wrote Friday on X.

Florida Senator Rick Scott accused Mamdani of “openly helping illegal aliens evade ICE and undermine the law.”

Scott added on X: ‘Radical Democrats are doing EVERYTHING in their power to recreate Biden’s open border disaster.’

Utah Senator Mike Lee also criticized the mayor’s advice, writing that “at no point in this video is anyone urged to abide by the laws of the United States.”

‘Because it was not made for the benefit of the people of the United States,’ Lee wrote.

Mamdani concluded by stating that New York City and the NYPD do not “assist in the enforcement of civil immigration law.”

He added that the Constitution protects the right to protest and promised that his administration would “protect that right.”

Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno insisted that Mamdani’s video amounted to ‘treason,’ he posted on X.

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace added: ‘If you’re here illegally, you’re not a New Yorker. Period.’

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Mamdani’s rapid ascent from a relatively unknown political activist to City Hall was fueled largely by support from progressive groups on the left.

Yet the mayor has also faced criticism from parts of that coalition in recent weeks, following an October 8 incident in which ICE agents shot and arrested 28-year-old Dominican migrant Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill, northern Manhattan.

Federal officials have said Belgal is undocumented, has a felony record and has ties to gangs.

“Mamdani is complicit,” protesters chanted that evening as the mayor spoke at a press conference.

Some of Mamdani’s supporters have also questioned his repeated meetings with President Donald Trump, including his most recent meeting with the president at Gracie Mansion in September.

According to The New York Times, Mamdani was unable to persuade Trump or DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release Belgal, despite making several phone calls to the president.

The mayor has repeatedly called for ICE to be abolished, describing the agency as “rotten to its core” during the same press conference.

“We know, and I’ve said this directly, whether to the president or to the public, ICE undermines public safety,” Mamdani said. “It makes us less safe.”

Mamdani has also faced pushback for standing by NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has faced calls to step down from some leftists. 

The Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member, demanded that he fire Tisch earlier this month and ‘use every power available to him to drive ICE out of New York City.’ 

‘Get ICE out of NYC,’ the leftist organization urged the mayor on social media. ‘No capitulation, no retreat.’

Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Mamdani ally, has also called for Tisch to go.

However, Mamdani has insisted that he has ‘no plans’ to remove Tisch as commissioner. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment. 

A judge has ruled that the former Cornell University student suing members of the Chi Phi fraternity over rape allegations may continue identifying herself in court as “Jane Doe.”

New York Supreme Court Justice Phaedra Perry-Bond, who is overseeing the civil case, said in a Friday order that Doe feared public disclosure of her identity could expose her to “retribution and retaliation,” damage her social and professional life, and bring shame to her family.

Doe further told the court that revealing her identity could place her family at risk. She also said she has suffered “extreme anxiety, depression, and insomnia.”

According to the judge’s order, none of the defendants objected to Doe’s request to remain anonymous.

Perry-Bond concluded that Doe’s privacy interests outweighed the usual presumption of open court proceedings. The judge cited “the notoriety of the allegations” as well as “widespread reports of certain malicious actors’ behavior” involving threats and retaliation against people connected to the case.

In an unusual addition to the ruling, Perry-Bond issued a warning that harassment or threats directed at Doe, the defendants or their attorneys could amount to a federal crime and result in prosecution.

The judge said keeping Doe’s name confidential would protect her privacy while preserving public access to the proceedings. More restrictive steps, including sealing the docket or closing the courtroom, were therefore unnecessary, she wrote.

Doe will remain anonymous in public court records, but the defendants who were individually named in the lawsuit will continue to be identified.

Perry-Bond also said protections covering sensitive information—including home addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses—should apply to the individually named defendants. She asked the parties to consider proposing an agreement that would extend similar safeguards to the defendants and possibly others involved in the litigation.

Doe filed the lawsuit in September, alleging that seven former Chi Phi members drugged and raped her beginning on the night of Oct. 19, 2024, and continuing into the following morning.

The complaint also lists the fraternity, Cornell University and the bar Doe visited that night as defendants.

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Doe alleges she was already intoxicated when she reached the fraternity house, where the men pressured her to use ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing. Some have said any sexual activity was consensual, while others have denied taking part.

According to Doe’s complaint, the fraternity was suspended on Nov. 8, 2024—the same day she reported the alleged sexual assault to campus police.

Matthew Van Houten, the local prosecutor who initially declined to bring criminal charges, has said Doe’s sworn statement from November 2024 did not claim that she had been drugged against her will or gang-raped.

Van Houten said the statement characterized Doe’s drug use and sexual activity as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

However, CBS New York later obtained transcripts of Doe’s Nov. 14 and 15, 2024, interviews with Cornell police. During those interviews, she told investigators, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”

Van Houten said he had not received the complete transcript. Late last month, he announced that his office was reopening the investigation after the allegations in Doe’s lawsuit appeared to differ from those in her sworn statement nearly two years earlier.

Days after Van Houten reversed course, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul removed him from the case, citing her lack of confidence in his judgment, and appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor.

James’ appointment has also drawn controversy, with multiple defendants seeking her removal over alleged bias stemming largely from a social media post she made days before her appointment that they argue showed sympathy for Jane Doe.

On Thursday, James filed a response in court, arguing that the defendants have no standing and that even if they did, the governor has the power to appoint a special prosecutor.

A separate motion from another defendant, a former fraternity member, asked the state Supreme Court to disqualify James from any future grand jury proceedings, arguing that her public comments had prejudiced potential grand jurors and undermined the fairness of the process. That matter remains pending.