Louisiana Woman Loses $10,000 to AI Bon Jovi Scam, Nearly Losing Her Home

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 24

Leslie Pickett said an impostor posing as Jon Bon Jovi used AI-generated videos, messages and a live call over two years to win her trust, leaving her out more than $10,000 and close to foreclosure.
Seven months passed before the scammer asked for money, first steering her toward a fake meet-and-greet and then pushing repeated payments through Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and cryptocurrency.
Pickett said the deception felt real because the account replied minutes after she commented on Bon Jovi’s verified Instagram, remembered personal details, sent flowers and produced custom videos on demand.
An IP trace arranged for National Geographic's "Super Scam Me" led investigators to Lagos, Nigeria, after a cybersecurity expert set a trap to lure the impostor into seeking more Bitcoin.
Romance scams are among the fastest-growing financial crimes, journalist Mariana van Zeller said, with Americans losing more than $1 billion in 2025 alone as AI makes celebrity impersonation harder to detect.