A gang of scammers have duped a man from China into spending more than £20,000 on a fake girlfriend made entirely from artificial intelligence (AI).
The individual from Shanghai, identified as Mr. Liu, sent about 200,000 Chinese Yuan – which is approximately £21,778 – over a period of two months to a person he believed to be his new romantic partner, identified as Mrs. Jiao, as reported by China Central Television (CCTV).
Under the impression that he was assisting the woman in realizing her goal of starting a business and covering her family member’s medical expenses, Mr. Liu transferred the money directly to the scammers’ bank account in August 2024.
The con artists created fake documents to support their claim as a real person, including an identity card, family medical records and receipts.
The scammers went as far as creating convincing images and videos of a young woman, showcasing her walking on a street or holding a painting, to deceive Mr. Liu.
However, Mr Liu’s suspicions reportedly began growing when he still hadn’t met Mrs Jiao in the two months since they began speaking.
He soon called the police, who found that the videos and pictures were a culmination of AI materials used to commit serious fraud, and that the group had earned a total two million Chinese Yuan since starting the scam.
According to the police findings revealed by the Chinese state-run broadcaster, the gang consisted of ‘a team of scammers sending videos and photos that were all created using artificial intelligence of by combining multiple photos’.
The concerning report comes just one month after we told how a French woman was scammed out of £697,000 after being convinced she was sending money to film star Brad Pitt.
The 53-year-old victim shelled out the eye-watering sum to help with what she believed was cancer treatment for the film star.
The interior designer told French channel TF1 that the ordeal started when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be the actor’s mother after sharing photos of her lavish ski trip to Tignes on Instagram.
A day later, she received a second message from an account posing as Brad Pitt, saying his mother had spoken a lot about her already.
The victim, who said she was going through a difficult period with her millionaire husband, said she struck up an unlikely friendship with the account from February 2023, receiving poems and kind affirmations.
‘There are so few men who write you this kind of thing. I liked the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women, it was always very well done,’ she said, as reported by BFMTV.
In sum, she parted with nearly one million euros over the course of the relationship until her suspicions were roused by seeing the actor with his new girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, in the press.
The victim went to the authorities with the story, who launched an investigation.
It was unclear whether she had been able to recoup any of her money nearly two years since the relationship started.
BFMTV reports that the victim is currently hospitalised in a clinic, with severe depression.
The scammer was reportedly tracked down in Nigeria last month, according to local media reports.
In the wake of the story, the actor’s agent said that it was ‘awful’ that ‘scammers take advantage of the strong bond between fans and celebrities’.
They also warned others ‘not to respond to unsolicited’ messages, ‘especially from actors who have no social media presence’.
Earlier this month, US media giant Meta warned its users of the dangers of romance scams prior to Valentine’s Day.
In a statement, they said: ‘Romance scams are a common scheme in which scammers target people in a variety of ways – malicious texts or emails, dating apps, social media posts, discussion forums and more – under romantic pretenses.
‘In these cases, scammers would typically pose as attractive, single and successful individuals, often with a military or business background.
‘They would send cold messages to many targets at once – in a typical spray and pray scheme – to initiate contact.
‘If a target were to respond, the scammer would try to build trust over a period of time, ultimately asking for money or suggesting a fraudulent investment opportunity.’
