It’s one of the fastest-growing and most devastating financial scams out there— romance scams.
In 2025 alone, more than $1 billion was stolen from American victims through these scams, with an estimated 1 in 7 adults having lost money to romance scammers. And with the technological advancements of AI, the deception is becoming more difficult to detect.
To fully understand the extent of these scams, Emmy Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller (“Trafficked”) teamed up with National Geographic to go undercover in the investigative documentary special “Super Scam Me,” which airs Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. EDT on National Geographic and streams on Disney+ and Hulu.
On The Red Carpet got the inside scoop from van Zeller and Leslie Pickett, a contributor to the documentary and a victim of a romance scam, who believed she was in a relationship with Jon Bon Jovi.
“We’re not just talking about, you know, losing money, but we’re talking about somebody who goes through a real emotionally traumatic moment of their lives, right? There’s this idea that not only are they losing money, their heart is broken. But then when they decide to talk about this, to go to the authorities or tell their loved ones what has just happened to them, usually the response they get is laughter and shame and ridicule, and that is not okay,” van Zeller explained.
Pickett told us, “I’ve been in banking and finance for 30 years, so I’m not a dumb person, and I did get scammed. I was a lonely person, and I got scammed, and I want to do whatever I can to prevent it.”
Jon Bon Jovi performs during “Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us” on Friday, June 5, 2026, at OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Duped through months of communication, like talking on the phone, exchanging photos and video chatting, Pickett believed she was in a relationship with her longtime idol Jon Bon Jovi.
“My 14-year-old self was just giddy when he replied,” she said.
“Leslie and I have spoken about this a bunch, but there’s a loneliness epidemic in this country,” said van Zeller. “And this is exactly what they’re exploiting. Here are people, these scammers have a lot of time on their hands. And they’re going to make sure that you’re gonna feel loved and seen and understood in a way that no one else has ever made you feel, right? And yeah, again, they’re very, very good at what they do. They have all the technology and they have a lot of time on their hands.”
Pickett told us, “I talked to my scammer for 10 months, and it was six months before he ever even asked for a penny. So they’re in it for the long game.”
To understand the issue, van Zeller decided to get a first-hand look by going undercover as the perfect victim.
“This was a middle-aged woman who was, you know, recently divorced, kids in college, living somewhat of a lonely life and out there looking for love. And within minutes after posting the photos on the profile on dating websites and social media websites, I started being contacted by scammers,” she said.
In addition to “eligible” romance matches, van Zeller ran into a plethora of celebrity impersonators.
“I was at one point communicating with three George Clooneys, two Keanu Reeves, several Brad Pitts… They’re really good. And they’re, and this was a year ago. And since, generative AI has even gotten better. So we’re only going to see this getting harder and harder to sort of separate.”
Mariana van Zeller undercover as “Mary Zell” for “Super Scam Me”
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
In the special, viewers will see van Zeller’s physical transformation into her alter ego, Mary Zell, as well as the tactics and technology scammers use to manipulate their victims into trusting them and sending money their way. Van Zeller eventually focuses in on one scammer who poses as a four-star general, going so far as to meet him in person.
“As a journalist who’s also trying to, always trying to, understand the motivations and the ‘why’ people do what they do, I was trying to get to that,” she explained.
Victims of romance scams can lose it all, experiencing house foreclosures, business shutdowns and wiped savings accounts.
The two are hoping the documentary brings awareness to potential victims.
“I was told by our local police and the FBI that they (the scammers) were out of our jurisdiction. So I was just… Flat out, you know, lost my money,” said Pickett, who appealed to every bank and banking app that her finances passed through.
She elaborated, “You are a literal piece of sand on a beach to these people. They don’t care that you got scammed. So if we don’t put some kind of awareness out there, we’re just making it easier for these scammers to do this to people, because they have no recourse.”
“I think that the onus often is put on people like us, individual beings and citizens,” said van Zeller. “And I think more of the onus should actually be put on our governments, on big tech, on banks. I don’t think they are doing enough to prevent these scams.”
You can also watch all five seasons of the Emmy-winning “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller,” which explores global black markets, shadow economies, and criminal underworlds on Hulu.
The Walt Disney is the parent company of National Geographic, Disney+, Hulu and this station.
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