A man in China lost nearly £22,000 to a dating scam after getting into a “long-distance relationship” with an AI “girlfriend”.
The victim, identified by his surname Liu, thought he was in a relationship with a girl called Ms Jiao, who sent him pictures and videos online. Little did the man from Shanghai know that Ms Jiao was merely a fictional character being used to dupe him out of his money.
The scammers used generative artificial intelligence to create the fictional persona of Ms Jiao and then convince Mr Liu that the woman needed money to pay medical bills and fund a business, CCTV News reported. They scammed him out of 200,000 yuan, or about £21,720.
A police investigation revealed that the “scammer team” sent Mr Liu “videos and photos that were all created through AI or made by combining multiple images”.
They also created fake medical and reports bills to manipulate the victim into believing his “girlfriend” was in urgent need of financial assistance.
“Throughout the process, Mr Liu never met Ms Jiao in person,” the report noted.
AI scams have become a growing global concern, with criminals exploiting the technology to impersonate real individuals or create entirely fictional personas for financial fraud.
In January, scammers conned a French woman out of more than £670,000 after convincing her that she was in a romantic relationship with Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. The scammers used fake messages and AI videos to dupe the woman, claiming ‘Pitt’ needed money to pay for hospital treatment.
In November last year, a British woman in her 60s gave around £19,750 to a scammer posing as a US army colonel named “Mike Murdy” on Tinder. The fraudster used AI videos and images, persuading her to send substantial funds under various pretences.
And in 2023, an Arizona mother reported that scammers had used AI to replicate her daughter’s voice in an attempt to extort $1m (£790,000) from her.
