Leslie Pickett thought she was chatting with Jon Bon Jovi, a rock star she had adored since her teenage years. For months, he engaged with her, sending personal videos and convincing messages, ultimately persuading her to send over $10,000. By the time she realized she had been scammed, she was facing the risk of losing her home.
“My heart was shattered,” the Louisiana resident shared, expressing that she wanted to believe in the honesty of the person behind the screen. It turned out, unfortunately, that the intentions were far from genuine. Pickett’s experience is now part of a National Geographic documentary titled “Super Scam Me,” where journalist Mariana van Zeller investigates online scams, even confronting a suspected scammer in Africa.
Van Zeller commented, “We’re living in the era of scams. Romance scams, in particular, are the fastest growing and perhaps the most devastating form of financial crime out there.” She noted that about one in seven Americans have reported losing money to romance scams, highlighting the urgency of raising awareness.
Pickett was initially a bit unfamiliar with Instagram, having mostly used Facebook. It was her daughter who encouraged her to explore the platform. In late 2024, she commented on a verified post from Bon Jovi, shortly after which she received a response from an account that claimed to belong to the star. Alarmingly, it wasn’t verified.
“He provided thoughtful responses to my inquiries, and I genuinely believed it was him,” she said, reflecting on her naiveté regarding the account verification process. The connection felt real to her—too real, perhaps—given that the impostor also expressed affection and even sent her flowers.
After a few months of exchanging messages, the scammer began to request money. Pickett did her best to accommodate these requests. He suggested that due to a sold-out performance, she should pay for a meet and greet through his management. Despite some hesitation, she was reassured when he explained that using cryptocurrency was the safest option because traditional payment methods were often hacked. This reassurance, of course, only deepened her entanglement in the scam.
Small requests for money escalated over time, leading her to send sums like $100 and later larger amounts through various platforms—each time feeling hopeful something legitimate could come of it. “Nothing seemed odd until the money started disappearing from my account,” she confessed.
At one point, he purportedly hinted at needing a security clearance check through Google Chat before they could meet. Yet when she tried to join, he abruptly disconnected, weaving more doubts into her growing unease.
When a request for a larger sum of Bitcoin finally made her realize the truth, she felt crushed. “I knew I had been duped,” she stated, reaching out to van Zeller for help, a step that would ultimately lead to the discovery of the scammer’s location in Lagos, Nigeria.
Today, Pickett continues to recover from the financial and emotional fallout of her experience. “It devastated my family. It devastated me,” she reflected, emphasizing how deeply this ordeal affected her ability to trust. As a result, she has taken on the role of advocacy to help warn others about the dangers of online scams, determined to ensure that no one else has to endure what she did.
In her own words, “I would never want anyone to go through what I went through.” Her story, alongside the insights from van Zeller’s documentary, serves as a poignant reminder of the risks that exist in the digital age today.
