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Published: 28.08.2024
Updated: 28.08.2024
5 min read

PERTH WOMAN REVEALS HOW AI DEEPFAKE ROMANCE SCAM COST HER THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

‘I went through the darkest days of my life. How could I have been so blind?’
By Bryce Luff

PERTH WOMAN CAUGHT OUT BY AI DEEPFAKE SCAM

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PERTH WOMAN REVEALS HOW AI DEEPFAKE ROMANCE SCAM COST HER THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

‘I went through the darkest days of my life. How could I have been so blind?’
By Bryce Luff

The victim of a romance scammer who used deepfake artificial intelligence to
disguise his identity says the “destructive” saga has left her “totally
dependent on my children”.

Perth woman Maggie lost tens of thousands of dollars to a con artist who spent
weeks love-bombing her before reeling her into his sham plight.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Perth woman caught out by AI deepfake scam.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

Bravely detailing her experience to warn others about the red flags she either
missed or ignored, Maggie said she first received an email from a man named
Brian in July 2023.

At the time she was vulnerable. She had just moved from South Africa to WA’s
capital after her husband died.

She told Brian she was in a relationship and he backed off but made contact
again five months later.

Brian said he was a Sydney geological engineer based on an oil rig in The North
Sea near Scotland.

He built a foundation of trust by showing her his contract, passport and ID, and
ramped up the affection and compliments to make her “feel safe, appreciated and
loved”.

Maggie’s children sounded the alarm but she did not heed their warning.

‘HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO BLIND?’

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After speaking with Brian by email and over the phone, she eventually insisted
on a video call.

“Although the picture was quite distorted, he called a few times on a video call
but it always had to be scheduled upfront,” she said.

Brian said his contract would be up soon and he would return to his home in
Sydney, before his fake story took a new turn.

He told her a power failure had caused machines on the rig he was working on to
break down and he had to fund the required replacement parts.

“He asked me to lend him some money as his only aim was to get home as soon as
possible to be with me,” she said.

He insisted and begged for the cash, and even promised to pay it back with
interest.

She eventually agreed, with a phony contract supposedly drawn up by his human
resources department to formalise the agreement.

But he then called on her again to cover expensive shipping taxes for the parts
to be brought over from the US.

“Every time there was something else. He started blaming me because I took too
long to send the money,” she said.

Maggie lost thousands to a romance scammer who used AI to trick her. Credit:
7NEWS

The thread of lies was eventually undone during a video call when a “technical
glitch” caused the filter to drop and his real appearance was exposed.

In that moment Maggie realised Brian was using a smartphone to transform who he
actually was.

“They immediately disconnected the call because I think they discovered the
glitch,” Maggie said.

She started investigating, finding the photos of the person she knew as Brian
had been used on dating sites, each time with a different name.

She continued to play along for a little while in the hope it would help any
slim chance she had of recovering her lost money — but it did not.

In another insulting blow, a secondary scammer acting as a fund recovery agent
promised to get her swindled money back if she handed over thousands more
dollars.

“The impact this experience had on me emotionally and psychologically is
destructive,” she said.

“I went through the darkest days of my life. How could I have been so blind?

“I’m now totally dependent on my children.”

Maggie said it is now her life mission to warn others who are vulnerable, lonely
and uninformed.

“Scammers get away with trails of broken hearts, destroyed dreams, empty
promises and bank accounts without being tracked down,” she said.

HUGE LOSSES

Maggie is far from alone, with $2.9 million drained from 26 romance and dating
scam victims in WA this year alone. Last year’s figure was $3.7 million.

In recent weeks, two victims have been taken for $1.4 million.

One sent $825,000 to help an online love interest with relocation costs, while
another was encouraged to invest at least $600,000 into a fake cryptocurrency
platform.

“Romance scammers really are the worst of the worst — they appeal to people who
are looking for love or companionship and they represent the worst of humanity,”
Commerce Minister Sue Ellery said.

“They might ask for travel assistance to get to meet you, they might ask for
relocation fees, they might ask for business opportunities or cryptocurrency
investments but the end result is always the same — their victims lose
thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, are left feeling
shattered emotionally, as well as suffering from the financial loss.

“Our advice is to be incredibly vigilant, to be cautious.”

Security software company McAfee — which recently launched a deepfake detector
tool it claims alerts people to danger “in seconds” — says “AI has changed the
game for cybercriminals who are creating more convincing (and) personalised”
scams at scale.

But there are some signs to look out for, including scammers doing their best to
stay as still as possible.

“That kind of movement ruins the deepfake effect. It’s quite obvious when it
happens,” a company spokesperson said.

Cybersecurity researcher Shahroz Tariq said switching your social media profiles
to private can also help.

“This way only your friends and followers can view your content,” Shahroz said.

“Not only does this limit the availability of your images online in general, but
it significantly increases the potential of finding the attacker if someone does
create a deepfake of you.”

Other fraudulent crimes are on the rise too, with WA ScamNet figures identifying
more than 200 victims who have lost a combined $300,000 on Facebook Marketplace
scams this year.

Ellery said she had pressed social media giants about improving security, saying
they “can and should do much more than they are doing to keep their customers
safe”.

Other rackets on the rise include the sale of shipping containers that do not
exist.

ScamNet has heard from 11 victims this year who have lost $68,000 paying for a
product that was never delivered.

Legitimate sellers’ ID has even been stolen and used as part of the crime.

Fake rental property listings are also a serious concern for authorities, with
scammers posing as landlords to fleece prospective tenants out of upfront bond
and rent money.

Victims are groomed, told they are the perfect tenants and given excuses about
why they cannot be walked through the property.

Eleven WA victims have lost $28,000 this year and more than $110,000 was
swindled in 2023.

People who have been targeted by scams can lodge a report on WA ScamNet website
or call 1300 30 40 54.

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