A Louisiana woman lost over $10,000 and nearly her home to an AI-powered romance scam by a crook posing as Jon Bon Jovi.
Leslie Pickett thought she had found a genuine connection with the rock star. Instead, an impostor used an unverified social media account, months of daily messages, and polished generative AI videos to drain her savings and push her toward foreclosure.
The case is featured in the National Geographic documentary special “Super Scam Me,” in which Emmy-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller examines online fraud. Pickett’s story shows how romance scams now combine old emotional manipulation with new technology that can look convincing enough to fool family members.
New York Post reporting details how the contact began in late 2024. Pickett, more familiar with Facebook than Instagram, commented on a post from Bon Jovi’s verified account. Minutes later, a separate unverified account that appeared to belong to him replied.
She was not deeply familiar with verification check marks. She had doubts. She also hoped it was real.
“He gave very thoughtful answers to my questions, so I genuinely thought it was him,” Pickett said. “And I wasn’t too knowledgeable about those check marks. I had doubts, but hey, a girl can dream.”
The exchange did not start with a demand for money. The man messaged day and night. They talked about everyday life and music. He sent flowers to her home. He claimed a quiet divorce and said he wanted someone normal who was not chasing fame.
Pickett later described the bond in plain terms.
"It was like talking to my best friend. He said he wanted to meet someone normal. He didn’t want somebody that wanted fame, money and things like that. So, we didn’t really talk about stuff like that. We talked about everyday life. I had my doubts, but I was praying it was him."
Van Zeller stressed the same pattern. Romance scams rarely open with a hard sell. They build trust first.
"At first approach, it started as a normal conversation. People think he approached her and said, ‘Hi, I’m Jon Bon Jovi. I’m madly in love with you. Send me money.’ That’s not the case. It took him seven months before he asked Leslie for money."
By then, the person on the other end no longer felt like a stranger. That is the point of the long game.
The impostor sent recorded videos that used her name. When Pickett asked for proof, the responses arrived fast. She once told him to pull on his right ear, cross his eyes, and stick out his tongue. A video matching that request showed up within five minutes.
"In the videos, he would say my name. He would send me videos all the time. One time, I told him, ‘Pull on your right ear, cross your eyes and stick your tongue out.’ He would send me that within five minutes. That’s how good AI is."
Van Zeller watched some of the clips sent to Pickett. She said the quality far exceeded the distorted deepfakes of earlier years. In her own undercover work for the documentary, she dealt with multiple celebrity impostors, including fake versions of well-known actors. Some videos looked professional and believable.
Pickett’s cousin was initially skeptical. After seeing the images, the cousin declared there was no doubt it was Bon Jovi.
The money requests arrived framed as logistics, not charity. The impostor described an exclusive Nashville performance limited to a thousand ticket buyers. Pickett tried to purchase seats and found they sold out in four minutes. He then offered a meet-and-greet and said she would have to go through management.
He supplied emails and walked her through the steps. Payments moved through Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and cryptocurrency. Early transfers were small, $100 or $150 at a time, then grew when prior payments supposedly “hadn’t gone through.”
Pickett had never heard of crypto before. When she hesitated, he claimed regular sites get hacked and that this method was safer. She accepted the explanation because she expected something concrete in return.
“That was a red flag, but the money was given with intent,” she said. “I was supposed to get something in return. Meet and greets are also a common thing with famous people so I didn’t see it as scammy at all.”
Nothing felt wrong, she said, until the money stopped coming back into her account.
In July 2025, the scammer said he was flying to Louisiana. He sent hotel photos Pickett recognized. A security-clearance attempt over a video call cut off. He alleged a security breach and pressed for a larger Bitcoin payment.
That is when the picture broke for her.
“At that point, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is just not real,’” Pickett said. “That’s when my heart sank because I knew I had been duped. That’s when I decided to reach out to Mariana for help.”
She had already lost more than $10,000. Her home faced foreclosure. She kept working full-time while trying to rebuild.
Pickett teamed with van Zeller and a former hacker. They traced an IP address to Lagos, Nigeria, and used mapping tools to identify a believed house tied to the messaging. A trap was set to lure further Bitcoin claims. When confirmation arrived that the person was not Bon Jovi, the emotional hit landed hard.
“I was devastated,” Pickett said. “By then I was starting to suspect he was fake. But when Mariana got confirmation, it rocked my world. He could have just come clean, but he just took advantage of my kindness. That’s what crushed me.”
Fox News Digital reached a Bon Jovi spokesperson for comment. No on-record reply appears in the available account. No arrest is described.
Van Zeller put the wider problem in blunt terms.
"We’re living in the era of scams. Romance scams, in particular, are the fastest growing, and I believe, most devastating form of financial crime out there. One in seven Americans have reported losing money to romance scams. And so, I think now is the best time to raise awareness."
Pickett’s goal now is practical. She warns others on social media and says she wants to slow and eventually stop the industry that ran this play on her.
“It devastated my family. It devastated me. It put me in financial dire straits. It affected me emotionally,” she said. “I wanted to crawl under a rock. No one should ever feel that way.”
Kindness is not a crime. Criminals who weaponize it with AI and untraceable payments should not get a free pass while ordinary people lose their homes.
