Jon Bon Jovi impersonator uses AI videos to scam woman out of $10K, nearly costing her home

A Louisiana woman, Leslie Pickett, lost more than $10,000 to a scammer who posed as Jon Bon Jovi using convincing videos and messages. The deception nearly cost her home and highlights how artificial intelligence can make romance scams harder to spot.

Pickett first contacted what she believed was Bon Jovi’s account on Instagram in late 2024, then received a reply from an unverified account claiming to be the singer’s private profile. After months of frequent messages, declarations of love and flowers, the impostor asked her to pay for a meet-and-greet through supposed management contacts and cryptocurrency. Pickett’s experience features in a National Geographic documentary investigating online scams; the article says one in seven Americans have reported losing money to romance scams.