Leslie had spotted fake celebrity accounts before. But the Instagram account claiming to be Jon Bon Jovi seemed different: it had a checkmark, and she believed impersonation scams were less common on that platform.
Months of conversation followed. By the time the Louisiana fan sought help investigating the account, she had given thousands of dollars she did not have and was on the verge of losing her home.
Investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller recounted Leslie's experience on the BobbyCast on 13 October, ahead of her documentary Super Scam Me. The film, which premieres in the UK on 18 October, features Leslie's account of believing she was in a relationship with the singer for about a year.
A Promised Meeting Turned the Conversation Into Payment Requests
The person behind the account knew how to draw on her lifelong attachment to Bon Jovi's music. He asked about her favourite songs and told her he enjoyed their conversations because she understood his character through his work, unlike the wealthy and famous people surrounding him.
For months, the exchange centred on that apparent connection. Then came a proposition that offered to turn it into something tangible: he was coming to her area for a meet-and-greet and would put her in touch with his manager so she could pay to attend.
Paid meet-and-greets were familiar enough to make the request plausible. For Leslie, it appeared to offer a chance to meet someone she had admired throughout her life and now regarded as a friend and romantic interest.
But the meeting never happened. Excuses followed, along with requests for more money, including security costs. Eventually, Leslie contacted van Zeller on Instagram: she suspected she was talking to a scammer but was still unsure. The journalist and her team travelled to Louisiana to investigate.
Specialist Teams Can Sustain a Convincing False Identity
The sustained attention Leslie received fits a wider pattern van Zeller describes in her reporting on romance fraud. Scammers spend time courting their targets before asking for money, learning personal details and finding ways to make the relationship feel significant.
Behind some of those exchanges are organised groups with different specialisms. One person sends the initial messages; others handle voice impersonation, documents or AI-generated photographs. An apparently intimate conversation can draw on more than one person's work.
TechRadar described Leslie's experience as an AI romance scam. However, the detailed account does not identify a specific AI technique used against her. What it does describe is months of personal attention followed by payment requests presented as the costs of meeting the singer.
Leslie Now Reports the Profiles Targeting Other Fans
Learning that the relationship was false left Leslie dealing with more than the money she had lost. In a separate TechRadar interview, van Zeller described her heartbreak, humiliation and threatened loss of her home. Leslie nevertheless agreed to share her experience because she hoped it would help others.
She now raises awareness on social platforms and reports fake celebrity profiles to Facebook and Instagram. Van Zeller argues that this work should not fall primarily on someone already harmed by a scam, calling for platforms, banks and governments to do more.
Leslie first sought help because she could not be certain who was behind the messages. Now she spends time identifying the profiles making similar approaches to other people, trying to stop another apparent connection from becoming another demand for money.
