National Geographic airs romance scam documentary Super Scam Me

In short: National Geographic is airing a new documentary, Super Scam Me, about how online romance scams work and how victims can be pulled into sending large amounts of money.

What happened

Super Scam Me, hosted by investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller, premieres Saturday on National Geographic at 9 pm ET. It will also be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.

The film looks at romance scams, where a person pretends to be someone trustworthy or famous online, builds an emotional relationship, and then asks for money. The story includes a case where someone believed they were talking to rock star Jon Bon Jovi through direct messages, and the scammer later asked for life-changing sums of money.

In an exclusive clip shared by Ars Technica, van Zeller works with an ethical hacker, someone who breaks into systems to help people, not to steal. They use a fake bitcoin receipt (a made-up proof of payment) to keep the scammer talking, which helps the victim get answers and closure.

Van Zeller also runs her own “social experiment” by creating a fake identity online and letting scammers approach her. Disguised in photos to avoid being recognized, she connects with a scammer in Ghana who poses as a military general. She then tries to trace who he is and where he operates.

Why it matters

The US Federal Trade Commission says romance scams cost Americans nearly $1.5 billion each year. The documentary shows how these scams can trap smart, educated people, often by slowly building trust like a long con, and by using shame to keep victims quiet. It also notes that scammers are getting harder to catch, and some experts expect tools like AI to make scams more convincing.

Source: Arstechnica