Inside sick dating scammers using AI and deep-fake videos to STRIP lonely people

CHECK OUT the two bikini images below and be afraid, very afraid, of what scammers have done to a completely innocent holiday selfie.

An online report obtained by The Sun shows scammers training fellow cyber fraudsters on how to hijack a social media clip and how to make the woman remove her costume to appear nearly naked.

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The result can then be used to release the victim for a large sum of money.

It's just one example of a growing scourge of romance fraud, with scammers preying on dating apps and social media sites to take advantage of users.

With advanced deep-fake video and voice cloning, they can also create fake dating profiles, using AI, to woo both women and men, before asking them to invest in scams or pay out for 'emergencies'.

Glamorous dating profiles are also stolen and manipulated to lure admirers and trick them into parting with money.

Scammers are using encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to exchange tips on new scams, including pre-written 'romantic' scripts apparently sent by real lonely hearts.

The latest figures show that the number of romance scams is increasing by a fifth year on year.

As many as one in three Britons are duped – and in total cost around £95 million a year.

Campaigner Anna Rowe infiltrated the schemers' training sessions on the dark web and spotted them exchanging messages, such as the selfie edit, which she shared with The Sun.

Mother-of-two Anna, 51, has now set up websites and social media platforms to help victims – and knows their pain all too well.

She fell for a man on dating site Tinder.

'Antony' then dated her for months before discovering he had lied on a fake profile, and had a wife and children, as well as FIVE lovers who he also fooled.

Anna said: “It's getting more dangerous.

“Scammers have training groups and trade in hacked accounts and scam tools.

They can clone a voice and create deepfake videos that will soon be so convincing that it will appear as if they are sitting on the screen in front of a victim and having a conversation.

For many scammers, English is not their first language, so they use scripts.

They now use AI software like ChatGPT, which is extra compelling.”

Anna found a group, Yahoo Boys, where a trainer told scammers how to pressure victims with fake or real nude photos.

In a blueprint message, he calls the potential victim a bitch and threatens to send photos to everyone she knows, adding: “You'll soon blame yourself.”

Another online scammer shares a chilling script he sent to a woman that reads: “I have your nudes and everything I need to ruin your life.”

According to Lloyds Bank, the number of customers robbed by romance fraud rose by 22 percent last year.

Men made up 52 per cent of cases and were hit for an average of £5,145, compared to £9,083 for female victims.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau received more than 8,000 reports of romance scams in 2022, but experts fear many victims may feel too embarrassed to contact law enforcement.

Lisa Mills, fraud expert at Victim Support, said: “We had a woman who lost thousands in a case involving AI.

“The scammer transplanted the face of the profile he had hacked into his own, and was able to have a conversation with the lady involved online.

“People have become suicidal because of romance scams.

“They are going through a period of grieving after they thought they were building a real relationship.”

People have become suicidal because of romance scams

Lisa Mills

Mum-of-four Julie-Anne Kearns shared her breast cancer journey on social media, but was attacked.

Julie-Anne, 46, a care assistant from Poole, Dorset, underwent a double mastectomy after doctors discovered she carried a faulty gene, putting her at high risk of breast cancer.

In November 2022, she started talking to a man named Andrew whose friend request she accepted on Facebook.

He claimed to have worked in the military on a Peace Corps mission in Afghanistan – an operation that Julie-Anne now knows was shut down in 1979.

She said: “He told me how much he wanted to be with me, asked me what gifts I liked and where I wanted to go on holiday.

“He asked me if I believed in love at first sight and fate, and said we were meant to be together.

“I now know that this is known as love-bombing, the first stage of the manipulation game.

“Then came the sob story.

“He said his wife had died after being hit by a drunk driver and that he had a daughter at boarding school in London.”

But Julie-Anne became suspicious when 'Andrew' started asking her to send him iTunes gift cards.

When she put his image in a Google search, it appeared on many profiles – and she blocked him.

Julie-Anne, who now runs a TikTok page that gives advice to other women, added: “If I hadn't confronted him he would have gone ahead and asked for more money.”

Similarly, in 2014, grandmother Ruth Grover decided to lose her husband and become a scammer target.

I now know that this is known as love-bombing, the first stage of the manipulation game

Julie-Anne

Ruth, 66, from Hartlepool, created Facebook and Instagram sites called ScamHaters United, which now have tens of thousands of followers and expose fake profiles.

She says the problem is worse than ever, with victims being contacted through dating apps, social media, online games such as Scrabble and Words With Friends, on their Fitbits and even on karaoke platforms.

She said fraudsters often claim they are covering up their lies.

She said: “Romance scams have been a big problem throughout Covid as everyone has been glued to technology, and it hasn't let up.

“Thousands of people contact me.”

People whose profiles are stolen by fraudsters also suffer greatly.

James Blake, 30, who runs a digital marketing company in Lisburn, County Antrim, had his identity hacked by scammers who wooed women and then stole sums of up to £50,000.

The cheats hijacked James's dashing Instagram photos, which show him driving a Lamborghini and McLaren race car and showing off a Rolex.

He said: “I realized something was up when a man in my office asked if I had just followed him from a new Instagram account.

“It was clearly a fake profile.

“We laughed and thought, 'This is a kid in his bedroom messing around.'

“But more and more profiles were added in the coming weeks.

“I deleted them. But then I started getting messages from women asking, 'Are you talking to me on this dating app?'

“I was shocked because I wasn't there. But things snowballed.

“I woke up every day to messages from women saying, 'I thought I was talking to you and now I realize it's fake and I gave money for an investment project,' or for X, Y, Z.

“The amounts ranged from a few hundred to £50,000 and the women came from all over the world.

“Many are really invested in the relationship.”

Last year James investigated the scammers with the BBC Three documentary Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang, now on iPlayer.

He revealed secret centers in Cambodia and Myanmar where trafficked Chinese and South Asian nationals work for a pittance to defraud people – and are beaten by gang masters if they fail.

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