I thought I was dating Jon Bon Jovi. Ten months later, I realized I'd been scammed out of $10,000.

This narrative is according to an discussion alongside Leslie Pickett, 55, a home loan lender from north Louisiana. She appears in the new National Geographic series "Super Scam Me," out October 17. It has been edited for dimension and clarity.

I've been a fan of Jon Bon Jovi always since the age of 14, whenever I was blown distant by his music during the 1980s.

Then, as I got older, I could see all the fine things he had done as a philanthropist. His Soul Foundation supports affordable accommodation and feeds the hungry.

He's an amazing individual being, and who doesn't affection Jon Bon Jovi?

I'm additional of a Facebook individual and unfamiliar alongside Instagram, but I came throughout his verified document toward the end of 2024.

He messaged me immediately on Instagram

It was fair a bunch of questions. Then he stated that if his administration established out he was messaging immediately on Instagram, they would close downward the page.

He stated it would be improved if we went to WhatsApp or Telegram. I'd never been on either, but I figured it out.

We sent a ton of texts over the next brace of months, and I established myself falling for him. There was one particular event whenever I had my doubts and asked him outright why he was chatting to me. I mean, why would Bon Jovi desire me?

He threw out, "I affection you." I said, "You don't equal cognize me! Name five things concerning me you love." He wrote downward five things, and several of them were from the archetypal and second months of our conversation.

I framed it as if he were a companion of quarry since it was fair beautiful. It was a never-ending love bomb.

I told him not to dispatch me flowers again

He sent me recorded videos. Then, we did a live video chat, but it was extremely grainy, and he was really far rear from the camera. The call lone lasted five seconds before it cut out. However, it looked extremely much akin Bon Jovi to me.

Then I received a blended bouquet of flowers in a vase. I assume my location is community record, so it wasn't difficult for him to discover it.

I had no idea they were coming, and I immediately threw them away. I didn't desire anyone alternatively to see them and ask anywhere they came from. After that, I told him entirely not to send flowers again or call my phone unless we had a period set up beforehand.

Meanwhile, he stated he and his spouse had already submitted for divorce, but nobody knew since it wouldn't be fine for his community image. He stated he fair wanted person who loved him for him and not for his prosperity and fame.

The lone individual I confided in was my cousin, Jerry. He knew the complete degree of what was going on. He stated it was fair a imagination — a fairytale — and not to autumn in affection alongside the guy.

I didn't listen. When you're talking to person that often, it's difficult not to accept they are who they are. The intellect plays tricks.

Next, he started asking for money. The idea was that I would pay him for one of those meet-and-greets that big stars do alongside their fans.

He stated we'd expend a day together and that he'd obtain me out to dinner. I can't recall the first fig he quoted, but it was about $3,000, which I paid in increments. I formerly sent $1,000, but the another payments ranged from $150 to $500.

I had a lot of difficulty getting the prosperity over. He advised me to use Cash App or PayPal alternatively of Venmo, saying they had lesser fees. He additionally guided me on how to dispatch bitcoin by showing me screenshots of the process.

He stated I needed safety clearance

In July 2025, he eventually stated he was flying to Louisiana to encounter me. He stated he'd arrived.

He sent me pictures of him sitting at a array in a inn that I was acquainted with. I could see the identical partition sconces, the napkin arrangements, the tablecloths, the rug, and the flat pattern.

Next, he stated we had to do a safety clearance call on Google Chat before we met. I was at my related Jerry's home and made the phone call in the bathroom. I'd never used the app before, and all I could see was a small box on the base correct of my screen.

I couldn't create him out properly. I put my hand downward to enlarge the picture, and he hung up. He texted afterward to say that it was a safety breach since his group idea I was trying to document the call to blackmail him.

He stated the lone way I could encounter him was to pay additional prosperity for a second safety check. He was consenting to remain in town if I were consenting to do so. That's the lone period I paid him a much larger amount of bitcoin.

As usual, he was extremely consenting to dispatch me screenshots of his phone showing exactly which sites to visit, and he walked me through it stage by step. Then he made all excuse in the publish not to encounter me.

I contacted an investigative journalist

Looking back, I conjecture I had paid my dues. At that point, the doubts started to flood in. I idea concerning the power and sophistication of AI, and asked myself if it was a scam. The answer, of course, was yes.

I was bamboozled, yet resolute not to sit rear and do nothing. I really liked the National Geographic sequence "Trafficked" and contacted the host, investigative newsman Mariana van Zeller, for assistance that identical month.

She was filming episodes for her new documentary, "Super Scam Me." That October, we teamed up alongside a reformed hacker and obtained the scammer's IP location by environment a trap to lure him into claiming additional bitcoin, the preferred prosperity of scammers.

The location was in Lagos, Nigeria. We looked up the exact home on Google Earth. I was shocked and couldn't halt crying whenever we established out the truth.

People power amazement why I cut for the scammer's lies. This man was extremely fine at what he did. I was lonely, and it wasn't difficult to create feelings for person who told you everything you wanted to hear.

It motionless hurts. You don't get complete a 10-month association quickly, particularly since it was supposedly alongside person you've idolized since 14.

I can't wallow in it and desire to assistance others

To my horror, following I went to the constabulary and they helped me put together the math, I discovered I had misplaced $10,000 to the scam. It power not appear a lot to several people, but it is to me. I have been rocked emotionally and financially.

The lone way I can reconcile it alongside myself and forgive myself for being that dumb is to think that God perchance idea the scammer needed the prosperity additional than I did.

I have to get complete what happened. I can't wallow in it. My goal is to lift awareness and keep additional men and women harmless online. If group cognize how to place a scammer, it could halt their earth from falling apart.

Editor's note: Business Insider contacted Jon Bon Jovi's media squad to ask for comment concerning group impersonating him online. The squad has not immediately responded.