‘How do you know it’s real?’: Aussie woman duped by romance scam

An Aussie woman has opened up about her two-year relationship with a man she met online — but a detail in a video sounded the alarm.

An Australian woman has opened up about her two-year relationship with a man she met online — but a detail in a video he sent sounded the alarm that things weren’t quite right.

Mary, 66, believed she met her perfect man online, a Brit who had immigrated to Australia.

Mary believed she met her perfect man online. Picture: Instagram.

The pair had a two-year romance but, after months of dodging questions and turning down opportunities to meet, things took a turn for the worse.

Mary’s friend Liz raised the possibility Mary’s boyfriend mightn’t be real after she watched a strange video he sent.

“Two weeks I will be back to Sydney, Australia,” he says in the clip, which was shared with the Kyle and Jackie O Show.

“I really do hope things go well between us. I would love us to meet and be together when I return.”

Mary took the video as evidence of “how much he absolutely adores me”, but Liz wasn’t convinced.

“How do you know this stuff is real?” she asked her friend.

Unfortunately, Liz’s suspicions were right.

A Google reverse image search shows the video, known as a deepfake, was created from a photo of Andre Moreau, an Emmy-winning news anchor in the US.

The photo had been put through artificial intelligence software to create a video in which it appeared to speak.

What’s more, Moreau said his face had been used in romance and deepfake scams many times.

He told Mary he was a Brit who had immigrated to Australia. Picture: Instagram

But things took a turn when Mary’s friends got involved. Picture: Instagram.

But, unfortunately, Liz’s warning came after Mary had already lost money to the scam.

Mary’s dodgy beau had said he was on holiday in Abu Dhabi and couldn’t wait to meet her face-to-face for the first time when she returned.

“He was like, ‘meet me at the airport at 8pm’,” Liz explained to KIIS 1065.

“He didn’t show up. He said he got arrested at the airport for owing someone money. Mary had to transfer money.”

It turned out Mary was talking to a deepfake version of news anchor Andre Moreau. Picture: WAFB Channel 9.

Mary said she was heartbroken by the ordeal.

“You want to believe your heart and so I went down there [to the airport] and I waited there for probably about two hours,” she said.

“I cried all the way home.”

“I don’t understand it at all. I don’t understand this AI thing,” she added.

The scammer used this picture and deepfaked it. Picture: Instagram.

Moreau said he’d been used as the face of romance scams many times. Picture: Instagram.

Viewers took to the comments to express their sympathy for Mary, with many saying older Australians were particularly vulnerable to tech-savvy scams.

“This is literally happening to my grandmother and she won’t believe anything I say. Idk what to do,” one woman wrote.

“This exact storyline happened to my bestie. Luckily, she didn’t send him any money. But the same story. Coming home, arrested at the airport for owing some money. Same location and all. It’s so sad,” added another.

“Also happening to a relative of mine. She has sent them over 30k and won’t listen to anyone,” said a third.

Another person added: “Poor lady. Fingers crossed she finds love and happiness elsewhere.”