“I love her. I just love her!” You meet someone online. It turns out many others think they have fallen for the same person. Introducing the search for the unwitting face of a digital con. With host, Hannah Ajala. Launching 23 January 2023. Audio for this trailer was updated on February 8, 2023.
A BBC World Service and CBC podcast production.
So you meet a woman online.
You fall for her heart.
I love it.
I just love it.
But it turns out thousands of other people are in love with her, too.
Or at least they think they are.
Every single conversation started off with, how are you, my darling?
Have you cleaned your teeth today?
Have you had a shower yet?
Are you warm enough?
Her picture is the bait used in criminal schemes around the world.
But she's also a real person.
Janessa Brazil.
Janessa Brazil Janessa Brazile.
Adult entertainment star Janessa Brazile, the face that launched a thousand romance scams.
She said, if you really loved me, you'd do what I asked you to do.
And then you responded.
You used a fake identity, a false story, and stolen photographs.
Why should I give you anything at all?