Stolen Prince, Stolen Trust: How a Deepfake Scam Took a Woman’s Money

A woman from the Philippines thought she had found love with a prince of Dubai, but the man was a computer‑made copy. The scam started on a dating site where the fake prince, who called himself Fazza, sent endless messages that made her feel special. When the conversation moved to a messaging app, he began demanding money for a “marriage certificate” and a supposed royal card that would help her find work in Dubai. She sent 100, 000 pesos and later another 60, 000 pesos for a hotel stay he claimed was needed before they met. Only when she checked his social media profile did she notice it was linked to Nigeria, not the United Arab Emirates. She cut off contact and told him to “go to hell. ” The incident is part of a larger trend where scammers use the image and voice of real public figures to lure victims.

They post fake pictures, write poems that sound like the real prince’s style, and create Facebook groups that look legitimate. These groups often invite users to private chats where the scammer can ask for more money, sometimes in cryptocurrency. Awareness campaigns on Instagram and petitions on Change. org are trying to warn people about the fake prince scam. Dubai officials have not commented, but similar scams have targeted other celebrities, such as a woman who lost nearly a million euros to a fake Brad Pitt. Experts say the technology that creates these videos is getting better, making it harder to tell real from fake. The global cost of romance scams was estimated at $442 billion last year, showing how serious this problem has become.

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