Romance scams are now one of the fastest-growing and most devastating forms of financial crime. The rise of generative AI, which is capable of convincingly imitating celebrities and public figures, is only making these scams more sophisticated and harder to spot. An estimated one in seven adults has lost money to this form of deception, and in 2025 alone, romance scammers stole more than $1 billion from American victims. National Geographic delves into this crime in its latest one-hour special, Super Scam Me.
What Is Super Scam Me?
After years of reporting on the scam industry, Mariana enters one of her most immersive investigations to date in Super Scam Me. In a real-life social experiment, she builds a new online dating persona and goes undercover as the target of a romance scam to understand and expose the tactics, technologies, and psychological manipulations these criminals utilize to deceive their victims. What begins as an online investigation becomes an extraordinary real-world pursuit, as Mariana begins to focus on one scammer, posing as a four-star general, who is growing increasingly persistent and manipulative. She teams up with a white-hat cyber hacker to try to uncover her scammer’s true identity and location and sets out to confront him face-to-face.
Mariana also meets victims whose lives have been upended by romance scams, including a woman who was duped into believing she was in a relationship with Jon Bon Jovi. What she thought was a genuine connection left her facing foreclosure on her home, exposing the devastating real-world consequences of these crimes. “I’ve spent years reporting on scams, and the reaction I hear most is ‘How could anyone be so stupid? That would never happen to me.’ But it can, and it does happen to anyone,” said van Zeller. “So this time, I made myself the target.”
In an innovative collaboration between National Geographic and Muck Media, Mariana’s podcast, “The Hidden Third,” will feature special episodes dedicated to Super Scam Me, airing the week of Oct. 12. The episodes will include exclusive interviews with the white-hat cyber hacker and victim featured in the special.
As the host and executive producer of National Geographic’s Emmy-winning series Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller, Mariana has spent years investigating the world’s most dangerous underground economies, earning a record-setting 88 Emmy nominations and 16 wins.
Super Scam Me is produced by Muck Media for National Geographic and executive produced by Jeff Plunkett and Mariana van Zeller. Plunkett also directs. Bengt Anderson serves as executive producer for National Geographic.
Super Scam Me premieres Saturday, October 17 at 9:00 p.m. EDT/PDT and also begins streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Why You Should See Super Scam Me
Super Scam Me is a fascinating special. I was surprised how Mariana was able to create an entirely unique persona and quickly attracted the attention of a romance scammer. Not only does she engage the help of a makeup artist to create her new look, she also seeks assistance from an ethical hacker, Arman, who teaches Mariana how scammers work. While following her own scammer, Mariana also helps another victim of a romance scam try to find who has been scamming her for lots and lots of money. She then works with Arman to find her own scammer. Eventually she tracks him down and visits him in person.
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I really enjoyed watching Super Scam Me and was so impressed with the investigative journalism. The process of unravelling the mystery really pulls in the viewer into the story. It is amazing how complex some of these scams are and how they trap victims into becoming accessories in scams against other victims. With the advances in artificial intelligence, scammers can look and sound like famous celebrities and really fool victims into giving them lots of money. I highly recommend watching Super Scam Me. It is not only entertaining but also educational and I think will help people be more aware of the scams that are taking place and hopefully allow them to avoid being scammed themselves.
Be sure to watch Super Scam Me when it premieres Saturday, October 17at 9:00 p.m. EDT/PDT on National Geographic and begins streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Here is a trailer for the series.
Michael Knight
Michael teaches high school classes in Science, History, and Computer Science including Game Design. He is the father of six as well as a proud grandfather of three. Michael is the author of over one hundred published video game strategy guides and when not playing board games, enjoys reading and spending time with his family.
