Multiple women defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars through Martin Henderson deepfake romance scams using Venmo and Zelle

Summary

Multiple women from around the world have fallen victim to a romance scam using the image of actor Martin Henderson, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of emotional investment in fake relationships. The scam involves scammers impersonating Henderson through daily communication, often citing fabricated health issues or filming commitments to justify not meeting in person. One American woman, identified as Ally, sent over $120,000 through Venmo and Zelle after the scammer claimed to be Henderson. Another woman, Lea, moved to New Zealand believing she was starting a life with Henderson, only to discover the relationship was fake after watching his public warning. A British woman revealed her friend remained convinced she was in a real relationship with Henderson despite being shown evidence to the contrary. Anthony Watson of Visa noted that fraud is a rapidly growing crime, with scammers using AI to create convincing deepfake impersonations.