Romance scam and job search experiments
A woman identified only as Gaby says she sent nearly $1 million over roughly two years to a man she met on LinkedIn in 2019 and never once met in person, in what turned out to be a romance scam that used the stolen photos and identity of a real man, Brian Haugen, who was not involved and has separately spoken out about scammers exploiting his likeness. Gaby described the emotional manipulation as gradual and highly effective -- the scammer built trust over time, occasionally returned smaller sums, and always had an explanation for why an in-person meeting couldn't happen -- until the requests for larger sums began. Her story is also featured in the three-part Hulu docuseries 'Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam,' about women who believed they were corresponding with the same man.
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17 September 2026
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