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Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam is a three-part documentary series that explores a real-life online romance scam targeting three women from different parts of the world. It was released on Hulu on May 20, 2025.
The scammer in the series isn't a single identifiable individual but an anonymous fraudster, or potentially a group, who uses stolen photos, multiple fake identities and sophisticated tactics to deceive victims emotionally and financially.
The scammer uses the pseudonyms Scott Donald Hall, James Richards and Michael Silver, taking advantage of technology and psychological manipulation to conduct the fraud. The scammer's real identity is unknown, with the victims and investigators finding layers of lies instead of a concrete suspect.
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Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam: The scam and its victims
Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam tracks the experiences of three women — Roxy from Connecticut, Annette from Ontario and Gaby from Frankfurt — who each become victims of the very same romance scammer.
The scammer makes initial contact on social media before transitioning the conversation to private messaging platforms like WhatsApp, reports Decider.
The scammer establishes a sense of trust and emotional closeness, usually greeting the women with the words "Hey, beautiful." Every woman is approached in a slightly different manner, but all are eventually solicited for money in the guise of an emergency, like needing equipment for an oil rig or emergency heart surgery.
Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam reveals that the scammer's approach is extremely customized. Roxy and Gaby, lonely in their marriages, and Annette, divorced just a few months before and in mourning, are targeted at points when they feel most vulnerable in their lives.
As per reports, the scammer's demands for funds increase as the relationship progresses, with one woman losing more than $30,000 and another surrendering her Social Security details. The psychological impact is heavy, with each victim disillusioned and desperate to expose the truth.
The scammer's tactics and personae
The scammer in Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam employs several forged personas to trick victims. As per reports, the names Scott Donald Hall, James Richards and Michael Silver are swapped around to develop believable personas.
The scammer sends complimentary messages, posts photos of a handsome man in different settings and makes up stories to explain the need for financial help. The stories usually constitute medical crises or business emergencies that necessitate prompt financial intervention.
The technology used by the scammer is at the heart of the fraud. The film points out how improvements in artificial intelligence and deepfake technology allow scammers to conceal themselves more easily and sound more realistic.
As per Decider, these images are stolen from Brian Haugen, a Los Angeles makeup artist and performer, whose social media pictures are hijacked and used without his knowledge. That adds yet another level of complexity, as Haugen himself is a victim of identity theft.
The search for the truth
As per reports, once they discover that they have been duped, the three women band together to track down the real identity of the individual who has created the online personas. Their quest is followed in the series, which reveals how they compare notes and seek out evidence in trying to uncover the identity of the scammer.
As per ABC News Studios, their inquiry ends up in even more questions than facts, showing a conspiracy of false fronts with no definite outcome. It's the scammer who's unknown, cloaked behind multiple layers of spurious profiles and technology impediments.
Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam also delves into the wider context of online romance scams, with losses due to such scams amounting to $16.6 billion in 2024, a 33% hike from last year. It has been made simpler for con artists by the advancements in AI and deepfakes, which have enhanced the vulnerability for all those looking for companionship on the internet.
Watch Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam on Hulu.
