⚠️ Warning

In this post, I share the transcript of a conversation I had with a scammer. I deliberately lied to them and played along to gather information.
👉 Do not try this yourself. Engaging with scammers can be risky — it’s always safer to block and report.

💡 This article is brought to you by Nerdibles — our little corner of Roxboro where collectors, gamers, and makers unite. Stop in for Funko Pops, Magic: The Gathering, anime gear, or even our 3D printing and laser engraving classes. Collect hard. Nerd harder.

Romance scams are nothing new. They’ve been around for decades, but the scripts keep evolving. Sometimes it’s the lonely soldier abroad, sometimes the oil rig worker who can’t video chat, and sometimes—believe it or not—it’s a world-class sculptor “working on a film project in England.”

That’s the line I got when a scammer calling herself Samantha struck up a conversation with me. She claimed to be 41, originally from Georgia, and currently living in Manchester while working as a computer administrator and a sculptor.

To bolster the story, she sent me several photos of clay and wax sculptures—detailed, professional-quality pieces she claimed were her “old works.” They looked impressive. The problem? They weren’t hers.

The Script Behind the Artist

The moment we started chatting, Samantha launched into a familiar routine:

• Rapid intimacy: Within hours she was asking about my personal life, saying distance didn’t matter, and describing her dream partner.
• Clichéd lines: Phrases like “distance is just a mile and can be closed in a twinkle of an eye by two hearts that have accepted to be together”—which sounded suspiciously poetic for casual chat.
• Perfect backstory: Divorced, single mom, serious about love, hates liars. It was all too neat, like she was ticking boxes on a template.
• The overseas angle: She claimed to be American but “currently in Manchester for work.” That excuse—being abroad—is one of the oldest tricks in the romance scam book.

But here’s the part that really gives it away: those poetic paragraphs weren’t original at all. They were lifted almost word-for-word from a scammer script that’s been circulating for years.

Script Comparison

Here’s a direct look at one of Samantha’s messages compared to a known scam email attributed to a fake U.S. Army general named Diana Holland:

The overlap isn’t coincidental. It proves the scammer was working straight out of a romance scam script—the same words reused under countless identities.

The Test That Ended It

I played along for a while, curious how far she’d go. She sent me a couple more “art” images, praised the selfies I sent, and kept pressing about relationships. But when I asked her to send me a quick video clip saying my name, the conversation went dead silent.

That’s the thing about romance scammers—they can’t pass a live verification test. They’ll spin stories, send stolen pictures, even copy-paste elaborate love letters. But when you ask them to prove they are who they say they are, the mask slips.

Lessons From the “Sculptor Scam”

This exchange is a textbook case of how scammers operate, even when they dress it up with unusual professions or artistic flair. Here are the takeaways:

1. Scripts give them away. If the words sound overly poetic or generic, they probably are—lifted from scammer playbooks. In this case, the exact same text was used years ago by a scammer posing as a U.S. general.
2. Stolen images are common. The sculptures she showed were real works of art, just not hers. Scammers regularly steal from art sites, Pinterest, and social media.
3. They avoid real-time proof. A short video chat request can expose a scammer instantly.
4. Overseas stories = red flag. “I’m working abroad but will return soon” is one of the most recycled scam excuses.

Final Thoughts

This scammer tried to carve out a romance narrative using someone else’s sculptures—and someone else’s words. But like a poorly cast mold, the cracks showed quickly.

If you ever find yourself chatting with someone who seems too good to be true—whether they’re a soldier, an oil worker, or a sculptor—don’t just admire the story they’re building. Test it. Ask for proof. Do a reverse image search.

Real people don’t vanish when you ask for a simple video. Scammers do.