She’s not interested in you, but not due to who you are—she simply isn’t real. This is the harsh reality for women in the realm of professional golf today. As reported in The Athletic’s “Stalking in Sports” series, LPGA athletes are increasingly becoming victims of impersonation in catfishing schemes targeting older men, resulting in harassment during tournaments, threats at home, and real safety issues.
The con isn’t new: fraudulent profiles of women golfers on Instagram attract men, typically in their 60s or 70s, into private messaging platforms like Telegram. The scammers then persuade them to transfer money through cryptocurrency or gift cards, guaranteeing VIP access to tournaments or exclusive dinners. LPGA athletes have been alerting others about catfishing since at least 2022, but The Athletic’s investigation highlights how pervasive the problem has become. Numerous golfers have issued public alerts regarding fake accounts.
The repercussions go beyond financial loss. The Athletic notes a Pennsylvania man in his 70s sent $70,000 to a scammer impersonating 22-year-old LPGA sensation Rose Zhang, later arriving at her tournament anticipating hotel arrangements and VIP entry. One individual was in the process of selling his home to a fraudster, while another who lost $50,000 to a profile mimicking golf influencer Hailey Ostrom showed up at her residence.
These scams follow the same blueprint as other pig butchering and romance frauds based on celebrity status and perceived affluence, but for LPGA athletes, the risks are heightened. It’s not merely about reputational harm or financial exploitation—it’s about disgruntled men appearing in reality, upset over a non-existent connection.
AI enhances the eeriness of these LPGA scams. The Athletic established a fictitious account named “Rodney” to engage with a scammer. When “Rodney” confronted the impersonator claiming to be Nelly Korda, the fraudster sent an AI-altered video of Korda addressing “Rodney” directly.
The utilization of AI-generated images and videos to add authenticity to scams is alarmingly prevalent. Comparable occurrences include an OnlyFans model’s public photos being digitally manipulated and utilized to deceive users on Reddit. The simplicity of creating fraudulent accounts on dating applications and social networks exacerbates the issue.
“The current U.S. laws regarding the use of another individual’s likeness are obsolete and not tailored for the era of generative AI,” UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid stated to Mashable. With merely “20 seconds of a person’s voice and a single photograph,” scammers can generate believable deepfake videos.
Tracing these scams is almost impossible, as they seldom originate in the U.S. The Global Anti-Scam Org reports many operate from enclaves in South Asia, driven by organized crime and human trafficking systems. The FBI is inundated with identity theft cases and typically won’t take action unless the fraud exceeds a certain monetary limit, leaving athletes and their supporters to manage the aftermath independently.