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Is this the most impersonated woman in the world? The face of the US-based model dubbed ‘modern Helen of Troy’ is ‘used on THOUSANDS of fake social media accounts by West African scammers to target lonely men and rob them,’ claims a new podcast from BBC
- A new BBC podcast tells the story of the images of model Janessa Brasil
- Adult entertainer pictures have been used to fool lonely men.
The image of an American adult artist is being used to scam men on “more than 100,000 social media accounts.”
Scammers are using the images of Florida-based model Janessa Brazil to persuade loners to part with their hard-earned cash.
She has been dubbed the “modern Helen of Troy” by people who have misjudged the images.
Ms. Brazil is the subject of a new bbc podcast called ‘Love, Janessa’ hosted by investigative reporter Hannah Ajala.
It has a journalist Simon of Brusselswho ran into someone posing as Mrs. Brazil.
Images of Florida-based model Janessa Brasil are being used by scammers to persuade loners to part with their hard-earned cash.
Brazil has been dubbed the “modern Helen of Troy” by people who have gotten the images wrong.
A scammer calling herself Tammy Anderson used Brazil’s image for her social media profile
Wrote in the Daily Express: ‘My involvement started on New Year’s Eve 2018 when I received a message on Twitter from a woman I didn’t know.
She said that her name was Tammy Anderson and that she was sending greetings from ‘my world to yours’.
“I responded in kind, sending her and her family New Year’s greetings and asking, ‘Where exactly is your world?'”
De Bruxelles said they continued to chat online and that he was initially convinced that she was a real person.
Ms Brazil is the subject of a new BBC podcast called ‘Love, Janessa’ hosted by investigative reporter Hannah Ajala.
The real Janessa Brasil has confirmed that her identity has been stolen many times by scams
Hannah investigates how and why Janessa’s footage has been misused to scam people out of so much money on the new podcast.
But then he said that his bosses had not paid his salary and asked him to send him $300 to cover it.
It was this that prompted him to investigate her further and by using Google’s reverse image search he discovered that the image was of the model Brazil.
It discovered more social media profiles using the same or similar images and shut down the fake Twitter feed.
He then contacted the real Brazil, who confirmed that his identity had been stolen many times.
Mr de Bruxelles added: ‘The multiple scams had destroyed his career.
“Apparently, a Florida court had issued orders prohibiting him from posting anything on the internet after a man he had never met claimed he had sent him $2 million.”
The podcast’s investigation takes listeners from the UK to Italy, West Africa and the US.
Hannah investigates how and why Janessa’s images have been misused to scam people out of so much money, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She also speaks to victims who have fallen prey, as well as people who make their living off romance scams.
Jon Manel, Podcast Start-up Editor, BBC World Service, said: “In this immersive and ‘uncrackable’ investigative podcast, Hannah Ajala engages listeners, taking them down one unexpected path after another and explores the many layers of a serious and growing online crime”. .
“We’re collaborating with CBC Podcasts on three big shows for 2023, starting with Love, Janessa, and it’s been great working with Antica and Telltale on this important, insightful and often amazing story.”