Lonely pensioner tricked out of £7,500 thinking she was in a relationship with James Blunt after year-long AI love con

A LONELY pensioner who believed she was in a relationship with musician James Blunt has been scammed out of thousands of pounds in a cruel online hoax. The 57-year-old Brazilian woman spent more than a year believing she was communicating with the Brit singer in a torrid digital romance. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The scammer sent AI generated images of James Blunt in Brazil to the victim Credit: CEN They repeatedly used the fake pics to claim Blunt was already in the country and on the way to meet her Credit: CEN The woman – from Sao Joao da Boa Vista in Brazil‘s southeast – only discovered she had been conned last week. The victim said she was first contacted by her faux lover after she commented on a live stream by the singer. A short time later, she received a private message from an account claiming to be the star. Believing she was talking to the “You’re Beautiful” singer, the woman said their conversations quickly became constant and intense, with the pair communicating day and night. The AI picture scam swindled the woman out of £7,500 Credit: CEN The scam came undone when the woman realised the real Blunt (pictured) was touring in Europe Credit: @jamesblunt/CEN She said the alleged scammer sent photos and videos of the singer, generated with artificial intelligence, convincing her that their relationship was real. The victim revealed she had been particularly vulnerable at the time of their first contact, following the loss of close family members. “I wasn’t expecting him to contact me. I had lost my mother, lost my brother, and I was very lonely,” she said. The fake singer claimed to have separated from his wife and was living in a London hotel. Most read in The Sun Adding to the cruel scam, the person said they wanted to fly to Brazil and meet her. Claiming to have fallen out with his “manager”, the pretender said his bank accounts were blocked, leaving him without cash. The woman recalled: “He told me he had argued with his manager and that they had frozen his account”. “He said he didn’t even have money to buy food,” she added. Believing she was helping out the singer, the woman started to transfer money to him, even taking out bank loans. She said: “He told me: ‘If you can get me BRL 3,000, (£450) I’ll find the rest and come to Brazil‘.” The woman added that the fake Blunt claimed he wanted to break his contract with his manager, because he “controls everything”. The pensioner eventually borrowed the money from her bank to send to the scammer. From that moment on the requests for money continued, after the fake Blunt said his luggage had been stolen in Sao Paulo airport while he was eating. He later asked for another BRL 900 (£135) for a cab journey between Sao Paulo and Sao Joao da Boa Vista. The woman said he continuously said he had been robbed, or that he was stranded and sleeping in petrol stations or bus terminals. All the while, he continued to ask her for more money. Her doubts surfaced when the fake singer claimed he was waiting to meet her in Campinas, more than 74 miles away, while the real James Blunt was actually touring in Europe. The victim travelled to the city’s bus terminal believing she would finally meet him in person. “When I arrived at the bus terminal, he stopped replying,” she said. After checking online for information about the singer’s schedule, she discovered the truth – that the singer had never travelled to Brazil. The pensioner then blocked the scammer and reported her ordeal to the police. She said the impostor has continued to try and contact her through other apps. In total, she was scammed out of at least BRL 50,000 (GBP 7,500). The victim has since said the emotional impact of the ordeal had decimated her confidence. “You can’t imagine how much I suffered because of this,” she said. “I suffered a lot from 2024 until last week. Who doesn’t fall in love, right?” She added: “It feels like my self-esteem is gone. It feels like he left me feeling low, without wanting to do anything.” The Sun has contacted James Blunt’s representatives for comment. Comment now