A 49-year-old Brazilian bricklayer, Edimar Rocha Martins, sold his belongings and travelled more than 2,000 kilometres by bus to meet his online girlfriend. However, upon arrival, he found out that his girlfriend never existed, but was an AI-generated model instead.
Martins left Imperatriz, in Maranhão state, for Belo Horizonte, in southeastern Brazil to meet Jéssica Oliveira, expecting to start a new life on her farm. Instead, a local reporter told him the woman in the videos was a digital creation.
Lonely bricklayer follows a “widow” with a farm
Martins followed a social media account run under the name Jéssica Oliveira, also known as Jéssica Fazendeira. In her videos, the woman introduced herself as a widow who owned a farm in Minas Gerais and wanted a man to share her life. 
One clip showed her promising that whoever joined her would never have to work again.
Martins said grief pushed him to act. His mother had died, and he no longer felt at home in Imperatriz. He told Rádio Itatiaia that loneliness causes serious problems in a person’s life, which is why he went looking for her.
He says he exchanged messages with the account on Facebook and Kwai, and he read the replies as proof that she wanted him to move in.
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2,100km journey ends in shock
Martins boarded a bus on October 9, 2026, and spent more than 36 hours on the road. He reached Belo Horizonte on October 11 and showed her photographs to strangers, but nobody recognised her. He then asked a local radio reporter to announce his arrival, which was when the reporter told him the truth: Jéssica was AI-generated.
With little money left, Martins turned to the city’s migrant support service, where staff gave him food, a shower and a bus ticket. He left on October 13 for Araguatins, in Tocantins state, where he was born, but he fell ill on the way and received medical care. He finally reached Imperatriz on October 15 after more than 50 hours on buses, and he now stays with his sister.
Martins still hopes to return to Belo Horizonte in 2027 to thank the people who helped him.
Creator admits the AI-generated girlfriend was fake
The account had more than 300,000 followers on TikTok and promoted clothing and supplements. After the story spread, its owner posted a video admitting that Jéssica was AI-generated and that the page existed to drive engagement and sales.
The creator, however, denied ever speaking privately to Martins or inviting him to Belo Horizonte.
Martins is not the first man to make this trip. Walter da Silva, 72, travelled from Roraima to Belo Horizonte in June after watching a similar video. Alberto da Costa, 71, travelled from Manaus in August and spent nearly R$3,000.
According to Rádio Itatiaia, Martins’s case is the third of its kind in the city in under six months.
AI-generated girlfriend scams are on the rise
Security experts say these cases reflect a wider trend. KnowBe4 adviser Roger Grimes says traditional red flags such as bad grammar or missing photos no longer protect people, because scammers now use real-time deepfake video and perfect AI personas. He adds that when targeting men, scammers often portray younger, attractive women who need rescuing from a difficult life.
Tenable researcher Satnam Narang says criminal groups now run dedicated “AI rooms” where deepfake technology produces face-swapped video calls. In the UK, North Yorkshire Police warn that organised crime groups increasingly use AI-generated content to replicate phone calls and video chats with seemingly famous people.
The Brazilian case differs in one respect. Nothing so far shows that Martins lost money to a scammer, and the creator denies contacting him.
However, the pattern is the same: a fake woman, a promise of love and security, and a lonely man who believes it.
How to spot an AI-generated girlfriend
Experts urge people to take these steps before they spend money or travel:
- Run a reverse image search on her photos.
- Ask for a live, unscripted video call.
- Treat promises of free housing or money as warning signs.
- Talk to family or friends before acting.
- Never send money or travel to meet someone you have only met online.
For now, Martins is home, poorer and wiser. His story shows how an AI-generated girlfriend can look convincing enough to uproot a man’s life.
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