What We Know About National Geographic's Super Scam Me

National Geographic's "Super Scam Me" premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET and will stream on Disney+ and Hulu, according to Ars Technica. The documentary follows investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller as she turns herself into bait for romance scammers to show how the fraud actually works from the inside.

What is Super Scam Me about?

The film goes beyond a single victim's account to document how romance scams function at scale on platforms such as Instagram and dating apps including Match and Tinder, Ars Technica reports. Van Zeller has covered the scam industry for years and said she built a social experiment after watching how many victims were left financially and emotionally stranded.

How did van Zeller become a scam target?

Van Zeller created a persona, "Mary Zelle," using a wig and glasses, and the bait worked quickly: a scammer operating out of Ghana began posing as a four-star military general named "Mark Turner" to pursue her online, according to the outlet. "I made myself the target," van Zeller said, describing the approach behind the documentary.

What does the FTC say about romance fraud?

The Federal Trade Commission has said romance scams cost Americans nearly $1.5 billion in losses each year, Ars Technica reports, citing the agency. The scams often target older women with financial resources who lack community and are seeking connection online, including widows or divorced women, and the FTC has called the fraud one of the leading forms of financial crime in the US. Most victims never recover their money, and Experian forecast in January that overseas scammers are becoming more sophisticated with the help of AI tools, according to the report.

How did investigators catch the fake Jon Bon Jovi scammer?

In a separate case featured in the documentary, van Zeller worked with an ethical hacker identified as Arman the Cyber to help a victim who had been targeted by someone impersonating Jon Bon Jovi on Instagram. The team used a fake bitcoin receipt as bait to track down the scammer, giving the victim what Ars Technica describes as "much-needed closure." An exclusive clip of that sequence was released ahead of the premiere.

Where and when can viewers watch it?

• Premieres Saturday at 9 pm ET on National Geographic, per Ars Technica.
• Streams on Disney+ and Hulu following broadcast.
• Features van Zeller's firsthand account of being targeted by a scammer posing as a military general in Ghana.
• Includes a separate case involving an impersonated Jon Bon Jovi account and an ethical-hacker-assisted takedown.

What else should viewers know going in?

The documentary does not promise recovered funds for every victim shown, and the FTC's own data indicates most people who lose money to romance scams do not get it back. Viewers looking for a tidy resolution should expect the film to focus instead on process: how scammers build trust, how losses accumulate, and what it takes — including deception on the part of journalists and hackers — to confront a scammer face to face.

Anyone concerned about a current online relationship can review the FTC's romance scam guidance referenced in the reporting before sending money to someone met exclusively online.