AI Facebook scams using fake lonely female profiles are luring Sri Lankan users into gambling, adult chats, crypto and fraud links.
AI Facebook scams are now targeting Sri Lankan users through fake profiles of lonely, divorced or husbandless women, a new investigation has revealed.
The findings may shock many young men and older users who have sent friend requests or messages to attractive Facebook profiles claiming to be lonely “sisters” or “younger sisters.”
According to a special investigation conducted for the first time in Sri Lanka, many of these profiles are not real women. Instead, researchers found fake identities created using Artificial Intelligence.
Senior researcher Dr. Sanjana Hattotuwa has revealed that these AI-generated profiles form part of a wider network. The accounts allegedly lure users into online gambling, 18+ adult chats, crypto scams and other fraudulent financial schemes.
AI Facebook Scams Use Emotional Posts
The investigation examined 10 suspicious Facebook accounts. Researchers found that not one of them belonged to a real woman.
However, the posts were designed to attract strong emotional reactions.
The fake accounts used captions such as “I’m feeling so lonely,” “I have no one,” and “I’m having money problems” to gain sympathy and attention.
Together, the accounts had published 1,706 posts. Sri Lankan users reacted with likes, comments and shares more than 890,000 times.
The investigation also found that these accounts often shared the same captions and posts within minutes of each other.
How the Fake Profiles Work
These fake accounts direct users to external websites through links placed in their profile bio, below posts or in the first comment.
However, once users click the link, the identity changes. The attractive woman shown on Facebook does not appear on the external site.
So far, researchers have not found evidence that this network is being used for political propaganda in Sri Lanka.
However, they warn that such accounts could later be used for political conspiracies or smear campaigns, because they have already gained public trust.
Similar scams have also appeared in Spain, Italy and India’s Malayalam-language online space. Therefore, this is not only a Sri Lankan problem. It is part of a wider international fraud network.
Since scammers use normal Facebook features, ordinary users may struggle to identify whether a profile is real or AI-generated.
So, before clicking links to “help” lonely beauties on Facebook, think twice. The person behind the profile may not be a helpless woman at all, but part of an AI Facebook scams network.
