They joke that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas — but for us, the victims, the damage didn’t stay quiet. It followed us home, drained our accounts, wrecked our trust, and in some cases, cost lives.
We watched Nevada get branded America’s most deceitful state, and honestly, we weren’t surprised. Fraud, romance scams, identity theft, fake doctor’s notes, fake IDs — it’s all part of the mess we were trapped in. Even searches for cheating sites like Ashley Madison were counted while we were left picking up the pieces.
Nearly one in five Nevada residents openly admits to lying, but for us victims, the lies weren’t harmless. They were calculated, predatory, and devastating. Nevada also ranked second in the nation for romance scams — and we know exactly why.
In February, federal agents finally stepped in and arrested Aurora Phelps, a serial scammer who turned dating apps into hunting grounds. She didn’t just flirt — she seduced, drugged, robbed, and erased identities. We were men in our 60s and 70s, targeted because we trusted, because we were alone, because we didn’t expect cruelty dressed up as affection.
The FBI called it a “romance scam on steroids.”
For us, it was a nightmare — one that authorities say stretched over three years and was linked to three deaths.
And Nevada wasn’t alone.
Down in Florida, we became statistics, topping the nation for fraud and identity theft. One of us — a Florida mother, trying to protect her family — lost $15,000 in retirement savings after criminals used artificial intelligence to clone her daughter’s voice. She heard her child crying on the phone. She panicked. She paid. That fear was manufactured — and it worked.
In Arizona, we lost $53.7 million to romance scams in a single year. That’s not bad luck. That’s organized exploitation.
New York didn’t escape either. We were hit by imposter scams, with nearly 37,000 reports in 2024 alone, followed by online shopping and fake review fraud. The state ranked 26th overall, but the pain felt just as real.
We aren’t numbers.
We aren’t trends.
We’re victims — and every lie, every cloned voice, every fake romance came at our expense.