Big Tech platforms continue enabling romance scammers to steal one American man’s identity for 15 years, costing victims over $50 billion while refusing to implement basic protections that could stop the fraud.
Story Overview
- Scott Cole’s photos have been stolen by romance scammers since 2010 across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
- FBI reports $50 billion in losses from romance scams between 2020 and 2024, with platforms doing little to prevent them.
- Tech companies claim a 99% detection rate but continue allowing new fake accounts to be created using the same stolen images.
- Victims lose thousands while platforms profit from engagement without accountability measures.
Fifteen Years of Identity Theft Nightmare
Scott Cole, a 63-year-old fitness trainer from Palm Springs, California, has watched helplessly as romance scammers weaponize his image across every major social media platform since 2010.
Fraudsters create fake profiles using names like Kevin Ottomar, Caleb Wilson, and Wilson Davis, all featuring Cole’s stolen photographs to deceive vulnerable women worldwide.
The scammers build elaborate personas—construction workers, marine engineers, college graduates—while Cole’s real identity becomes collateral damage in schemes targeting unsuspecting victims seeking genuine connections online.
'Why does this happen?': Man says romance scammers have been using his picture to attract women for 15 years https://t.co/3eSLXTsCjL
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) November 11, 2025
Big Tech’s Empty Promises Fall Short
LinkedIn claims to remove over 99% of fake accounts proactively, yet Cole continues finding new fraudulent profiles using his images across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn itself.
Despite Cole reporting hundreds of fake accounts over the years, social media companies have shown an unwillingness to implement comprehensive solutions that could prevent repeat offenses.
The platforms remove individual accounts when reported, but fail to deploy technology that could identify and block all instances of stolen images, choosing profits over protecting Americans from financial predators.
Victims Lose Fortunes While Platforms Profit
Jennifer Liese from Germany nearly transferred money to construction equipment suppliers after months of communication with someone using Cole’s photographs under the fake identity “Kevin Ottomar.”
She avoided financial loss through her own detective work, but hundreds of other women contacted Cole after losing thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to romance scammers.
The FBI documented over $50 billion in losses from romance scams between 2020 and 2024, representing a massive wealth transfer from hardworking Americans to international criminal networks enabled by platform negligence.
No Accountability for Corporate Enablers
Erin West, a retired Deputy District Attorney now running Operation Shamrock, directly challenges social media companies’ excuses for inaction.
West states these platforms possess the technology to locate and remove every instance of stolen images, but choose not to deploy such protections. Cole faces an endless nightmare of identity theft while companies profit from user engagement generated by fraudulent accounts.
The stolen identity victims, like Cole suffer psychological trauma and business damage while platforms refuse to implement basic safeguards that would protect law-abiding Americans from criminal exploitation
