A 49-year-old Brazilian bricklayer sold all his belongings and traveled more than 1,200 miles to meet the woman he believed could become his wife. But when he arrived, he discovered that the woman he had fallen for online was not a real person.
Edimar Martins said he first came across a social media account featuring a woman named Jéssica Oliveira in 2020. Over time, he came to believe she was his dream partner and decided it was finally time to meet her in person.
On October 9, Martins sold his personal belongings to pay for a bus trip from Maranhão, in northeastern Brazil, to Belo Horizonte, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. He arrived on October 11, hoping to find the woman he had imagined building a future with.
Instead, he was told that the woman did not exist. Martins later explained that he had been unaware that the online persona was AI-generated. With his money gone and nowhere to turn, he approached Belo Horizonte City Hall and asked for help. A social worker helped arrange assistance for his return home.
The account behind the character, which reportedly had around 300,000 TikTok followers, had used AI-generated videos portraying Jéssica as a woman looking for a man to move to her farm and be financially supported. The person behind the account later acknowledged that the character was artificial intelligence and denied ever communicating directly with Martins.
The experience left Martins heartbroken. He said loneliness had played a part in his decision to travel so far in search of love.
Despite the disappointment, Martins has not given up on finding a genuine relationship. He said he hopes to return to Belo Horizonte and meet someone real with whom he can build a future.
His story highlights how convincing AI-generated social media personas can appear, and how online content designed to attract attention can have unexpected consequences for people who believe what they see.