A Scammer’s Stolen Face Leaves Hunter Bigham Facing Victims

On November 12, 2026, Hunter Bigham was living in Tupelo, Mississippi, with his husband and three children when the consequences of a long-running online fraud kept finding him. Romance scammers have been using his photos on hundreds of fake profiles for over eight years, adopting identities such as an oil worker or a Spanish secret agent to win people’s trust and money.

Bigham estimates that people who have contacted him lost about $1.4 million. At the height of the problem, he says, as many as 15 victims reached out each day. Some mistook him for the person who had deceived them; several threatened him, his family or themselves. One woman confronted him in California after her friend had fallen for a fake account bearing his image.

The real Bigham is a married gay man who works as a furniture company sales executive. He shares photos of his family online, but attempts to get platforms to remove impersonation accounts have mostly failed. His complaints to the FBI have also brought no resolution.

The impersonation has weighed on Bigham and his husband, Johnny. Bigham checks messages to identify people in crisis and try to calm them, but the stream of upsetting communications can affect his mood and consume his attention. He has struggled with the idea that stopping the fraud might require withdrawing from public life, something he says would feel like losing ground he fought to gain.

Retired Army Colonel Bryan Denny, whose pictures have also been misused, co-founded a group that has reported thousands of fake profiles bearing his image. The group supported a law requiring dating apps to alert users if they are interacting with someone barred over suspected fraud. Bigham continues to face the scammers’ impact while trying to support the people they deceive.