A mangaka was swindled out of 75 million yen (approximately $500,000) by a scammer who claimed he was Mark Ruffalo.
Reported by Asahi Shimbun, Chikae Ide, the 74-year-old mangaka of Viva! Volleyball, alleges that she was approached via Facebook in February 2018 by a man who claimed he was the actor who played Bruce Banner/Hulk in the Avengers films. “Ruffalo” pulled her into a whirlwind online romance where she found herself falling hard for the man’s honeyed words. “He respected my work, and he said that I, this old lady, am beautiful,” Ide said, adding that his words “gripped my heart.”
Ide poured her heart out to “Ruffalo,” telling him about how she had an abusive marriage in her 30s. As the breadwinner, she raised her three children alone before finally divorcing her husband. The scammer promised her he would “never make you feel sad.”
During the first few months of their courtship, Ide did try to check whether he was legitimate by having a video call with him. After the 30-second call, she was convinced — not realizing that the call was a deepfake video where the con man had digitally altered his body to look like the American actor. She and “Ruffalo” married shortly afterward in September that year, although the marriage was unofficial. A month later, Ide was wiring money to her “husband” for a range of different reasons — until she was sending him more than 10 million yen a month. Ide had…
