A 49-year-old bricklayer in Brazil sold his belongings and travelled more than 2,000 kilometres by bus to meet a woman he hoped to build a life with. When he arrived in Belo Horizonte, he learned that she did not exist. "Jéssica" was a character created with artificial intelligence.
Key points
- Edimar Rocha Martins travelled from Imperatriz, in Maranhão state, to Belo Horizonte, arriving on October 11, 2026, G1 reports.
- He was looking for "Jéssica Oliveira," also called "Jéssica Fazendeira," whose TikTok profile had more than 300,000 followers.
- The account's operator says the character was AI-generated to drive engagement for product sales and denies ever speaking to Martins privately.
- Belo Horizonte's city services gave him food, a shower and a bus ticket home.
- Minas Gerais Civil Police say creating an AI character is not a crime in itself.
Who is Edimar Martins?
According to G1, Martins is 49, divorced and originally from Tocantins state. "Jéssica" first turned up in his social media feeds, he told G1, and after a while they started chatting.
NDTV, citing local broadcaster TV Mirante and the New York Post, says he found the account in 2020, when he was lonely after his mother died. To pay for the trip he sold everything he owned, he told TV Mirante. Everything. G1 reported that too.
Who is "Jéssica Fazendeira"?
"Jéssica" was an avatar with a realistic face and voice, usually filmed somewhere rural. The videos were made for men, mostly, and were about money and love and life on a farm in Minas Gerais. In one post quoted by G1, the character said she lived alone on her farm and missed having someone to talk to and share her life with. In another, she said she wanted to support a partner so he could stop working.
G1 reports the profile was also used to promote products sold online. After the case drew attention, the operator deleted the videos.
Was there a scam?
Depends who you ask. Martins told G1 the profile messaged him privately and that "Jéssica" offered to pay for his ticket, pick him up and send an address. Nobody ever asked him for money. That's why he didn't suspect a thing.
The person behind the account denies this. In a video posted using the AI character, the page admitted that "Jéssica" is made with artificial intelligence, said no one had ever been contacted through the profile, and explained that the aim was engagement to drive sales, NDTV reports. These are competing accounts, and neither has been independently verified.
How he found out
Martins got to Belo Horizonte with no address. He walked the streets showing people photos of "Jéssica", asking if anyone knew her, and ended up at a local radio station asking for help. Nobody recognised her. That's when it clicked, he told G1.
The city's migrant support unit fed him, let him shower, talked him through online scams and bought him a bus ticket back to Augustinópolis, his home town in Tocantins. According to NDTV, citing The Sun, he's the third man in under six months to travel to Belo Horizonte for an AI-generated woman. And he still hopes to meet someone there, he told reporters.
Is it a crime?
Not necessarily. The Minas Gerais Civil Police told G1 it had found no police report about the case. It said creating a fictional AI character is not an offence by itself, but using the technology to deceive someone for unlawful gain could amount to fraud. It added that it could not say whether that happened here without an investigation.
How to spot an AI-generated profile
AI specialist Samuel Costa told G1 that tell-tale signs in AI videos can include:
- Unnatural movements or odd facial expressions
- Voice and lip movements that do not quite match
- Visual inconsistencies during the video
He warned that these flaws are becoming harder to see as the technology improves. The best defence is to check where a video comes from, who runs the profile and whether other sources confirm it. Police advise confirming someone's identity before travelling to meet them or sending money, and keeping messages and receipts if you suspect fraud.
Why it matters
It's an odd story, but I don't think it'll be the last one like it. A realistic AI persona costs almost nothing to make, and some pull in hundreds of thousands of followers. If you're lonely, or just not used to this stuff, it can be very hard to tell a made-up influencer from a person. If someone in your family spends a lot of time on these accounts, it's worth a quiet word.
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