On the Dr. Phil show, a woman named Karla said she had sent more than $100,000 to a man she insisted was Tyler Perry. She said they were married, and he was raising their child together, even though they had never met. Extreme, yes, but an example of a classic romance scam.

Christopher Maxwell understands. He’s a reformed Nigerian scammer.

Online scams cost Washington state residents a staggering $288.6 million last year.  A study by reverse search company Social Catfish — using data from the FBI and FTC — also found that 95.7% of stolen funds nationwide were not recovered. Nationwide, cybercrime cost Americans a record $12.5 billion last year, almost quadruple from 2019.

The five costliest and most common scams are investment schemes, email scams, fraud and romance scams, tech support, and personal data breaches. Popular holiday scams include look-a-like stores with AI chatbots; deepfake videos of public figures; discounted gift cards; and suspicious activity alerts. The study notes that Americans will spend a record $240 billion online this holiday season.

Maxwell, who still lives in Nigeria, is now a consultant for Social Catfish. He began scamming at age 17 in 2016 to support his mother and four older siblings. He stopped five years later when he formed a friendship with an older woman he had scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars. Maxwell estimates that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in his criminal career.

Today, he hopes his experience will educate others.

“If you’re not careful, you can lose your credit or debit card,” Maxwell says. “You can lose all your money in your debit accounts.”

Why do so many scams originate in Nigeria?

That’s a very good question. Nigerians definitely grow up knowing about scamming, because either your cousin, uncle, nephew or someone very close to you are scamming. It’s an economic issue. The economy is so bad, worse than you think it is.

How and why did you start?

It was my second year at university, and I just wanted to make more money. My mom is almost 60. She’s a teacher and has been working for the government all her life. She makes less than $50 a month. Do you believe that? My school fee was about $200 a month. I am definitely saying it’s wrong, but these kids have no other options except to scam.

Were you supporting your family?

Yes, even though I spent lavishly on stupid things because I was really young at the time.

Were you part of a larger ring?

It was done on my own, by myself.

What types of scams did you conduct?

I started with military romance. I used military pictures to create fake profiles on social media dating apps, and I targeted middle-aged women to age 65 because they are mostly single moms. Once I get access, I manipulate them. I did other types of scams, but I made the most money with romance scams, $30,000 from a single person. I also did AI scams, binary scams (where options trading platforms manipulate the software), all kinds.

How did you decide who to target?

We look for people who are dead spirits, who are desperate for love. (Victims) will show you how much they love you, how much they want to be part of your life. People would send me rings and flowers and pizza to my house.

How does AI contribute to this?

People know how to make fake videos. They know how to generate voices that sound exactly like someone, like your favorite celebrity. They use musicians, artists, people from Hollywood. You know, like Keanu Reeves. You think it’s real. It’s not.

What percentage of people that you contacted became victims?

I’d say anywhere from 5% to 8%. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of time. I made mistakes, and I learned until I became perfect. And that took me about five years. I must have talked to 300 people in a year. Some people talk to thousands. Out of that, you may be able to scam just five. It was easy and not easy at the same time.

Why did you quit?

I met a woman that gave me $30,000, and then she realized I had been lying to her. She became sick and depressed. She was seeing doctors. She wanted to know who I actually was. She was 62. I decided to show my face on video, and when I did, she cried. She forgave me. Her kids had said they wouldn’t talk to her as long as she was sending me money. She was so blind in love that she believed me over her kids. She asked me a question that sang so deep into my heart. She asked me how I would have felt if someone was doing this to my mom. She told me I could have a better opportunity in life if I was not a scammer. She really believed in me. It made me want to change.

Do you keep in contact with her?

We don’t talk on a regular basis anymore, but when I do talk to her, she gives me advice. She treats me like a son. Now, she’s good with her family.

Any last words of advice?

Scammers are coming with new ideas, new techniques. They’re working on it every day to get better. You really need to be careful who you interact with.