NZ boy becomes first 15-yr-old to run sub-4 minute mile
At the tender age of 15, Ruthe became the only lad of his age - and the youngest athlete in history - to run a sub four-minute mile on Wednesday, some 71 years since Roger Bannister first achieved an athletic landmark once fondly believed to have been impossible.
Ruthe, who looks like another great New Zealand miling superstar in the making like Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker, smashed the landmark by two seconds at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, helped to a time of three minute 58.35 seconds by pacemakers.
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Ruthe, who finished second in the race, beat his previous mark of 4:01.72 achieved at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui in January.
The previous record for youngest sub four-minute miler was held by the Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who clocked 3:58.07 at 16 years 8 months 8 days eight years ago and has since gone on to become a double Olympic champion.
Next up, Ruthe, who achieved the record-breaking run 24 days short of his 16th birthday, will doubtless be after the record for the best time ever run by a 16-year-old - the 3:55.44 clocked by Canberra's Myers, who's since gone on to achieve his own remarkable feats.
Canberran Myers, now 18, has broken the under-20 indoor world mile record twice this year already, clocking his latest landmark of 3:47.48 in the Wanamaker Mile in New York in February - the first time a teenager had broken 3:48 for the mile, either indoors or outdoors.
Now it's Kiwi Ruthe's turn to stagger the athletics world.
"This was probably my favourite goal that I've reached. I've definitely enjoyed this one the most, with all the people here supporting me," said the lad from the North island harbourside city of Tauranga.
"This has been the most set up for me, so I'm really happy to have gotten this one."
Ruthe, like Myers, has been creating athletics headlines all summer, having shattered the age-15 world best for 3000m in November, and having lowered it twice more, most recently clocking 7:56.18 at the New Zealand Championships to become the youngest ever senior male national champ in any discipline.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The catfishing scam putting fans and female golfers in danger
Meet Rodney Raclette. Indiana native. 62 years old. Big golfer. A huge fan of the LPGA. On Aug. 4, Rodney opened an Instagram account with the handle @lpgafanatic6512, and he quickly followed some verified accounts for female golfers and a few other accounts that looked official. Within 20 minutes of creating his account and with zero posts to his name, Rodney received a message from what at first glance appeared to be the world's No. 2-ranked female golfer, Nelly Korda. 'Hi, handsomeface, i know this is like a dream to you. Thank you for being a fan,' read a direct message from @nellykordaofficialfanspage2. The real Nelly Korda was certainly not messaging Rodney — and Rodney doesn't actually exist. The Athletic created the Instagram account of the fictitious middle-aged man to test the veracity and speed of an ever-increasing social media scam pervading the LPGA. The gist of the con goes like this: Social media user is a fan of a specific golfer; scam account impersonating that athlete reaches out and quickly moves the conversation to another platform like Telegram or WhatsApp to evade social media moderation tools; scammer offers a desirable object or experience — a private dinner, VIP access to a tournament, an investment opportunity — for a fee; untraceable payments are made via cryptocurrency or gift cards. Then, once the spigot of cash is turned off, the scammer disappears. While this particular con is not limited to golf, player agents, security experts and golfers say it has taken off within the LPGA in the last five years. Charley Hull, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie West, Morgan Pressel, Jennifer Kupcho, Hannah Gregg and Korda all have publicly posted warnings about the scams to their followers. Golf influencers Paige Spiranac and Hailey Ostrom also have spoken out. 'It's been taken out of my hands being able to communicate freely with fans,' Korda, who has a warning statement pinned to the top of her Instagram profile, told The Athletic. 'Because I don't really know their intentions.' On a handful of occasions, the victims of the scams have continued to blame the golfer for their financial losses even after being confronted with the truth, and some simply refuse to believe they have not been interacting with the real athlete, tipping into fixated behavior that concerns golfers and security officials. 'We've definitely had people show up at tournaments who thought they had sent money to have a private dinner with the person,' said Scott Stewart, who works for TorchStone Global, a security firm used by the LPGA. 'But then also, we've had people show up who were aggrieved because they had been ripped off, there's a tournament nearby, and they wanted to kind of confront the athlete over the theft.' Last May, a Pennsylvania man in his 60s drove four hours to Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., for the Mizuho Americas Open. He was there to meet 22-year-old American golfer Rose Zhang. He told tournament staff that she had left a VIP package for him and even booked him a hotel room. He said they had been communicating on social media for over a year, during which he had sent her around $70,000. Zhang's agent confronted the man, breaking the news that he was not communicating with Zhang. Another man traveled from Asia to a tournament in the United States, believing he was married to one of the players. A 68-year-old man from California attended several tournaments to see South Korean golfer In Gee Chun after being duped out of $50,000. England's Charley Hull warned her followers on Instagram about the scam after 'an incident' at a tournament in 2024. And in January, a man showed up at the home of golf influencer Hailey Ostrom after losing $50,000 to an account impersonating her. Spiranac said the reaction from some of the scam victims has forced her to change the way she works and lives. She now has security at every event, has an active restraining order against one of the scammed individuals, and when fan behavior escalates because of a scam — 'flare-ups' as she calls them — she has chosen to skip some events for her safety. 'I've had people come up to me at events, at outings, and say that they're in a relationship with me, or they come up quite angry because 'fake me' has scammed them out of money or has ghosted them,' Spiranac said. 'Those experiences are quite scary, but it's also very invasive.' Added Stewart: 'There's really two victims. You have the person that's been scammed, but really, the athlete is a victim, too, since they get blamed for it.' Not too long after joining a Nelly Korda fan page on Facebook in June 2024, a 72-year-old man from South Carolina, whose name is being withheld at the request of his family, received an email from someone claiming to be the real Nelly Korda. Email quickly turned to texting, texting morphed into phone calls, and within days, he told his daughter that they were in love. 'He was convinced he was speaking to Nelly Korda, convinced she was going to live with him, and they were going to get married,' his daughter, Shannon, said. 'But it was a cycle of different ways to get money from him.' She estimates he sent over $15,000. Shannon and her brother tried to convince him it was a scam. They also reached out to law enforcement, explored intervention services, attempted to catfish the catfisher, and even sent a plea via a direct message on Instagram to the real Nelly Korda to set the record straight. When the father confronted 'Nelly,' she had an excuse for everything: She had no access to her money due to a controlling manager and family. Her flight got canceled. The scam warning on Korda's verified Instagram account was a note for everyone else, not him. In March, as her father began drafting plans to sell his house at Nelly's request, one of Nelly's made-up excuses finally exposed her. She told him she had broken a bone in a car accident, but there was no evidence of a broken bone on Korda's verified Instagram account. Finally, the man realized he was not in a relationship with Nelly Korda. But his retirement fund was gone. Rodney Raclette, if he really existed, might have been similarly duped. When he commented on a video posted by the verified Nelly Korda Instagram account, people responded to his comments, directing him to other fan pages that the poster claimed were created by Korda to interact with fans. Another person claiming to be Korda sent him an Instagram direct message. After Rodney and that fake Korda exchanged niceties, she insisted the conversation move off of Instagram to email. She urged Rodney not to share her email with anyone, and wrote — in broken English — that he not 'take this opportunity talking to me for granted because not all celebrities come online to talk to their fans like am doing presently.' Next, she said she needed to see Rodney's ID for her 'safety and career,' but when Rodney made excuses as to why he could not provide any identification, the fake Nelly impatiently moved to the next question: 'Do you have a Fan Membership Card?' She told Rodney, 'if you're my biggest fan,' for just $700, he would receive access to all of her 'games,' her autograph, and new, customized golf shirts. Anytime Rodney questioned the price or authenticity of the card, Nelly threatened to leave the conversation. She would only continue if he purchased the card. Rodney became more skeptical and urged Nelly to prove it was really her. Within minutes, he received an AI-altered video of the real Nelly Korda speaking directly to him by name. It's nearly impossible to trace the source of most of these scams, and they're even harder to prosecute. Old accounts disappear and new accounts reappear by the hour. Patrick Chase, a private investigator and former LPGA security consultant, says the majority of catfishers are typically based outside of the U.S. The FBI is overwhelmed with identity theft cases and, according to Chase, it oftentimes won't address incidents unless losses exceed a certain dollar amount. Golf influencer Hannah Gregg has been communicating with several scam victims to collect evidence she can bring to law enforcement but to no avail. 'They won't do anything for me basically until something bad happens to me,' she said. Korda said she once reported about 20 spam accounts per day, but they are now materializing so quickly she can't keep up. 'You're just put into a situation you really don't want to be in. You feel bad, you feel guilty for people going through this. It's the last thing you want,' she said. 'It's not only putting the players in danger, in a sense, but it's putting all the fans in danger.' The day after creating the Rodney account, the fan page that had reached out to him — @nellykordaofficialfanspage21 — had been deleted. Rodney emailed the fake Nelly Korda to ask what happened. She replied: 'I deactivated the account because of imposters, and the FBI are working on catching them.' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Golf, Culture, A1: Must-Read Stories, Women's Golf, women's sports 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
The Sports Report: 2028 L.A. Summer Olympics finds a new revenue stream
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: More than 40 years after L.A. produced the most financially successful Olympic Games in history, the 2028 Summer Olympics will feature a new advertising revenue path for the Games. In an Olympic first, venues used for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics will be allowed to have corporate sponsor names after LA28 and the International Olympic Committee came to a tradition-bucking agreement announced Thursday. Historically, the IOC has sought to limit corporate influence by keeping venues free from advertising. Major sponsors are still ubiquitous at the Games, where only Visa credit cards are accepted and Coca-Cola products monopolize the concession stands, but venues and fields of play have remained commercial-free. The traditional clean venue policy has forced L.A. organizers to refer to SoFi Stadium, which will host Olympic swimming, officially as '2028 Stadium' or 'the Stadium in Inglewood.' Not only will the new agreement help logistically by not requiring well-known venues to adopt generic temporary nicknames, but it will ease costs as existing signage can remain in place outside of the venue. 'Our job is to push and our job is to do what's best for the Olympics in Los Angeles,' LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman told The Times. 'Our job in those conversations [with the IOC] was to explain why this was more than just about money. It was about experience and value and opportunity.' The additional revenue opportunities from naming rights agreements will help cover what LA28 has promised will be a privately funded Games. Continue reading here From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: As LeBron James enters his record-setting 23rd NBA season and superstar Luka Doncic returns for his first full season in L.A., the Lakers are tied with the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks for the most nationally televised games in the league. The NBA announced the regular season schedule Thursday, and the Lakers' slate highlights the league's growing number of broadcast partners. The Lakers open the season at home against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21 on NBC, have ABC/ESPN's 5 p.m. prime-time slot against the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day and will welcome a familiar face back to Arena on Nov. 28 on Prime. Anthony Davis' return to L.A. with the Dallas Mavericks at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28 will wrap up NBA Cup group play. The former Lakers star forward was injured during what was going to be his return to L.A. last season after he was sent to the Mavericks in a shocking trade. Continue reading here James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Ivica Zubac and Chris Paul are poised to lead the Clippers through a 2025-26 schedule that opens on the road but closes with four of its final six games at the Intuit Dome. Continue reading here From Ben Bolch: Kwazi Gilmer, yearning to do something no other UCLA wide receiver has managed, unveiled a new play after practice Wednesday. Call it the go-for-it route. 'I want to go win the Biletnikoff,' Gilmer announced, 'so I'm coming for all the receivers out there.' Those are bold words for someone from a program whose closest association with the award that goes to the nation's top college receiver might have been former Bruins coach Dick Vermeil once delivering the keynote speech at the presentation banquet. No UCLA player has won the award that dates to 1994. Neither Gilmer nor any of his teammates made the award's 47-player preseason watch list, which is based on past performance. Players can be added during the season as their performance dictates. Gilmer's debut college season featured spectacular spurts, the freshman making 31 catches for 345 yards and two touchdowns. Emerging from a deep and experienced group of wide receivers, he started the final five games and increasingly became a go-to guy, snagging a season-high six catches for 54 yards in the finale against Fresno State. Continue reading here From Dylan Hernández: In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. The Dodgers have dropped out of first place. The team that was expected to win 120 games has fallen a game behind the San Diego Padres in the National League West, and who knows how much further baseball's most expensive collection of players could plummet? The geniuses in the front office improved the farm system more than they did the obviously problematic bullpen at the trade deadline, resulting in blown lead after blown lead after blown lead. Continue reading here Mookie Betts has a playoff soundtrack infused with 'the relaxing vibe of the beach' Shohei Ohtani focused 'on the field,' not distraction of Hawaii real estate lawsuit Dodgers Dugout: The 10 best left fielders in Dodger history From Austin Knoblauch: Matthew Stafford didn't participate in the Rams' joint practice with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday in Carson, but the team hopes he can take meaningful steps this weekend toward a return from injury. Stafford, who has missed the entirety of training camp because of an aggravated disc in his back, is scheduled to work out Saturday, coach Sean McVay told reporters. The workout will be similar to one Stafford had on Aug. 9 when he threw more than 60 passes, McVay said. McVay described that workout as 'awesome' and was hopeful Stafford would return to practice this week. But the 37-year-old signal-caller didn't feel up to the task Monday and has sat out of practice this week. Continue reading here 1948 — Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins the U.S. Women's Open golf title over Betty Hicks. 1950 — Ezzard Charles knocks out Freddie Beshore in the 14th round to retain his world heavyweight title. 1965 — Dave Marr edges Jack Nicklaus and Billy Casper to take the PGA Championship. 1966 — Jose Torres retains his world light-heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Eddie Cotton in Las Vegas. 1993 — Greg Norman lips his putt on the PGA Championship's second playoff hole, giving Paul Azinger the title and leaving Norman with an unprecedented career of Grand Slam playoff losses. Norman, despite winning his second British Open title a month earlier, has lost playoffs in three other majors — 1984 U.S. Open, 1987 Masters, 1989 British Open. 1993 — Damon Hill, son of the late Graham Hill, becomes the first father-son Formula One winners when he takes the Hungarian Grand Prix. 1995 — Monica Seles returns to the WTA Tour after a 28-month absence following her 1993 stabbing with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Kimberly Po at the Canadian Open. 1999 — Tiger Woods makes a par save on the 17th hole and holds on to win the PGA Championship by one stroke over 19-year-old Sergio Garcia. Woods, 23, becomes the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros in 1980. 2004 — In Athens, Greece, the U.S. men's basketball team loses 92-73 to Puerto Rico, the third Olympic defeat for the Americans and first since adding pros. American teams had been 24-0 since the pro Olympic era began with the 1992 Dream Team. The U.S Olympic team's record was 109-2, entering the game. 2005 — Phil Mickelson delivers another dramatic finish in a major, flopping a chip out of deep rough to 2 feet for a birdie on the final hole and a one-shot victory in the PGA Championship. 2007 — Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleads guilty to felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated in a scandal that rocked the league and raised questions about the integrity of the sport. 2010 — Martin Kaymer wins the PGA Championship in a three-hole playoff against Bubba Watson. Dustin Johnson, with a one-shot lead playing the final hole at Whistling Straits, is penalized two strokes for grounding his club in a bunker on the last hole. The two-shot penalty sends him into a tie for fifth. 2012 — The U.S. breaks a 75-year winless streak at Azteca Stadium with an 80th-minute goal by Michael Orozco Fiscal and Tim Howard's late sprawling saves in a 1-0 victory over Mexico. 1905 — Rube Waddell of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a five-inning no-hit game to beat the St. Louis Browns 2-0. 1916 — In a classic pitching duel, Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox beat Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, 1-0, in 13 innings at Fenway Park. 1945 — The Chicago Cubs routed the Brooklyn Dodgers 20-6, at Ebbets Field. Paul Gillespie knocked in six runs with two home runs and a single to lead the attack. 1955 — Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves hit a home run off Mel Wright of the St. Louis Cardinals to give Spahn a homer in every NL park. 1975 — Baltimore manager Earl Weaver was ejected twice by umpire Ron Luciano. Weaver was thrown out in the first game and was ejected before the second game. 1989 — Dave Dravecky of the San Francisco Giants, in his second start after coming back from cancer surgery on his pitching arm, broke his arm but earned the win in a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Expos. In the sixth inning, after throwing a wild pitch to Tim Raines, he collapsed and clutched his left arm in agony. 1990 — Philadelphia's Terry Mulholland pitched the record eighth no-hitter of the season as the Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0. The season's eighth no-hitter surpassed the modern record of seven set in 1908 and 1917. 1990 — Mark McGwire hit a grand slam in the 10th inning to become the first major leaguer to hit 30 or more homers in his first four seasons and lifted the Oakland Athletics to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. 2001 — Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 300th career save, completing a two-hitter that lifted the San Diego Padres over the New York Mets 2-1. 2005 — Randy Winn hit for the cycle in his first four at-bats in San Francisco's 7-3 win over Cincinnati. 2011 — Jim Thome belted his 600th home run an inning after he hit No. 599 to help the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 9-6. Thome became the eighth player to reach 600. 2012 — Felix Hernandez pitched the Seattle Mariners' first perfect game and the 23rd in baseball history, overpowering the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1-0 victory. It was the third perfect game in baseball of the season — a first — joining gems by Chicago's Philip Humber against the Mariners in April and San Francisco's Matt Cain against Houston in June. 2014 — Mo'Ne Davis, one of two girls at the Little League World Series, threw a two-hitter to help Philadelphia beat Nashville 4-0. Davis, the first girl to appear for a U.S. team in South Williamsport since 2004, had eight strikeouts and no walks. 2015 — Jackie Bradley Jr. had two homers, three doubles and seven RBIs, powering Boston past Seattle 22-10. 2022 — The Rangers fire manager Chris Woodward. While the club is in third place in the AL West after two consecutive last-place finishes, it is still 12 games below .500 and 23 games out of first after having spent some $500 million on free agents in the off-season. He is replaced on an interim basis by coach Tony Beasley. Compiled by the Associated Press That concludes today's newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you'd like to see, email me at To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The catfishing scam putting fans and female golfers in danger
Meet Rodney Raclette. Indiana native. 62 years old. Big golfer. A huge fan of the LPGA. On Aug. 4, Rodney opened an Instagram account with the handle @lpgafanatic6512, and he quickly followed some verified accounts for female golfers and a few other accounts that looked official. Within 20 minutes of creating his account and with zero posts to his name, Rodney received a message from what at first glance appeared to be the world's No. 2-ranked female golfer, Nelly Korda. Advertisement 'Hi, handsomeface, i know this is like a dream to you. Thank you for being a fan,' read a direct message from @nellykordaofficialfanspage2. The real Nelly Korda was certainly not messaging Rodney — and Rodney doesn't actually exist. The Athletic created the Instagram account of the fictitious middle-aged man to test the veracity and speed of an ever-increasing social media scam pervading the LPGA. The gist of the con goes like this: Social media user is a fan of a specific golfer; scam account impersonating that athlete reaches out and quickly moves the conversation to another platform like Telegram or WhatsApp to evade social media moderation tools; scammer offers a desirable object or experience — a private dinner, VIP access to a tournament, an investment opportunity — for a fee; untraceable payments are made via cryptocurrency or gift cards. Then, once the spigot of cash is turned off, the scammer disappears. While this particular con is not limited to golf, player agents, security experts and golfers say it has taken off within the LPGA in the last five years. Charley Hull, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie West, Morgan Pressel, Jennifer Kupcho, Hannah Gregg and Korda all have publicly posted warnings about the scams to their followers. Golf influencers Paige Spiranac and Hailey Ostrom also have spoken out. 'It's been taken out of my hands being able to communicate freely with fans,' Korda, who has a warning statement pinned to the top of her Instagram profile, told The Athletic. 'Because I don't really know their intentions.' On a handful of occasions, the victims of the scams have continued to blame the golfer for their financial losses even after being confronted with the truth, and some simply refuse to believe they have not been interacting with the real athlete, tipping into fixated behavior that concerns golfers and security officials. Advertisement 'We've definitely had people show up at tournaments who thought they had sent money to have a private dinner with the person,' said Scott Stewart, who works for TorchStone Global, a security firm used by the LPGA. 'But then also, we've had people show up who were aggrieved because they had been ripped off, there's a tournament nearby, and they wanted to kind of confront the athlete over the theft.' Last May, a Pennsylvania man in his 60s drove four hours to Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., for the Mizuho Americas Open. He was there to meet 22-year-old American golfer Rose Zhang. He told tournament staff that she had left a VIP package for him and even booked him a hotel room. He said they had been communicating on social media for over a year, during which he had sent her around $70,000. Zhang's agent confronted the man, breaking the news that he was not communicating with Zhang. Another man traveled from Asia to a tournament in the United States, believing he was married to one of the players. A 68-year-old man from California attended several tournaments to see South Korean golfer In Gee Chun after being duped out of $50,000. England's Charley Hull warned her followers on Instagram about the scam after 'an incident' at a tournament in 2024. And in January, a man showed up at the home of golf influencer Hailey Ostrom after losing $50,000 to an account impersonating her. Spiranac said the reaction from some of the scam victims has forced her to change the way she works and lives. She now has security at every event, has an active restraining order against one of the scammed individuals, and when fan behavior escalates because of a scam — 'flare-ups' as she calls them — she has chosen to skip some events for her safety. 'I've had people come up to me at events, at outings, and say that they're in a relationship with me, or they come up quite angry because 'fake me' has scammed them out of money or has ghosted them,' Spiranac said. 'Those experiences are quite scary, but it's also very invasive.' Added Stewart: 'There's really two victims. You have the person that's been scammed, but really, the athlete is a victim, too, since they get blamed for it.' Not too long after joining a Nelly Korda fan page on Facebook in June 2024, a 72-year-old man from South Carolina, whose name is being withheld at the request of his family, received an email from someone claiming to be the real Nelly Korda. Email quickly turned to texting, texting morphed into phone calls, and within days, he told his daughter that they were in love. Advertisement 'He was convinced he was speaking to Nelly Korda, convinced she was going to live with him, and they were going to get married,' his daughter, Shannon, said. 'But it was a cycle of different ways to get money from him.' She estimates he sent over $15,000. Shannon and her brother tried to convince him it was a scam. They also reached out to law enforcement, explored intervention services, attempted to catfish the catfisher, and even sent a plea via a direct message on Instagram to the real Nelly Korda to set the record straight. When the father confronted 'Nelly,' she had an excuse for everything: She had no access to her money due to a controlling manager and family. Her flight got canceled. The scam warning on Korda's verified Instagram account was a note for everyone else, not him. In March, as her father began drafting plans to sell his house at Nelly's request, one of Nelly's made-up excuses finally exposed her. She told him she had broken a bone in a car accident, but there was no evidence of a broken bone on Korda's verified Instagram account. Finally, the man realized he was not in a relationship with Nelly Korda. But his retirement fund was gone. Rodney Raclette, if he really existed, might have been similarly duped. When he commented on a video posted by the verified Nelly Korda Instagram account, people responded to his comments, directing him to other fan pages that the poster claimed were created by Korda to interact with fans. Another person claiming to be Korda sent him an Instagram direct message. After Rodney and that fake Korda exchanged niceties, she insisted the conversation move off of Instagram to email. She urged Rodney not to share her email with anyone, and wrote — in broken English — that he not 'take this opportunity talking to me for granted because not all celebrities come online to talk to their fans like am doing presently.' Advertisement Next, she said she needed to see Rodney's ID for her 'safety and career,' but when Rodney made excuses as to why he could not provide any identification, the fake Nelly impatiently moved to the next question: 'Do you have a Fan Membership Card?' She told Rodney, 'if you're my biggest fan,' for just $700, he would receive access to all of her 'games,' her autograph, and new, customized golf shirts. Anytime Rodney questioned the price or authenticity of the card, Nelly threatened to leave the conversation. She would only continue if he purchased the card. Rodney became more skeptical and urged Nelly to prove it was really her. Within minutes, he received an AI-altered video of the real Nelly Korda speaking directly to him by name. It's nearly impossible to trace the source of most of these scams, and they're even harder to prosecute. Old accounts disappear and new accounts reappear by the hour. Patrick Chase, a private investigator and former LPGA security consultant, says the majority of catfishers are typically based outside of the U.S. The FBI is overwhelmed with identity theft cases and, according to Chase, it oftentimes won't address incidents unless losses exceed a certain dollar amount. Golf influencer Hannah Gregg has been communicating with several scam victims to collect evidence she can bring to law enforcement but to no avail. 'They won't do anything for me basically until something bad happens to me,' she said. Korda said she once reported about 20 spam accounts per day, but they are now materializing so quickly she can't keep up. 'You're just put into a situation you really don't want to be in. You feel bad, you feel guilty for people going through this. It's the last thing you want,' she said. 'It's not only putting the players in danger, in a sense, but it's putting all the fans in danger.' Advertisement The day after creating the Rodney account, the fan page that had reached out to him — @nellykordaofficialfanspage21 — had been deleted. Rodney emailed the fake Nelly Korda to ask what happened. She replied: 'I deactivated the account because of imposters, and the FBI are working on catching them.' (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Kate McShane, Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)</p Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
