Hulu is doubling down on true crime with Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam, a new three-part docuseries from ABC News Studios that puts a sharp lens on the real-world fallout of digital deception. The series premieres Tuesday, May 20, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.
Produced by Anchor Entertainment in association with Trinoculus Films, the series follows three women—Annette, Roxy, and Gaby—who discover they’ve each been targeted by the same online con artist. What begins as a run-of-the-mill romance scam escalates fast as the women join forces to expose the man behind the lies. Their pursuit leads them deep into a network of aliases and secrets—and eventually to a dangerous confrontation.
The project lands as romance scams hit historic highs. The FBI reported a record $16.6 billion stolen by online scammers in 2024, with AI and deepfake tech making schemes harder to detect and easier to scale. Hey Beautiful digs into that larger ecosystem while staying grounded in the women’s perspective—victims turned investigators pushing back in real time.
The docuseries continues ABC News Studios’ strategic push into premium unscripted, with a focus on high-impact, audience-forward storytelling. Under division chief Mike Kelley, the studio has leaned into content with built-in urgency and digital relevance. Kelley executive produces alongside Ethan Goldman, founder and CEO of Anchor Entertainment, whose credits span true crime, pop culture, and hard-news hybrids.
Hey Beautiful joins a spring slate of nonfiction titles targeting the true-crime streaming audience, a key demo for Hulu. With stakes that are personal, financial, and increasingly deadly, the series aims to tap into a growing national conversation around online fraud and the vulnerabilities exploited by modern romance scammers.
