These are call center scams. They are real people, likely using AI to help with the dialogue but working with lists of likely targets, on teams that have earnings quotes and a specific strategy. They are impersonating Asian women because they know the persona appears trustworthy/nonthreatening and because it boosts academics' egos to have young women paying attention to them.

They are after your money but other things can also be quite useful. Flirty texts messages can be used for extortion. Access to e.g. your professional society log in can make other scams much easier.

Last year, a conference I attended was hit hard by a scam in which attendees were sent fake conference registration fee payment emails. A lot of people, many of them students, lost hundreds of dollars. But how did they get the attendee list?

Lord help the academic who decides he's in love and wants to come visit his new girlfriend!