A Florida man swindled an elderly woman out of more than $250,000 by posing as billionaire Elon Musk on Facebook, according to U.S. police.
Earlier this week, police arrested 56-year-old Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr. on grand larceny charges. The Bradenton Police Department in Florida said in a statement that financial records showed that the victim from Texas sent at least $250,000 to Moynihan's company in Florida. The victim's husband told police that she sent a total of "approximately $600,000" to Moynihan.
Braden police stated that they arrested him at Moynihan's home on November 19 and noted that the real Elon Musk was likely busy with the sixth SpaceX Starship test flight that day.
Police said that the 74-year-old victim befriended an account named 'Elon Musk' on Facebook in 2023. The woman communicated with the fake account for 'months,' during which the other party encouraged her to invest in his business.
'Fake Musk' promised the woman a $55 million return on investment. However, police stated that the money went directly into Moynihan and his company's bank account, 'Jeff’s Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC.'
In body camera footage released by the police, Moynihan questioned the officers why they issued an arrest warrant for him when he was arrested. He asked in the video, 'Grand theft? What was stolen?' It is currently unclear whether Moynihan has hired a lawyer. The Braden police department has not commented on this matter.
In recent years, Elon Musk has become the 'number one face' of many scams worldwide. With advancements in AI technology, scammers are increasingly using deepfakes to deceive victims into handing over cash.
In May this year, Hong Kong authorities warned that scammers were using AI-generated deepfake videos of Musk to promote fake trading websites. In June, an Australian man submitted personal information through an online cryptocurrency form after seeing a deepfake interview video of Musk on social media, and subsequently lost $50,000.
In South Korea, a woman was scammed out of $50,000 after falling in love with a scammer impersonating Musk on Instagram. She said, 'During our video call, Musk even said, 'I love you, you know that, right?'
Article reposted from: Jin Shi Data
