Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is the richest man in the world.
Musk also owns the popular social media platform X.
And Elon Musk was shocked when he found out what a Florida man using his identity did to an elderly woman.
The chances are that you or someone you know has been contacted by a scam artist via the phone or the internet at some point.
Scam artists have been around forever, but the use of technology has allowed them to become more sophisticated and real-sounding than ever before.
They can spoof a telephone number to make it appear like the call is coming from a legitimate person or business.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), over 690,000 consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023.
This was a 14 percent increase over the previous year.
The average amount lost to these scams was $500.
But one Florida man recently scammed an elderly woman in Texas out of $250,000 by pretending to be the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
The victim thought she was befriending Elon Musk last year when she received a request on Facebook.
For the next several months, the two exchanged messages and discussed business.
The woman was pressured to invest in Musk’s businesses and was promised a $55 million return on her investment.
According to financial records, the victim then wired $250,000 to bank accounts owned by 56-year-old Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan and his business, Jeff’s Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC.
But $250,000 may have been a low number.
Her husband told investigators that his wife gave roughly $600,000 to the man she believed was Elon Musk.
Police arrested the criminal and locked him up in jail.
The officers also made it a point to let people know that this was not the real Elon Musk.
“The real Elon Musk was otherwise engaged with the most recent launch of SpaceX and is not under investigation by BPD,” police said in a news release.
Fraud is a real problem in America, especially among the elderly.
The Bradenton police’s elder fraud unit reported that $3 billion had been lost in 2024 in fraud cases involving victims over the age of 60.
“Scammers stole at least $3.4 billion from Americans aged 60 and older in 2023,” the Bradenton Police reported. “The average elderly fraud victim lost $34,000,” the report continued. “Reported incidents form the basis of this figure, with assumed actual losses far surpassing it.”
“Even more concerning, tactics used by scammers are growing more sophisticated,” Bradenton police wrote. “Elder fraud takes many forms, from phone, text, and email scams to Internet fraud,” they continued. “This resource guide below contains information to assist you in navigating the complexities of financial exploitation, offering resources to safeguard your hard-earned assets and maintain financial independence.”
If someone contacts you claiming to be the world’s richest man and asking you for money, then you should know it is a scam.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
