Scam artists continue to get more sophisticated in the digital area.
One man tried to pull off the con of a lifetime.
And a Florida man pulled off one sick scam that left Elon Musk speechless.
Florida scams elderly woman out of money by posing as Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country with his companies including SpaceX, X, and The Boring Company.
He is also the richest man in the world with a net worth estimated to be over $345 billion.
A Florida man decided to pretend to be Musk on social media to steal more than $600,000 from an elderly woman.
Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr., a 56-year-old, created a fake Facebook account in 2023 pretending to be the Tesla CEO.
Moynihan reached out to a 74-year-old Texas woman and claimed that he had an investment opportunity that could return $55 million.
He traded messages with the Texas woman for several months so he could build some trust with her.
The money was transferred to Moynihan’s bank account and two businesses that he owned, Jeff’s Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC.
Moynihan ended up on the radar of police in Texas and Florida with his digital scam.
Florida man’s Elon Musk con unravels
Bradenton Police Department detective Jim Curulla told Scripps that Moynihan was able to use events from Musk’s life to fool the woman.
“So, if he went and saw a launch, he would say, ‘Well today, I’m at a launch but maybe we can talk tonight when I’m free’ or ‘This week I’m going to go talk to some high-profile people and maybe you can watch me on TV tonight,’” Curulla explained.
The Texas woman’s 80-year-old husband was skeptical that his wife was talking to Musk but the sprinkling of details about the Tesla CEO’s life into the conversation aided in letting his guard down.
“The victim was convinced she had, in fact, invested her money with Elon Musk,” Curulla said. “The victim felt like Elon really was her friend.”
She told her husband that she had developed a relationship with Musk.
“She was like, ‘Yes it is him because he’s doing a launch tonight, he is doing this, he’s working with Tesla tonight, he’s got a big shareholder meeting,” Curulla said the woman told her husband about the fake Musk.
The husband eventually contacted the Frisco, Texas police department after their bank account had been drained.
“Even a couple months ago when I was talking with both of them, the husband knew that the real Elon Musk was not involved. He knew that,” Curulla stated. “The wife still believed the real Elon Musk was involved.”
The Bradenton Police Department Elder Fraud Unit arrested Moynihan on charges of grand theft.
Police suspect that the Florida man could have had other accomplices helping him with the scam.
“There are clearly other people that are involved in this case,” Curulla said.
Sadly, this time of impersonation crime is on the rise.
“It’s an epidemic, but it’s not just here in Bradenton,” Curulla explained. “I deal with detectives from Seattle to New York to Miami. We’re all having the same problem.”
Criminals are getting more creative with the growth of the internet to scam their victims.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
