A fraudster impersonating Elon Musk convinced an elderly woman they were in ‘love’ while scamming her out of $26,000.
The 69-year-old victim, who lives in he Brazilian city of Formosa, met the conman on Facebook and provided her phone number so the two could chat on the messaging app Telegram.
The pair would often spend several hours messaging over a three-month period as the swindler earned his target’s trust.
The unsuspecting woman even saved the scammer’s name as ‘My Love Elon’ in her phone.
‘This alleged businessman began to make requests of the victim, promising to send gifts, such as flowers and jewelry, gifts that never arrived,’ Goias Civil Police chief José Sena told Brazilian news outlet G1.
‘He even asked for money to fuel his alleged aircraft.’
Her first two bank transfers to the imposter were for around $172 each before she agreed to send over close to $517.
The crook was later able to convince the woman to take out the loans of around $10,696 and $15,865, Sena said, and and had the money wired to several bank accounts set up under fraudulent names.
A fraudster impersonating Elon Musk convinced an elderly woman they were in ‘love’ while scamming her out of $26,000
The unsuspecting victim, 79, even saved the scammer’s name as ‘My Love Elon’ in her phone
The conman’s plot was uncovered by her children after they noticed multiple text messages of plans for her to put her house on the market for around $86,000.
The suspect texted the woman: ‘My love after you sell the house I have a serious investment platform,’ promising a return of more than $600,000 in just three days.
At one point she told him: ‘They are accusing me of sending money,’ adding ‘we will prove everything. We have nothing to hide.’
The scammer assured the woman that everything would be fine.
‘Yes, my love, definitely, but we should surprise your children and it’s not good like that now,’ he wrote.
Sená believes the scam may have been perpetrated by a criminal organization and that others may have fallen victim to the ruse.
‘We advise relatives to be very careful with elderly people, especially when they spend a lot of time exchanging messages on apps,’ he said.
‘Whenever there is a suspicion of a relationship, they should take steps to verify whether the person really exists and whether there is any type of request for financial value.’
A woman from São Paulo (pictured) claimed to have also fallen victim to an online scam in which a man claiming to be Elon Musk conned her out of about $34,566 during a span of seventh months
In September 2024, a similar incident was uncovered by authorities in the Brazilian city of Toledo, after a 79-year-old woman claimed to have been dating Musk.
The victim drew the attention of a supermarket worker when she tried to purchase about $690 worth of Apple gift cards that she said were for her boyfriend, Elon Musk.
Cops reviewed her text messages with the scammer and found that the phone number had an area code from Nigeria.
Also last year, a 71-year-old woman in São Paulo lost around $34,566 during a span of seventh months after falling for a fake Elon Musk who promised to marry her.
A French woman was duped into giving about 830,000 euros to a Brad Pitt impersonator who used AI-generated images to convince her that she and the actor were dating.
