A Florida man pretending to be Elon Musk scammed an elderly woman out of over $250,000
Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images
- A Florida man scammed a woman out of $250,000 by posing as Elon Musk, police say.
- The scam involved a fake Facebook account promising high returns on investments.
- Musk's identity is frequently used in scams, including deepfake crypto schemes.
A Florida man pretending to be billionaire Elon Musk on Facebook scammed an older woman out of over $250,000, police say.
Police arrested Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr., 56, earlier this week for grand theft. The Bradenton Police Department said in a statement that financial records show the woman from Texas sent at least $250,000 to Moynihan's business in Florida.
The victim's husband told police that she sent "approximately $600,000" to Moynihan in total.
Bradenton police say they arrested Moynihan at his home on November 19, noting that the real Elon Musk was likely busy at the time with the 6th test flight of the SpaceX Starship, which occurred the same day.
The 74-year-old victim befriended someone named "Elon Musk" on Facebook in 2023, police said. The woman messaged with the fake account for "several months" as he encouraged her to invest in his businesses.
The fake Musk account promised the woman a $55 million investment return. Instead, the money went directly into bank accounts owned by Moynihan and his business, Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC, police said.
In body camera footage released by police, Moynihan can be heard asking why the police have a warrant for his arrest.
"Grand theft of what?" Moynihan asks in the video.
It is unclear if Moynihan has hired an attorney. The Bradenton Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Musk has become the face of many scams worldwide over the past few years. In May, authorities in Hong Kong warned that crypto scammers were using AI deepfake videos of Musk to promote fake trading websites.
One Australian man lost $50,000 after registering his details through an online crypto form he found through a deepfake interview with Musk on social media in June. Another woman in Korea gave $50,000 to a scammer who she fell in love with while they pretended to be Musk on Instagram.