A Florida man says he lost thousands of dollars after he was reportedly targeted by scammers pretending to be Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
George Hendricks, a 69-year-old from Leesburg, a suburb of Orlando, told ClickOrlando he lost $45,000 after a scammer targeted him with a deepfake video of Musk. Deepfakes are digitally-altered videos often used to impersonate notable public figures.
Now, Hendricks tells the outlet that his wife “wants to get a divorce” over the scam.
The incident unfolded after Hendricks commented on a post in a Facebook group claiming to advertise car giveaways, ClickOrlando reports.
Shortly afterward, Hendricks received a Facebook message congratulating him on winning a new car and $100,000. Then, he received another message via WhatsApp that contained a video message he believed to be from Musk.
In the video, obtained by ClickOrlando, an AI-generated, deepfake version of Musk said: “My good friend Mr. George, I just want you to listen to what I’m telling you. I promise that you’re going to receive your package.”
Hendricks was told he had to pay $7,500 in cash for the car’s shipping, which he sent to the scammers. He was also asked to make a $10,000 investment and was promised a $120,000 return, the outlet reports.
After exchanging several messages with the scammers, he says he drained his accounts and sent them nearly $37,000 more.
At one point, Hendricks even told the scammers he was concerned about their requests, the outlet reports. But then, they sent Hendricks another video message, which said: “I’d never take advantage of you or your funds. Trust me with your whole heart. God knows I have no bad intentions.”
“I know it’s going on all the time, you just never think it’s going to be you,” Hendricks said.
Scammers claiming to be the world’s richest man appear to be on the rise.
In another popular scam, retirees are asked to invest in a fraudulent crypto scheme, according to an AARP. These scammers also send their victims AI-generated deepfake videos of Musk to add legitimacy to their claims.
“Scammers know that he is well-known and the richest person in the world, so they use the allure of his success to try and manipulate you with FOMO, the fear of missing out,” Amy Nofziger, director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, said in a statement
Kieran Human, the security enablement lead with cybersecurity company ThreatLocker, told ClickOrlando that deepfake videos are only going to get more accurate as the technology develops.
“It’s just going to be a matter of time until people do start adding that breathing to the videos, and people are just going to have to be more cautious,” he warned.
