Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
A Florida man says he lost thousands of dollars after scammers allegedly targeted him Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX,
George Hendricks, a 69-year-old man from a suburb of Leesburg orlandotold Click on Orlando He lost $45,000 after a scammer targeted him deepfake video Musk’s. Deepfakes are digitally altered videos often used to impersonate notable public figures.
Now, Hendricks tells the outlet that his wife “wants a divorce” because of the scandal.
As ClickOrlando reports, the incident came to light when Hendricks commented on a post in a Facebook group claiming to advertise a car giveaway.
Shortly afterward, Hendrix received a Facebook message congratulating him on winning a new car and $100,000. Then, he received another message via WhatsApp containing a video message that he believed was from Musk.
In the video obtained by ClickOrlando, an AI-generated, deepfake version of Musk says: “My good friend Mr. George, I just want you to listen to what I’m telling you. I promise you’re going to get your package.”
Hendricks was told he would have to pay $7,500 in cash for shipping the car, which he sent to the scammers. They were also asked to invest $10,000 and were promised returns of $120,000, the outlet reports.
After exchanging several messages with the scammers, they said they emptied their accounts and sent them approximately $37,000 more.
At one point, Hendricks even told the scammers that he was concerned about their requests, the outlet reports. But then, he sent Hendrix another video message, saying: “I would never take advantage of you or your funds. Trust me with all my heart. God knows I have no evil intentions.”
“I know it’s going on all the time, you never think it’s going to be you,” Hendrix said.
The number of scammers claiming to be the richest man in the world is increasing.
In another popular scam, retirees are asked to invest in a fraudulent crypto scheme AARPThese scammers also send AI-generated deepfake videos of Musk to their victims to add legitimacy to their claims,
“Scammers know he’s the most famous and richest person in the world, so they use the allure of his success to try to manipulate you into FOMO and the fear of losing,” Amy Nofziger, victim assistance director of the AARP Fraud Watch Network, said in a statement.
Kieran Human, head of security enablement at cybersecurity company ThreatLocker, told ClickOrlando that deepfake videos will become more accurate as the technology evolves.
He warned, “It’s just a matter of time until people start adding that breathing to videos, and people will have to be more vigilant.”