Stories of gigafactories and chopper rides: A lady who fell in love with a “fake” Elon Musk lost $50,000

A scammer posing as millionaire Elon Musk deceived a South Korean lady, turning her dream of finding love into a $50,000 nightmare. Using deepfake, the sly con artist pretended to be the CEO of Tesla during video chats, showing the victim a lot of love and promising financial rewards.

The origins of online romance
According to Business Insider, it all began in July 2022, when the lady couldn’t resist accepting an Instagram friend request from someone posing as Elon Musk, her hero.

As the lady told the KBS, she had her share of early misgivings, but once he provided her pictures that looked like his official ID and office, she was certain she was speaking with the actual Silicon Valley tycoon.
The phony Musk then started to show signs of emotion, talking about his kids, his helicopter ride to Tesla and SpaceX, and even asserting that he makes random phone calls to admirers. He enthralled her with the specifics of Musk’s purported discussion about the construction of more Tesla Gigafactories with the president of South Korea.
The “virtual” Elon Musk’s “I Love You” completed the transaction.
But the turning point was when the impostor said, “I love you,” in a video conversation. Are you aware of that? She had no idea that she was conversing with a very lifelike deepfake counterfeit that was meticulously crafted to replicate Musk’s look and voice.

“Last year, I had a dream-like experience,” the victim subsequently revealed to South Korean channel KBS. “Although I have been a huge fan of Musk after reading his biography, I doubted it at first.”
With her feelings somewhat influenced by the false information and the scammer’s devotion, the fake Musk persuaded her to deposit seventy million South Korean won, or around fifty thousand dollars, into a bank account he said belonged to a Korean Tesla worker. He assured her she would become rich from this investment.
The fraudster falsely informed her, “‘I’m happy when my fans are getting rich because of me,'” according to Business Insider’s research.
Sadly, the money vanished, and upon realizing she had fallen for a vicious romantic scam, the woman’s hopes were dashed.
A story of love and money cautioned
This South Korean woman’s deception by the phony Elon Musk is not an unusual instance. One of the most common emotions used by con artists to defraud people of their money online is love. According to statistics, romance fraudsters took an incredible $1.3 billion from victims in the United States alone in 2022.
The growing notoriety and appeal of billionaire Elon Musk have also been used by scammers. A Bitcoin fraud in 2021 deceived Julie Bushnell, a teacher from Hampshire, UK, out of £9,000 by claiming that Elon Musk was holding a “giveaway” in which he would double any amount deposited.
Even imitating Musk’s appearance and demeanor has happened on occasion. By releasing films on TikTok that replicate Musk’s look, a Chinese guy by the name of Yilong Ma has gained notice. Musk has said that he would want to see Ma, but only after he can confirm that Ma is not using deepfake technology.