This is such a sad story.
Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr., 56, of Florida, tricked an elderly Texas woman into believing she'd befriended Elon Musk on Facebook and then he stole at least $250,000 from her by tricking her into investing in his business.
His business, she would later find out, was scamming her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A Florida man has been arrested after impersonating tech billionaire Elon Musk in a bid to scam an elderly woman out of at least a quarter of a million dollars, according to police …
While reportedly operating under the guise of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, the 56-year-old businessman befriended the victim, a 74-year-old Texas resident, on Facebook and began messaging her in 2023.
The victim was allegedly promised a $55 million return on investment.
"Elon" began messaging her on Facebook in 2023, and built rapport with the elderly woman by giving her regular updates on how Elon was doing. Moynihan used up-to-date news on the real Elon Musk to formulate these updates.
Eventually, he reached out to the elderly woman offering her an investment in his business.
Records obtained by authorities show the victim transferred $250,000 to accounts belonging to Moynihan and his own business, Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing LLC.
Yeah, I'm thinking Elon Musk doesn't spend his time on painting and pressure washing. Though I could be wrong.
The woman's husband claims she sent the man $600,000, though there's no telling where the rest of that money went if it was, in fact, part of the scam.
Here's how authorities caught wind of this:
Detective Jim Curulla of the Bradenton police was tipped off by authorities in Frisco, Texas, who were investigating an incident in which a woman had reportedly given a large sum of money away to an entity posing as the tech billionaire, according to a department spokesperson.
Nearly half of that money could be traced back to banks in Bradenton, and the accounts were determined to belong to Moynihan, the spokesperson continued.
Police arrested Moynihan last week in Bradenton, Florida.
Moynihan was arrested for grand theft, and the investigation is ongoing.
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