Saturday, November 23, 2024 - A Florida man has been arrested after impersonating tech billionaire Elon Musk in a bid to scam an elderly woman out of $250,000.
Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr. was arrested at his Bradenton
home on Tuesday night, November 19, and charged with grand theft.
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. Her husband reportedly told investigators that she was conned out
of some $600,000 in total.
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.
"The victim was convinced she had, in fact, invested
her money with Elon Musk," they said, noting that the scammer, or
scammers, would regularly brief her on how "Elon's" day was going,
working in details from recent news stories to build rapport.
"The victim felt like Elon really was her friend,"
the spokesperson continued. "After ‘Elon’ built trust with her, he
suggested she invest in his businesses. She made several transactions over a
period of time."
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.
When questioned, Moynihan said the $250,000 he obtained was
for a girlfriend with whom he had a strictly online relationship, according to
the department, leaving open the possibility that Moynihan himself had been
catfished and was a victim of a separate scam.
The investigation is ongoing, and authorities in the
victim's home state are working to determine where the rest of her money went.
"The real Elon Musk was otherwise engaged with the most
recent launch of SpaceX and is not under investigation by BPD," Bradenton
police said in a press release.
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