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South Korean Woman Loses 40,000 Euros in a Deepfake Video Romance Fraud Featuring Elon Musk
A South Korean woman was duped by a deep fake video featuring the Tesla CEO and was later tricked into giving $50,000.
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A South Korean woman is the latest victim of deepfake technology
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The woman was tricked into giving $50,000 to someone who pretended to be Elon Musk
Scams in which victims are deceived and lose money are common. People are losing a lot of money as a result of deepfake frauds, which are becoming more prevalent. It's not very usual, though, for someone to be duped into falling in love with none other than Elon Musk, the billionaire.
According to local media reports, a South Korean woman fell victim to a romantic scam and lost 70 million won (£40,000) after falling for a deepfake video claiming to be from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The victim said that conversing with a man on Instagram who claimed to be the American tech entrepreneur was a dream come true for her.
Woman claims Musk added her on Instagram
The woman told Korean broadcaster KBS that in July 2023, Musk was the one who added her on Instagram. "At first, I doubted it, but after reading his biography, I have been a huge fan of Musk," the woman admitted to KBS.
But the smooth-talking Musk impostor gave her pictures of himself at work and what appeared to be his ID card as identification. The woman was drawn in by the billionaire's stories of gigafactories, helicopter flights to work, and, ultimately, his constant assurance that he would make her rich.
To give the scam more legitimacy, Musk informed the woman that he had scheduled a meeting with the president of South Korea in April 2023. Musk was instructed by the president to build Tesla plants in South Korea. She was relieved that her new Instagram friend wasn't the scammer she had assumed to be the American businessman when they had a video call and he declared his love for her. At the time, the victim was unaware that the con artist had been using a deep-fake video of Elon Musk.
Scams involving fake Elon Musk
Next, the con artist requested that the woman deposit 70 million Korean won, or around $50,000, into the local bank account of his Korean staff member. By investing that money, the fake Musk promised to make the woman wealthy. The SpaceX founder's fame has skyrocketed in recent years, and this fraud is just the most recent in a string of them. Scammers steal money from innocent individuals by using the billionaire's name.
Earlier, a Chinese individual started posting TikTok films in 2022 while posing as Elon Musk. At the time, Musk acknowledged that it was hard to tell with deepfakes these days and that he would like to meet the man if he was real.
Know more about Elon Musk
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