The woman ended up sending thousands of pounds to a scammer pretending to be Tesla billionaire Elon Musk – and was about to sell her house when she was stopped by police
A lovestruck mum has revealed how she was scammed out of £21,500 by a fake Elon Musk who convinced her that they were in a relationship.
The woman, 69, from Formosa, Brazil, reportedly took out two loans to send huge sums to the fake billionaire after the pair met on social media and began exchanging love messages. Local police said they approached the victim, who has not been named, after the alarm was raised by her son.
She had been planning to sell her house so she could send the money to the fake Musk. Investigators, who are yet to identify the suspect behind the scam, have confirmed that other people had also been targeted in the region.
The victim is said to have saved his number under ‘MY LOVE MUSK’. In screenshots shared by Brazilian media, the scammer posing as Elon Musk sends her a ‘lovebomb’ message that reads: “I love you for being my truest love, best friend and most loyal companion. Without you, my life is nothing but an ocean of dust. Every morning of my life gives me a new reason to love you and appreciate you for what you have given me. You are the one who holds the key to my heart!”
Local police chief Jose Sena said: “The victim also wanted to sell her own house, valued at more than BRL 500,000 [GBP 69,813], so she could send the amounts requested by the alleged businessman.” He said that the pair had met on social media, and began talking on a messaging app for days on end after she gave the scammer her phone number. Soon after, he promised to send her gifts, such as flowers and jewellery, though these never arrived. He then began to make demands of her, including money to fuel his ‘aircraft’.
The police chief added that the scammer’s bank accounts have been identified as being part of a criminal organisation that has targeted other vulnerable people in the country. Mr Sena said: “We advise relatives to be very careful with elderly people, especially when they spend a lot of time exchanging messages on apps. Whenever there is a suspicion of a relationship, they should take steps to verify whether the person really exists and whether there is any type of request for financial value.”
It comes after a woman in France ended up sending her life savings to a fake Brad Pitt who told her he was dying of cancer. Anne, 52 was tricked into believing she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood superstar and handed over a total of €830,000 (£700,000) to the scammer, who said he had been blocked from his bank accounts following Brad’s divorce from Angelina Jolie. They then went on to claim he needed money for cancer treatments, sending her photoshopped photos of Brad lying in a hotel bed. She discovered she had been duped when she saw photos of the Hollywood actor with his new Swiss girlfriend, Ines de Ramon.
