Florida man accused of stealing $250,000 from elderly woman by pretending to be Elon Musk

❘ It was published: 2024-11-25T05:44:48

Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr., who lives in Florida, was arrested for allegedly pretending to be Elon Musk in order to steal $250,000 from an elderly woman.

Elon Musk He’s got a lot going for him. HE CEO of one of the world’s largest social media platformshe regularly sends a rocket into spaceand it happened recently The best Diablo 4 player in the world. Of course, not everyone loves the tech billionaire.

My billionaire friend Mark Cuban took shots at Musk before And Mark Zuckerberg wants to physically fight the man. Despite high-profile enemies like these, Musk is in an enviable position, and it’s understandable that some people would want to be in his shoes.

Of course, some tried to get into that shoe for nefarious purposes. First reported by FOX BusinessFlorida native Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr. He was arrested and charged with grand theft for impersonating Musk as part of a $250,000 scam.

Bradenton Police Department

In body camera footage of the arrest, Moynihan claimed he knew nothing about the theft.

Fake Elon Musk stole $250,000 via online scam

Moynihan was arrested at his home in Bradenton, Florida, on November 19, 2024. The arrest came after a police investigation concluded he stole “at least a quarter of a million dollars” from a 74-year-old Texas woman.

Police allege Moynihan pretended to be Elon Musk using Facebook and began sending messages to the woman as early as 2023. “The victim was convinced that she was actually depositing her money with Elon Musk,” investigators said.

They detailed logs of messages that would build rapport with the victim by talking about how Elon’s day was, using prominent news stories about the tech CEO. “The victim felt that Elon was truly her friend,” investigators said. “After ‘Elon’ gained his trust, he suggested that he invest in his own businesses. “It carried out many transactions over a period of time.”

Financial records from the investigations report $250,000 was sent to bank accounts linked to Moynihan and his company, Jeff’s Painting and Pressure Washing LLC. According to a Bradenton Police Department spokesperson, “The real Elon Musk was busy with SpaceX’s latest launch and is not under investigation by BPD.”