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.
Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr. was arrested at his Bradenton home Tuesday night 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.
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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.
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“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.
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Bodycam footage shows police approaching a shirtless Moynihan, informing him that he has a warrant out for his arrest. When he asks about the nature of the charges — repeatedly inquiring, “Grand theft of what?” — officers inform him that he will be briefed by a detective.
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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