A Korean fan of Elon Musk was duped into transferring thousands of dollars to a scammer who pretended to be the billionaire using artificial intelligence.

The victim recently shared her story on KBS’ “In-Depth 60 Minutes.” She said she was first contacted by the scammer on Instagram last July 17.

As “Musk,” the con artist tried to convince the victim through personal details, sending photos of his supposed ID card and himself at work. He also talked about taking a helicopter to work at Tesla and SpaceX, his children visiting SpaceX on weekends and contacting fans randomly “to clear his mind.”
When asked about Musk’s April 2023 meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, the scammer had an answer. “Yoon talked about ‘Let’s establish Gigafactories in Seoul and Jeju,’” the victim recalled them saying.
While initially skeptical, the victim was swayed after a video call that apparently showed a Musk deepfake. During the conversation, the impersonator told her, “I love you, you know?”
The scammer eventually invited the victim to invest, sending her a bank account that supposedly belonged to a Korean employee. Despite her doubts, she transferred 70 million won ($50,800) in several installments in August.
The scheme was uncovered after the scammer sent an audio file that was proven to be generated by AI. A cryptocurrency exchange platform that they had recommended also turned out to be a phishing site.

The big picture:

Romance scams in South Korea are increasing sharply, with losses escalating from 370 million won ($270,000) in 2020 to a staggering 5.51 billion won ($4 million) in 2023. Experts warn that such scams prey on emotional connections, with over 70% of victims being women, according to a 2023 study.