this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/56223456

George Hendricks, a 69-year-old from Leesburg, a suburb of Orlando, told ClickOrlando he lost $45,000 after a scammer targeted him with a deepfake video of Musk. Deepfakes are digitally-altered videos often used to impersonate notable public figures.

Now, Hendricks tells the outlet that his wife “wants to get a divorce” over the scam.

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[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 80 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (31 children)

She's right: she lives with a dumbass.

I've never understood this "old people are vulnerable" thing (not to mention that 69 ain't that old): even if the scam is really good, at some point the mark is asked to make a large amount of money flow out of their bank account: anybody with the good sense the good lord gave to donkeys would have alarm bells ringing loudly between their ears. Everybody I've met in my life reacts like that.

I might understand if the scanner impersonates a close family member really well - although if one of my children started asking me large sums of money, I would get suspicious because... well, they just don't. But Elon Musk? That guy ain't a victim, he's a moron.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Once you get into non-standard investments (so not stocks/etfs/CDs/etc.) things get a lot murkier a lot quicker. At some point you are just trusting some person with a lot of money. I mean look at Bernie Maddoff, he was just some guy promising a return on investments.

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