Florida man arrested for impersonating Elon Musk in $250,000 scam targeting elderly woman.
A Florida man who allegedly impersonated tech billionaire Elon Musk online to befriend and scam a 74-year-old Texas woman out of $250,000 USD on the promise of a $55 million return was arrested and charged with grand theft last week.
After arresting Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr., 56, the Bradenton Police Department said in a news release that “the actual sum could be much higher” as the victim’s 80-year-old husband “told investigators his wife gave ‘Elon Musk’ approximately $600,000.”
The Florida police were put on to the case after being alerted by authorities in Frisco, Tex., according to Scripps News and multiple other news outlets. Police there were investigating a complaint about a woman who’d given a large chunk of money to someone posing as the world’s richest man and had traced the funds to accounts in the western Florida city.
Detective Jim Currulla of Bradenton PD’s dedicated elder fraud unit took over the case and financial records led him to Moynihan and his business, Jeff’s Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC.
Police discovered that the victim and “Musk” connected on Facebook in 2023 and exchanged messages over several months, during which time police allege Moynihan used the real Musk’s social media posts to help dupe the woman.
