A 56-year-old Bradenton, Florida man was arrested on Wednesday after police say he impersonated Elon Musk online to scam an elderly woman.
Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan, Jr., 56, is charged with defrauding the 74-year-old Texas woman out of $250,000, but the actual sum could be much higher.
In 2023, police said the victim befriended "Elon Musk" on Facebook. They exchanged messages for several months before he offered her an investment opportunity since they were "friends."
“He suggested that if she gave him $500,000, he could turn that into $55 million," detective Jim Curulla said on Thursday.
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Curulla, a veteran detective now working in the department's Elder Fraud Unit, was contacted by a detective in Frisco, Texas, who was investigating the case, tracing $250,000 of the victim's money to accounts in Bradenton.
Curulla took over the case, and followed the money.
Financial records showed deposits totaling $250,000 made into two bank accounts owned by Moynihan and his business, Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC. The victim's husband told police his wife gave him around $600,000.
Police arrested Moynihan Tuesday night at his Bradenton home.
Moynihan was still being held at the Manatee County jail on a $250,000 bond, as of Thursday evening. The victim's money has not been recovered.
Detectives never spoke to the real Elon Musk.
According to Curulla, Moynihan used the real Elon Musk’s Facebook profile photo and Musk’s real social media posts about his day-to-day activities to guide their conversations.
“So, if he went and saw a launch, he would say, ‘Well today, I’m at a launch but maybe we can talk tonight when I’m free’ or ‘This week I’m going to go talk to some high-profile people and maybe you can watch me on TV tonight.'”
The victim's 80-year-old husband had initially questioned whether she was really talking to Musk. But she would see news coverage of Musk that coincided with what she was being told.
“She was like, ‘Yes it is him because he’s doing a launch tonight, he doing this, he’s working with Tesla tonight, he’s got a big shareholder meeting," Curulla said she would tell her husband.
But eventually, after their bank alerted them to how much money had been taken, the victim's husband reported it to police in Frisco.
“Even a couple months ago when I was talking with both of them, the husband knew that the real Elon Musk was not involved. He knew that," Curulla said. "The wife still believed the real Elon Musk was involved.”
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Detectives have not identified any other suspects in the case, but Curulla said he is unsure whether Moynihan was the mastermind.
“There are clearly other people that are involved in this case," he added.
No other local victims have been identified, however. But police did find evidence that he was also pretending to be Johnny Depp and Lionel Richie.
But the case is not unique to police.
“It’s an epidemic, but it’s not just here in Bradenton. I deal with detectives from Seattle to New York to Miami. We’re all having the same problem," Curulla said.
This article was written by Rebekah Nelson and Jessica De Leon for Scripps News Tampa.
