A woman in Ontario lost her life savings after falling victim to an AI-driven cryptocurrency scam that used a fake Elon Musk endorsement.
The victim, identified only as Denise from Markham, says the scheme began in July 2023 when she encountered a Facebook post claiming Musk was backing a platform that could help users “get rich fast,” reports CTV.
“Heartbroken. I was broken into pieces.”
The post claimed users could start earning daily profits by investing as little as $250, featuring what Denise believed was Musk promoting the opportunity.
Says the fake, AI-doctored Musk in the video,
“Millions of users were able to close all their debts in the first week on the platform.”
After sending the initial amount, she was told she earned a small profit of $30 within days, which convinced her the platform was legitimate. Encouraged by repeated calls from the fraudsters and reassurances that higher investments would lead to greater returns, Denise says she decided to commit more capital.
“And they keep calling me and calling me and telling me that people are making so much money and that if you put more, and I said okay.”
She says she ultimately took out a second mortgage on her home, borrowing heavily against her equity and wiring large sums to the scammers.
“I applied for almost a million dollars on the equity of my home. I took it out, and I started sending it to them, $350,000 and then $350,000.”
Denise says she invested a total of about $1.2 million and was shown an account balance that appeared to grow to more than $3 million. When she attempted to withdraw funds, the scammers demanded additional payments for supposed taxes and fees.
In an effort to recover her money, she borrowed another $500,000 from family and friends and maxed out credit cards. In the end, the funds never arrived.
According to CTV, Denise’s total losses reached approximately $1.7 million.
“I don’t have no retirement savings. Everything is gone.”
The scam fits a growing pattern of AI deepfake frauds, where criminals use fabricated videos, images or endorsements of well-known figures to build trust and pressure victims into sending increasingly large amounts of money.
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