CHICAGO (WLS) — The ABC7 I-Group is uncovering how criminals are utilizing well-known faces to lure in victims. Scammers are impersonating celebrities, convincing individuals to spend money on pretend cryptocurrency alternatives.
One sufferer misplaced $10,000 to an individual pretending to be Elon Musk.
The FBI says in 2024, victims misplaced billions of {dollars} after being tricked into sending crypto to fraudsters. Many instances, scammers faux to be love pursuits or monetary consultants. In different circumstances, they use pretend footage and AI voice cloning to pose as celebrities.
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Richard Lyons thought he was investing with the world’s richest man. The Vietnam veteran met a pretend “Elon Musk” on a social media, after which there have been dozens and dozens of direct messages forwards and backwards.
“He saved asking me to make investments, and I seen that his identify was Elon Musk,” Lyons mentioned. “So, I assumed to myself, ‘Okay, it is the richest man on this planet, supposed to know what he is doing.’ Nicely, then he began asking me for cash to spend money on his firm.”
Lyons despatched the fraudster a complete of $10,000 in cryptocurrency, believing “Elon Musk” was going to assist him strike it wealthy. Lyons ultimately realized it was a scam after a number of months, when he was unable to get his a refund.
“[I thought it was really Elon Musk] due to his image and all of the cellphone numbers, that each time he referred to as me, would come up on my caller ID as ‘Elon Musk,'” Lyons mentioned.
The pretend Musk even despatched him an image of a Cybertruck with a bow on high, telling Lyons he would ship him one.
Take a pause. Do your analysis, examine what persons are asking you to spend money on. Earlier than you ship any cash, we encourage individuals to discuss to people.
Lucas Rothaar, FBI Assistant Particular Agent in Cost
There have been additionally a number of voice memos and messages like, “Hey Richard Lyons.” They have been pretend audio recordsdata utilizing Musk’s voice and phrases, however synthetic intelligence was used to piece all of it collectively.
“You already know I do hate whenever you ignore my messages,” the pretend audio file mentioned. “Please cease okay, if you happen to nonetheless need me to ship your revenue.”
“It is, you already know, fairly plausible,” Lyons mentioned. “I can hear… you simply heard it for your self.”
The I-Group referred to as the scammer and by no means heard again.
The FBI mentioned stories to its web crimes grievance middle, ic3.gov, about cryptocurrency scams are skyrocketing.
“They’re exploding one in every of our hottest rising traits in monetary fraud,” FBI Assistant Particular Agent in Cost Lucas Rothaar mentioned.
Rothaar mentioned $9 billion was misplaced final 12 months to crypto scams. Of that quantity, $6 billion was misplaced as a result of individuals have been fooled into sending crypto to fraudsters and fakes.
The I-Group requested if the romance scams or confidence scams contain the scammer performing like they’re really a monetary professional or posing as a star.
“That is precisely proper,” Rothaar mentioned. “They really create a web site that mimics a daily monetary establishments web site. You may have the ability to log in, you may get a two-factor authentication earlier than you are in a position to log in and whenever you log in, it seems like you may have an actual funding. You may watch it develop… earlier than ultimately they pull the rug out and your cash’s gone endlessly.”
That’s what the scammer did to Lyons, sending him a pretend webpage and making it seem like the funding was hovering.
“And I already had made $50,000,” Lyons mentioned. “I am taking a look at $50,000.”
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The FBI says individuals ought to by no means make investments with strangers on-line, particularly individuals sending direct messages.
“Take a pause. Do your analysis, examine what persons are asking you to spend money on,” Rothaar mentioned. “Earlier than you ship any cash, we encourage individuals to discuss to people. Typically these fraudsters encourage individuals, ‘Do not inform anybody about this. Do not inform your loved ones, do not inform your folks. Do not inform an funding advisor.'”
The FBI says it might have the ability to assist victims get better cash in the event that they report the fraud shortly. There are additionally non-public blockchain corporations that may be employed, like Lionsgate Community, which may monitor the crypto path.
“Proper now, our capability is to hint it past border inside lower than 9 seconds,” Lionsgate Community CEO Bezalel Eithan Raviv mentioned. “So we’ll have the ability to generate a forensic evaluation report to the place the stolen cash is correct now with no need to wait months and months and months for somebody to analyze, audit after which test after which confirm it.”
Scam victims must also analysis any firm earlier than hiring them to hint funds. Lionsgate cannot get better the cash, nevertheless it can provide the knowledge to authorities. Lionsgate mentioned authorities normally solely assist get better massive greenback quantities, over $250,000.
Lyons mentioned the $10,000 he misplaced to a bogus billionaire has left him in monetary damage.
“It is exhausting to pay the payments, the lease and the automotive funds, insurance coverage, every thing,” Lyons mentioned.
The blockchain firm Lionsgate mentioned it has been getting a number of stories within the Chicago space of different superstar crypto cons.
The easiest way to make investments is to go a monetary advisor that has been researched and bear in mind to contact family and friends about any funding supply.
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