Korean Woman Loses 70 Million Won to Elon Musk Impersonation
Guard Lowered by Video Call... "You Know I Love You?"
Elon Musk Passport Also Stolen... "It Felt Real"
A Korean woman fell victim to a romance scam impersonating Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, losing 70 million won in just two months.
On the 22nd, KBS's "Chujeok 60 Bun" (Tracking 60 Minutes) reported that Ms. A, who had been a fan of Musk, was scammed after becoming friends with him on social networking services (SNS) in July last year. Ms. A said, "On July 17th last year, Elon Musk followed me on SNS and added me as a friend, and I accepted. I didn't know that was the gate to hell." At the time, Ms. A suspected the impersonation account but, because she admired Elon Musk, she ignored the possibility of a scam out of excitement when he added her as a friend.
Ms. A said, "At first, I started the conversation with suspicion, but gradually I thought it might really be Elon Musk." The person impersonating Elon Musk, Mr. B, who communicated with Ms. A, said, "I am sending you a message because you liked and commented on my account. Thank you. I will do great things for the world," and actively showed interest by asking, "Where do you live?" Mr. B also sent photos of himself going to work and even sent his ID card photo to Ms. A.
Ms. A explained the situation, saying, "Mr. B said he had been to Malaysia yesterday, and when I checked the news articles, Elon Musk really had been to Malaysia." He told her that he contacted fans randomly, talked about his children, and said he commuted to Tesla or SpaceX by helicopter. It felt real." She added, "When I asked how it was meeting President Yoon Suk-yeol in April last year, he said, 'President Yoon told me he would build giga factories in Jeju Island and Seoul.' He also told me he would build a SpaceX museum in Korea. It sounded plausible, so I believed him."
Ms. A said that a video call with Mr. B was the decisive moment that made her believe he was the real Elon Musk. In the video provided by Ms. A, the impersonator resembling Musk confesses to Ms. A, saying, "Hello, I love you. You know that, right?" Ms. A replies, "Of course. I love you too. As a friend. You are really kind."
Later, Mr. B sent a "Mars citizenship card" with Musk's photo and a passport photo, easing Ms. A's suspicions. Mr. B proposed to invest money on Ms. A's behalf, saying, "I am happy when fans become rich because of me," and provided a domestic bank account number. At the time, Ms. A, believing it was a "Korean staff member's account," was eventually mesmerized and deposited a total of 70 million won in cryptocurrencies and cash. Ms. A confessed, "I kept doubting. When asked to send money, I was hesitant. But I kept falling for it, thinking, 'What if this is the real Elon Musk?' It really felt genuine."
Experts analyzed and concluded that Mr. B's voice was created using an AI program. The virtual currency trading site Mr. B provided was also confirmed to be a fake phishing site.
Meanwhile, in December last year, the European Union (EU) reached a groundbreaking agreement on the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) technology regulation bill, the "AI Act." The agreement classifies AI risks by grade, enhances transparency, and imposes fines on companies that do not comply with regulations. It also banned the collection of biometric information from the internet and included regulations on large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Bard.
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