CHICAGO (WLS) — The ABC7 I-Team reveals how criminals use the names and likenesses of well-known individuals to deceive unsuspecting victims. These scammers pose as celebrities to persuade people into investing in bogus cryptocurrency schemes.
One victim lost $10,000 to a person pretending to be Elon Musk.
According to the FBI, in 2024, victims were defrauded out of billions of dollars after being duped into sending cryptocurrency to scammers. Frequently, fraudsters impersonate romantic partners or financial advisors. In some instances, they use fabricated images and artificial intelligence for voice replication to mimic celebrities.
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Richard Lyons believed he was investing alongside the world’s wealthiest individual. The Vietnam veteran encountered an impersonator of “Elon Musk” through social media, resulting in a continuous exchange of numerous direct messages.
“He kept asking me to invest, and I seen that his name was Elon Musk,” Lyons said. “So, I thought to myself, ‘Okay, it’s the richest guy in the world, supposed to know what he’s doing.’ Well, then he started asking me for money to invest in his company.”
Lyons sent the fraudster a total of $10,000 in cryptocurrency, believing “Elon Musk” was going to help him strike it rich. Lyons eventually realized it was a scam after several months, when he was unable to get his money back.
“[I thought it was really Elon Musk] because of his picture and all the phone numbers, that every time he called me, would come up on my caller ID as ‘Elon Musk,'” Lyons said.
The fake Musk even sent him a picture of a Cybertruck with a bow on top, telling Lyons he would send him one.
Take a pause. Do your research, investigate what people are asking you to invest in. Before you send any money, we encourage people to talk to other folks.
Lucas Rothaar, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge
There were also several voice memos and messages like, “Hello Richard Lyons.” They were fake audio files using Musk’s voice and words, but artificial intelligence was used to piece it all together.
“You know I do hate when you ignore my messages,” the fake audio file said. “Please stop ok, if you still want me to send your profit.”
“It’s, you know, pretty believable,” Lyons said. “I can hear… you just heard it for yourself.”
The I-Team called the scammer and never heard back.
The FBI said reports to its internet crimes complaint center, ic3.gov, about cryptocurrency scams are skyrocketing.
“They are exploding one of our hottest growing trends in financial fraud,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lucas Rothaar said.
Rothaar said $9 billion was lost last year to crypto scams. Of that number, $6 billion was lost because people were fooled into sending crypto to fraudsters and fakes.
The I-Team asked if the romance scams or confidence scams involve the scammer acting like they are actually a financial expert or posing as a celebrity.
“That’s exactly right,” Rothaar said. “They actually create a website that mimics a regular financial institutions website. You’ll be able to log in, you’ll get a two-factor authentication before you’re able to log in and when you log in, it looks like you have a real investment. You can watch it grow… before eventually they pull the rug out and your money’s gone forever.”
That is what the scammer did to Lyons, sending him a fake webpage and making it look like the investment was soaring.
“And I already had made $50,000,” Lyons said. “I’m looking at $50,000.”
The FBI says people should never invest with strangers online, especially people sending direct messages.
“Take a pause. Do your research, investigate what people are asking you to invest in,” Rothaar said. “Before you send any money, we encourage people to talk to other folks. Often these fraudsters encourage people, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this. Don’t tell your family, don’t tell your friends. Don’t tell an investment advisor.'”
The FBI says it may be able to help victims recover money if they report the fraud quickly. There are also private blockchain companies that can be hired, like Lionsgate Network, which can track the crypto trail.
“Right now, our ability is to trace it beyond border within less than nine seconds,” Lionsgate Network CEO Bezalel Eithan Raviv said. “So we’ll be able to generate a forensic analysis report to where the stolen money is right now without needing to wait months and months and months for someone to analyze, audit and then check and then verify it.”
Scam victims should also research any company before hiring them to trace funds. Lionsgate can’t recover the money, but it can give the information to authorities. Lionsgate said authorities usually only help recover large dollar amounts, over $250,000.
Lyons said the $10,000 he lost to a bogus billionaire has left him in financial ruin.
“It’s hard to pay the bills, the rent and the car payments, insurance, everything,” Lyons said.
The blockchain company Lionsgate said it has been getting several reports in the Chicago area of other celebrity crypto cons.
The best way to invest is to go a financial advisor that has been researched and remember to contact friends and family about any investment offer.
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