A woman in her 60s has reportedly spent nearly two years believing she is in a relationship with Elon Musk, despite repeated warnings from her family that the person contacting her is an impostor.
What makes the situation particularly unusual is that the person behind the accounts has apparently been paying her expenses rather than simply asking her for money.
The original poster estimates that around $30,000 (£22,700) has been spent covering the woman's bills, including clearing her car loan. The poster says the payments have made it harder for relatives to convince her that the relationship is fraudulent, as she sees the financial assistance as evidence that the billionaire genuinely cares about her.
The situation came to light after a family member described the experience in a post on Reddit's r/Scams community on 4 November. The author questioned why someone would invest so much time and money in maintaining a relationship with a woman they had never genuinely met, while potentially gaining access to her financial and social media accounts.
Fake Elon Musk Account Uses AI Images and Romance Tactics
According to the Reddit post, the woman receives messages and video calls throughout the day, with the original poster saying the impersonator or impersonators spend more than 10 hours a day communicating with her.
The accounts reportedly use affectionate expressions such as 'Hello dear' and 'my love', while becoming possessive when her children question the relationship.
The family also suspects that artificial intelligence is being used to create convincing photographs. However, the post does not include technical evidence confirming how the images were produced. The author also believes several people could be involved, rather than a single individual operating the accounts.
In the comments, the original poster provided further details about the payments. They said they had personally checked the cleared car loan and seen the vehicle's title. The impersonator had also covered utility payments over several months and sent approximately $2,000 (£1,500) directly to the woman's dentist for treatment.
Several Reddit users questioned whether the woman could be acting as an unwitting money mule. One commenter suggested that criminals might be using stolen funds to clear her debts, while others suggested that paying her expenses could help establish trust before criminals attempt to move money through her accounts.
These remain theories rather than established facts.
The family also suspects that the people contacting her have gained access to some of her banking and social media accounts. However, the original poster acknowledged that the woman may have shared access herself, making it unclear whether her accounts were hacked or accessed with her cooperation.
The discussion also included warnings about recovery scams. Reddit's moderators cautioned that people who publish details of financial fraud can attract private messages from supposed hackers and recovery specialists demanding payment to retrieve lost money. These approaches can expose victims to further financial losses.
Elon Musk Impersonation Scam Previously Led To Money Laundering Conviction
The money-mule theory has a documented precedent involving someone connected to a fake Elon Musk account.
In October 2025, the Bradenton Police Department in Florida published details of a case involving Jeffrey Moynihan Jr., who was sentenced for money laundering after becoming involved in a romance scam connected to a fake Elon Musk account.
Court records reported by the Bradenton Herald show that Moynihan pleaded no contest on 15 October to one count of money laundering involving $100,000 or more.
The case concerned a 74-year-old woman in Texas who believed she was communicating with Musk through Facebook. She was encouraged to invest in his businesses, while another woman established an online relationship with Moynihan and persuaded him to receive money through his personal and business accounts.
According to prosecutors, Moynihan had himself become a victim of a romance scam after meeting a woman online who claimed to be in the military and stationed overseas. She convinced him to let her send money into his accounts so he could distribute it on her behalf. He effectively became an intermediary in the wider operation.
Financial records showed that the Texas victim transferred approximately $250,000 (£186,000) into Moynihan's accounts. Her husband separately told investigators that she had given the supposed Musk around $600,000 in total.
Moynihan subsequently transferred some of the funds to another intermediary and converted the remainder into cryptocurrency. Police said the actual impersonator had contacted the woman from IP addresses in Nigeria.
Moynihan did not have direct contact with the Texas victim. He received a one-year prison sentence, 28 years of probation and an order to repay the $250,000 (£186,000) traced to his accounts. Prosecutors dropped a related grand theft charge after determining they could not prove that he intended for a theft to occur.
The case illustrates how impersonation schemes can involve several participants, with people recruited to handle money without necessarily understanding where it originated.
The FBI also warns that romance scammers sometimes persuade victims to receive and forward money through their personal accounts.
Such individuals can become money mules without realising they are helping criminals move illegally obtained funds. However, simply having someone else pay your expenses does not establish that you are acting as a money mule.
That possibility has prompted Reddit users to question whether the payments in the latest case could be part of a similar arrangement. However, there is no independent evidence establishing where the money used to cover the woman's expenses came from or whether she has transferred funds on behalf of anyone else.
For the family, the immediate concern is that the people behind the accounts may have access to sensitive financial and social media information and continue to maintain contact despite their objections. Commenters suggested involving the woman's bank and appropriate support services to protect her finances and investigate the payments.
The original poster has not established who is behind the accounts or explained the source of the payments. For now, the unusual arrangement remains a warning about how celebrity impersonation and online romance scams can extend beyond straightforward requests for money.
