S. Korean woman loses US$51k to scam involving deepfake of Elon Musk

The victim revealed the scammer pretending to be Elon Musk said “I love you” during the deepfake video call. -AFP

SEOUL: A South Korean woman was persuaded to invest 70 million won (US$51,000) after seeing a deepfake video of what appeared to be chief executive of Tesla Elon Musk, according to local reports on Tuesday (April 23).

Jeong Ji-sun, whom South Korean broadcaster KBS has agreed to refer to by a pseudonym, shared how she became a victim of a romance scam on its In-Depth 60 Minutes.