An 82-year-old grandmother lost $200,000 in savings after falling victim to a deepfake video scam that used AI to impersonate a trusted doctor from the autism community, promoting a fraudulent investment opportunity.
Maurine Meleck, an 82-year-old grandmother from St. Johns County, Florida, lost approximately $200,000 in life savings after being deceived by a deepfake video scam. While browsing Facebook, Meleck encountered what appeared to be a video of a doctor she recognized from the autism community, someone she trusted due to her experience caring for her 28-year-old grandson Josh who has autism. The video encouraged viewers to join an investment opportunity, and Meleck believed it was legitimate because 'it looked completely real, his face, his voice, everything.' The video was actually a deepfake - a computer-generated imitation created using artificial intelligence. Through this scam, criminals gained access to Meleck's online banking information and drained the $200,000 she had saved for her grandson's future care. The incident caused significant emotional distress, with Meleck reporting she 'lost 20 pounds and couldn't sleep' due to the trauma. She filed a police report with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office and is sharing her story as a warning to others. The FBI reports that such AI-enabled scams are rising sharply, with over 4.2 million fraud reports totaling $50.5 billion in losses since 2020.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed