Romance scam: elderly woman believes she dates Elon Musk, loses R$ 50,0003 abr 2026
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Record TV report on a 76-year-old retiree from Tatuí, in the interior of São Paulo, who believed she was in a relationship with billionaire Elon Musk and ran up almost R$ 50,000 in debts and loans to meet her fake boyfriend's requests. The family calls in digital crime forensic expert Adriano Vallim, who, with her authorisation, analyses the messages and demonstrates the signs of fraud, such as the phone number with Nigeria's international dialling code, explaining how the romance scam is run by foreign criminal groups. The report shows the degree of emotional manipulation in the conversations and cites a similar case of an 82-year-old woman who lost around R$ 60,000 in the same type of scheme.
The interview is in Portuguese. The summary above is in English.