PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A local grandmother is asking for the community’s help to recover her life savings after she said she fell victim to an online scam.
Ponte Vedra Beach resident Maurine Meleck, 82, said she had been saving all her life, hoping one day she could give that money to her 28-year-old grandson, who has autism, and whom she raised since he was 6.
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But a video she came across on Facebook changed everything.
According to Meleck, the video showed a “doctor” talking about an “incredible investment strategy,” and she believed it could increase her savings for her grandson.
She later found out the doctor was a deepfake generated by artificial intelligence.
“The video that duped me was a complete fake. I also have poor eyesight - I am blind in one eye - so I probably would have missed any flaws that might have given it away,” Meleck wrote in her GoFundMe.
Meleck said that she learned about what AI can do when it was too late.
“I handed nearly every penny I have over to a fraudster, while believing I was growing my nest egg for my grandson,” Meleck said.
Meleck told News4JAX she lost $200,000 and is now asking for the community’s help to recover some of the money she lost.
She said the money is not for her, but for her grandson, who can’t live on his own and has a lot of needs.
“I live simply in a small apartment that I share with him. But he will need the money someday - the money that I lost, when all I wanted to do was provide more for him when I am no longer here to take care of him,” Meleck said.
Meleck said she filed a police report with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and an investigation is ongoing.
She also said she hopes her experience helps warn others of the dangers of AI and online scams.