76-year-old New Yorker loses $1.6 million in AI investment scam that began with a random text message

A 76-year-old man lost $1.6 million to a scammer who contacted him out of the blue and convinced him to put his cash into a bogus investment scam. 

Ron Williams was sent a ‘random text message’ from someone calling themselves Jenny. 

The person messaging Williams then struck a friendship with the person, who claimed to be 33 and living in Boston. 

In a bid to convince him that she was the real deal, ‘Jenny’ even sent a video of herself to Williams, but it wasn’t what it seemed. 

The scammer told the retiree that she was making ‘a fortune’ via investments

Sadly, scams are on the rise worldwide, with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance reporting that a staggering $1.03 trillion – with a T – was stolen by unscrupulous scammers in 2024 alone. 

Scammers will resort to all sorts of methods to get their hands on your cash, from fake parking tickets to selling vehicles they don’t actually own. 

Con artists are also increasingly turning to technology to help them rip off innocent victims. 

And that was the case for retired insurance agent Williams, from New York. 

He got a message from a stranger introducing themselves as Jenny, who then kick-started a conversation that soon turned to ‘friendly banter’ between the pair. 

After chatting for a while, Jenny even sent a video of herself to Williams in an attempt to show him that she was legit. 

Speaking to NBC, Williams said communication between the two was ‘easy’ and that within a few days, she told him she was ‘making a fortune investing’ and asked him to join her. 

The scammer sent Williams a link to a platform, and over the next six months, he invested a staggering $1.6 million and could even see his money growing. 

At one point, he even handed over a bag of cash containing $110,000 to a ‘runner’ who he was told was working on behalf of Jenny.

But his son grew suspicious and did some digging

However, when Williams’ son learned about the interactions between him and ‘Jenny’, he grew suspicious and did a reverse image search on ‘Jenny’, where he discovered a bunch of different social media accounts using what looked like the same video that Williams had been sent. 

His son became convinced that the video used was made using AI, and even created his own clip of ‘Jenny’ to show his dad how easy it was to do.

“This is not the work of some super coder,” he explained.

“This took me three minutes on a site that didn’t even charge me to do it, and that’s super scary.” 

At this point, Williams accepted that he had become the victim of a scam and was left feeling ‘devastated’ and ‘stupid’. 

He reported the scam to the police and bravely decided to speak out to raise awareness. 

Here’s how to avoid falling victim to a scam

A detective from the NYPD Financial Crimes unit told NBC that AI is ‘supercharging scams’, and he’s not wrong.

Last year, a man in Ohio revealed he had been conned after seeing an AI video of Jelly Roll telling him he’d won a car.

But thankfully, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. 

Firstly, never invest or send any money to someone you haven’t met. 

The Federal Trade Commission recommends blocking unwanted calls and texts.

And urges people to never give out personal or financial information in response to an unexpected request, like a text or email out of the blue.

Also, never pay someone who insists on being paid via cryptocurrency, wire transfer services, or gift cards.

If in doubt, stop and talk to someone you trust, such as a family member or friend. 

And if you are the victim of a scammer, report it right away, so the police have the best chance of catching the criminals and clawing back your money.