A Los Angeles woman was reportedly duped out of more than $81,000 by a scammer using AI-generated videos of “General Hospital” star Steve Burton.
Abigail Ruvalcaba sent money through prepaid cards, cash and bitcoin after being conned into believing the actor lost properties in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, ABC7 News reported Thursday.
Abigail even sold her LA condo for $350,000 and planned to give the funds to the con artist until her daughter, Vivian Ruvalcaba, stepped in.
“Had I not intervened when I did, she was scheduled to send the scammer $70,000 out of that money that was sitting there,” Vivian shared.
Abigail believed she was in a relationship with Burton after she started receiving AI clips of the actor’s likeness professing his love for her.
In one of the messages shared by the outlet, the deep-fake version of Burton is seen telling Abigail: “Hello, Abigail. I love you so much, darling. I had to make this video to make you happy, my love.”
Vivian told the outlet that her mother suffers from bipolar 1 disorder and was in a manic episode when she began getting messages from the scammer last October.
“Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings. These include emotional highs, also known as mania or hypomania, and lows, also known as depression,” according to the Mayo Clinic. In certain cases, mania “may cause a break from reality.”
“In her head, there was no scammer. She was talking to Steve Burton the entire time,” Vivian said.
Abigail is now “in complete debt” due to the calculated scheme and is “going to have to file for bankruptcy,” according to her daughter.
“She’s ashamed and to put that stress on me, on herself, on my dad, the entire family, I know it weighs heavy on her,” Vivian continued.
Vivian teared up as she emotionally told the outlet that she was “sickened” by the ordeal.
“I’m sickened by it because why did it go this far? Why didn’t I know this? Why didn’t I see what was happening? What did I miss?” she said.
Burton — who has starred as Jason Morgan on “General Hospital” since 1991 — also talked to the outlet, confirming that he’s unfortunately seen this type of con using his likeness play out many times before.
“That I know of who have lost money, it’s in the hundreds. It’s in the hundreds,” Burton said. “I see people come to my appearances and look at me like they’ve had a relationship online for a couple years and I’m like, ‘No, I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are.’ It’s so sad, you see the devastation.”
He also cautioned his fans to be wary of similar scams, saying: “I don’t need your money. I would never ask for money.”
A similar romantic scam was reported in January after a French woman coughed up $850,000 to someone on social media posing as Brad Pitt.
The interior designer named Anne gave the fake Pitt her life’s savings after she was duped by AI images into believing Pitt was sick in the hospital and needed help paying his bills.
She realized she had been deceived by scammers after she saw reports of Pitt’s ongoing relationship with Ines de Ramon.