PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — An 82-year-old woman in Ponte Vedra Beach is asking for the community’s help after she was scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Facebook scheme that leveraged AI to pull off the fraud.
Maurine Meleck doesn’t have family near her Ponte Vedra Beach apartment, aside from her 28-year-old grandson Josh, whom she has raised since he was six.
She said the lack of local connections and support has led to her spending a lot of time online, including on social media sites like Facebook.
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“And I came across what I thought at the time was a doctor that I really admired,” said Meleck.
She came across the page last October, and it appeared to belong to a well-known doctor in the autism community.
“He talked. It was his voice, his picture messaging, you know?” said Meleck.
The imposter AI doctor warned Meleck of an impending stock market crash and offered her an investment opportunity.
“Living by myself and being at home and not having anybody else to refer to, is this good, bad, or whatever, I just went ahead and did it,” said Meleck.
Within a matter of months, she’d lost nearly $200,000.
It wasn’t until she spoke with a friend about her situation that she realized she’d been scammed out of the money - Money she’d saved to ensure her grandson Josh is taken care of when she’s gone.
“I was upset that I had lost the money that I had been saving for him. I was very angry with myself, very. Punished myself. I don’t know, I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep,” said Meleck.
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She filed a police report with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office last month, but at this point, she’s not optimistic she’ll ever get her money back.
Her friend set up a GoFundMe in hopes the community will come together and help Meleck get back some of what she lost.
And Meleck hopes her story serves as a warning to others.
“Whether you’re raising a child with autism or are just living by yourself. I mean, a lot of elderly just live on social security. That’s all the money that they have,” said Meleck.
If you want to help, you can donate to Meleck’s GoFundMe.
The State of Florida is also stepping up its efforts to combat senior scams.
Last month, Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins announced the creation of a Senior Shield Task Force and the launch of the state’s new Senior Shield website, where you can sign up to receive scam alerts and report scams yourself.
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