this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
461 points (98.9% liked)

Not The Onion

18971 readers
1682 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/56223456

George Hendricks, a 69-year-old from Leesburg, a suburb of Orlando, told ClickOrlando he lost $45,000 after a scammer targeted him with a deepfake video of Musk. Deepfakes are digitally-altered videos often used to impersonate notable public figures.

Now, Hendricks tells the outlet that his wife “wants to get a divorce” over the scam.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 79 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (32 children)

She's right: she lives with a dumbass.

I've never understood this "old people are vulnerable" thing (not to mention that 69 ain't that old): even if the scam is really good, at some point the mark is asked to make a large amount of money flow out of their bank account: anybody with the good sense the good lord gave to donkeys would have alarm bells ringing loudly between their ears. Everybody I've met in my life reacts like that.

I might understand if the scanner impersonates a close family member really well - although if one of my children started asking me large sums of money, I would get suspicious because... well, they just don't. But Elon Musk? That guy ain't a victim, he's a moron.

[–] tgcoldrockn@lemmy.world 105 points 3 days ago (21 children)

You might be surprised about this, but as people age, so do their brains. They do not function as well and sometimes develop serious issues. Stop assuming everyone has the same resources to work with. Protect the vulnerable from bad actors.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And yet we let them vote and run the country.

We can't even agree to revalidate their driving ability because that would be disrespectful.

They don't get to have it both ways.

[–] CXORA@aussie.zone 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Stupid young people are allowed to vote too. And for good reason. Tying ability to vote to a check of capability is easily, and historically broadly, abused

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Stupid people of all ages are allowed to vote. We're specifically talking about diminished mental capacity.

[–] SaintNyx@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

That's exactly what he's saying. How do you test for "diminished capacity" we've had arbitrary tests like that in the USA before. It didn't go well for certain "types" of people. It's a very slippery slope. That's why it's a right for for all citizens, even if they are dumber than a potato. Creating an arbitrary age limitation introduces a new landmine no politician in their right mind wants to step on.

[–] CXORA@aussie.zone 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And is stupidity not within that category?

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

No, stupidity is the absence of something that was never there.

Even a stupid person can experience cognitive decline.

load more comments (19 replies)
load more comments (29 replies)