A Los Angeles woman was conned out of thousands of dollars, leading up to her selling her condominium, thanks to an AI-Generated video of “General Hospital” actor, Steve Burton.
In a report from ABC 7’s Eyewitness News, a woman by the name of Abigail was sent AI videos of Burton’s likeness, matching down to the voice, telling her that he loves her. Abigail would soon be under the impression that she was in a relationship with the soap actor. From there, the conversations would take place on WhatsApp, and these messages were exchanged between the two:
Abigail’s daughter, Vivian Ruvalcaba, said she wished she knew what her mother was up to sooner.
She tells ABC 7:
“I’m sickened by it because it went this far. Why didn’t I know this? Why didn’t I see what was happening? What did I miss?”
Ruvalcaba explained that her mother suffers from mental illness and bipolar depression. As the scammer would go on to tell Abigail that they lost their home during the L.A. wildfires, Abigail believed them. She would then soon give the scammer her entire life savings.
It would get worse after that. Ruvalcaba explained that Abigail sold her condo for $325,000, and $70,000 of this amount was to go to the scammer posing as Burton. Ruvalcaba fortunately was able to intervene before that exchange took place. Currently, both Abigail and Ruvalcaba are fighting with the courts to reverse the selling of her condo.
Burton spoke with ABC 7 regarding the latest situation and was shown the video of the AI likeness of him. He calls the latest in the wake of AI an epidemic:
“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,’ and you just see, It’s so sad, you see the devastation.”
Steve Burton has a verified Instagram account, and he explained once again that he will never solicit any of his fans for money.
