A Los Angeles woman has lost her entire life savings after falling victim to a sophisticated scam involving AI-generated videos of General Hospital star Steve Burton.
Abigail Ruvalcaba says she was convinced she was in a romantic relationship with Burton after receiving deepfake videos and numerous messages from scammers posing as the longtime soap actor.
“I thought I was in love,” Ruvalcaba told KTLA. “I thought we were going to have a good life together.”
According to KABC, the scammers initially contacted her through Facebook Messenger before moving the conversation to WhatsApp, where they manipulated her into sending them staggering amounts of money. Ruvalcaba says she first wired over $81,000, and when the fake Burton claimed his house had burned down, she went as far as selling her family’s condo — handing over the $350,000 proceeds to the scammer.
Her daughter Vivian says the family is now fighting to undo the financial devastation. “Now she’s in complete debt, and now she’s going to have to file for bankruptcy,” Vivian told KABC. The family is suing to reverse the sale of the condo, which has already been flipped to another owner.
One of the scammer’s messages even painted a romantic future together. “The beach house is something we will love, baby,” the fake Burton allegedly wrote.
KTLA reports that Ruvalcaba may now have to leave her family home. Vivian explained that her mother, who has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, believed the elaborate lies, including that the actor needed financial help after his home was destroyed.
When shown one of the AI videos sent to Ruvalcaba, Burton himself admitted, “Sounds like my voice for sure, 100%.”
The General Hospital star, who has played Jason Morgan since 1991, had previously warned fans on social media about scams involving fake accounts and impersonators — but for Ruvalcaba, the damage has already been done.
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Whoever is to blame needs ti be imprisoned for life. Sent from my iPhone
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This happened to me when I made a comment about how much I loved a Canadian show called d,”Hudson and Rex”. I knew it was a scam when he asked me to go to his private email so we could speak privately. This old lady id no dummy!
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I wrote a book for children “Beautiful Angels of Mine” and I get calls all the time about selling it to be used for Faith Formation in the Catholic Church. Another one told Amazon sent 19 books to a radio star and it would cost $1,200 to advertise it on her show. Wrote to her and she never heard of the person. I check with “Writer Beware” now before sending any money. Also, got call for making “True Love Grows in Brooklyn” again say it will cost nothing then after three days will say Cost $4,000 and they will pay $2,000 and want me to pay $2,000. Have reported many to fraud department. Not even sure if I get paid from Amazon for all books they sell.
This is an INTERPOL issue as these scammers use people inside the United States to scam mostly elderly persons. Mail drops in the United states and money sent to the criminals in the form of GIFT CARDS or Bitcoin / untracable money is how they do it.