Wednesday, March 29, 2023

A Florida charter school principal wrote a $100,000 check to an internet scammer posing as Elon Musk, says she's "very smart" and was "groomed"

CBS:

A-rated with just under 1,000 students and a huge waiting list. The principal who has guided it all these years is a superstar in many circles, but a huge lapse in judgment has cost her her job.

“I am a very smart lady. Well-educated. I fell for a scam,” [she] said.

[She] told a packed audience she was taken in by a fake Elon Musk, someone posing online as the space pioneer. Someone she'd been talking with for at least four months despite being warned by staff that the person was a fraud. She claims he groomed her.

...

Fortunately, the school's business manager...got wind and stopped the check before it cleared.

*Previously: The CEO and chief operating officer of Texas’s largest charter school network were fired after a financial audit