General Hospital’s Maurice Benard Eviscerates the Con Artist Who Rips Off $15k: ‘How Can You Live With Yourself?’

This is beyond horrifying and sad. 

Mobster Sonny Corinthos may be a lot of things (though we aren’t quite sure just what the mafia life entails for him) but even he has a conscience. And that, as General Hospital’s Maurice Benard just reminded us, is sadly far more than we can say about a lot of folks in real life.

The actor took to his Instagram stories to bring to light a truly despicable scam and call out the monster who’s been ruining lives. And no, that isn’t an exaggeration.

“I was just asked if I had been talking to someone’s mother,” Benard began, which sounds innocent enough. But he hadn’t been speaking to anyone. Someone was just pretending to be him and the mother this fake Benard was talking to “already spent $15,000. I gotta tell you, these scammers, whatever they’re called, whatever it is, wherever they are: How can you live with yourself, ripping people off?”

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If you’re feeling enraged after reading that, you aren’t alone. That is a truly stunning amount of money. To impersonate an actor and take advantage of fans is beyond the pale — especially right now, as the real Benard pointed out.

“You know, a lot of people are having hard times right now,” he continued, “and you’re sitting there taking money from people who can’t pay their rent, food, gas. I don’t know. Anyway, I feel so bad.”

It would be nice to think this had a happy ending, but unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot Benard can do to stop this from happening. That’s up to us.

Keep an eye on your loved ones and check in with them, especially if they’re older and more easily confused. There are too many people out there all too happy to take advantage of them, with absolutely no regard for anything beyond their own greed.

As you check in on your loved ones, take a look at our photo gallery of the soap stars with their own, beloved mothers.