Promising Infusions of Cash, Fake Investor John Bernard Walked Away With $30M
Summary: A convicted UK fraudster named John Clifton Davies, operating under the pseudonym John Bernard, posed as a billionaire Swiss investor and fleeced dozens of technology companies out of an estimated $30 million by promising investments and then requiring upfront due diligence fees paid to a Swiss firm, Inside Knowledge, that he secretly owned. Victims who participated in the due diligence process handed over detailed information about their finances, bank accounts and security processes, and some used Bernard's Secure Swiss Data software to store documents for the process.
Why it matters: The due diligence fees were the product, but the financial and security details companies surrendered to get them are the real exposure - and one victim reportedly paid over $1 million before the deal collapsed.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Fraud & Scams
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