Tag: phishing scam

“Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran was taken for nearly $400,000 after her office was the victim of a phishing scam out of China.

One small typo was all the difference.

According to TMZ, an email chain was forwarded to Barbara’s bookkeeper that appeared to show the reality TV star’s executive assistant saying that Barbara had approved a $388,700.11 payment to a company called FFH Concept GmbH in Germany. However, the email didn’t come from her executive assistant, but rather from an email that looked just like it.

The bookkeeper asked the standard questions, and all the answers seems to line up with Barbara’s real estate dealings in Germany. However, the bookkeeper didn’t notice that the scammers changed the assistant’s email address by removing one letter, so unbeknownst to her, they were the ones actually communicating.

TMZ reports that the bookkeeper sent off the requested wire payment to the account listed in the original email. Afterward, she messaged the assistant at her real email. It was then that they discovered they had been victimized.

Barbara’s team traced the original scam emails back to a Chinese IP address. Her attorney’s are now looking into the matter, but it appears that the money is gone.

Article via Wonderwall