Billionaire Richard Branson was targeted for $5 million dollar scam by a man who was pretending to by British Secretary of Defense, Sir Michael Fallon. [Courtesy of Richard Branson / Instagram]
Richard Branson, an adventurous British investor, has a net worth of $5 billion. He built his Virgin empire from a Virgin record that was a mail order record service. Branson was also knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2000 for his service in entrepreneurship.
Even the billionaire like Branson is not safe from scammers apparently. Branson recently shared his story on his blog of being targeted for million dollar scams.
Branson said that his assistant received a letter that "appeared to be official government notepaper" from British Secretary of Defense Sir Michael Fallon. He was requesting for an "urgent" phone call.
Branson immediately called the number that was on the note. The man who answered the call said "it was an incredibly sensitive matter" and "wanted to make sure there was nobody else in the room whilst" they talked.
The man who introduced himself as Sir Michale Fallon said that "a British diplomat had been kidnapped and was being held by terrorists."
He went on and explained how the government could not pay out the ransom and it is prohibited by the law. Therefore he was requesting Branson's help paying off the ransom of $5 million. Sir Fallon assured Branson that "the government would find a way of paying back."
The cautious billionaire told the man that he is cautious of the matter as there had been many reported cases of scams. The man told Branson he understood and if he can send his team to meet his secretary at the Whitehall. However, when Branson directly called Sir Michael Fallon to his office, he was shocked to find out that real Secretary of Defense made no such call to him.
Branson dodged being scammed. However, he shared his story of his friend who was not as fortunate as he.
According to Branson, his friend who is a successful businessman in the U.S. was scammed by a person who was pretending to be Branson. The scammer asked for $2 million to help out people in the British Virgin Islands who were stricken by a hurricane. His friend eventually fell for the scam and paid out the requested $2 million to help.
However, his generosity was only paid out to a "conman" as Branson put it. Branson warned his fellow friends who are millionaires and billionaires that they are not safe from these scammers. He also requested for information to trace the conman who scammed $2 million from his friend.
Kwak, Min Jung = abiel@ajunews.com
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