Richard Branson's friend conned out of $2M after hurricane Irma

[audreyh1]

Richard Branson, whose place was hard hit by hurricane Irma in the BVI, was off grid for a while. And when he came back on, discovered that a friend had loaned $2M to an impersonator.

Branson found out about the heist when he got back online after the storm. A "very successful businessperson" friend of Branson's wrote asking when he could expect to be repaid the money he had lent Branson to help the British Virgin Islands recover after Irma.

"I had no idea what they were talking about," Branson says in his blog.

Branson thinks it was the same conman who tried to get $5M out of him six months ago, impersonating a British Government official. Branson reached out to the official through independent channels to verify, and uncovered the hoax.

Branson says he expects the conman is the same individual who had tried to steal $5 million from him six months ago. In that situation, Branson's assistant received a written request "on what appeared to be official government notepaper" for a call from a British official.

......

Branson was suspicious and called Sir Michael's office to confirm the legitimacy of the request. The governmental official informed Branson that he had not called making a request and nobody had been kidnapped. The call and request for $5 million was a hoax. He informed the police of the attempted con, Branson says.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/a-c...d-branson-during-hurricane-irma-recovery.html

 

[Senator]

A fool and their money are soon parted. It must be nice to have so much money that you can just trust someone to send that much money to them.

I bet many more people were conned out of $5 and $20... And it added up to as lot more than $2M.

 

[easysurfer]

Poor friend. I think the proper term for Richard Branson's friend is "a fat pigeon" .

 

[marko]

So, someone the likes of Branson, Gates, Bezos or Musk asks you for a loan. A loan?

And you're not wondering that maybe there's something going on?

 

[Sunset]

Oh, no are you saying Gates won't be paying me back...

 

[marko]

Oh, no are you saying Gates won't be paying me back...

Gates will pay you back. The guy who SAYS he's Gates won't be.