Sir Richard Branson has a cybercrime problem. It costs victims millions of dollars and ruins the lives of ordinary people. But he’s not the author.
With an estimated net worth of $4.4 billion and an old business history, Branson’s familiar smile, knob and surprise blonde hair are, along with pop star Ed Sheeran, a popular celebrity face used in dubious scams to “get going fast,” according to the UK. National Cybersecurity Center.
Last week, Branson lent his to the NCSC in the war against money scams that used his symbol to pass “false” investment opportunities. The NCSC said more than 300,000 malicious URLs similar to fake celebrity-approved investment projects that use “simulated online press articles featuring the rich and famous” had been disposed of to “incentivize others to make fake investments.”
Branson said in a report that his team had “treated” “hundreds of times from fake sites and scammers posing as me or my online team,” and showed that it was partnering with the NCSC to remove misleading items. “Unfortunately, scams may not go away overnight, and I urge everyone to be vigilant and at all times check the addresses of official online pages and verified social media accounts,” Branson said.
The stories of Branson’s battles with cybercriminals have been described in the afterlife through Virgin’s founder as “straight out of an e-book by John le Carré or from a James Bond film.”
A story Branson published online in October 2017 tells how Virgin’s founder asked through then-British Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon to pay $5 million in ransom for a British diplomat who had been “kidnapped” and “arrested by terrorists.” “The con man “assured” Branson that the British government would “find a way” to pay him the $5 million.
Branson added in a blog post about the debacle: “The Sir Michael I spoke to looked precisely like Sir Michael, of course I’m cautious.” But it all turned out to be a scam.
Branson then called Whitehall and the scam turned out to be just that. Billionaire David Reuben also told Branson that he was also one of “the ones attacked by the thief posing as Sir Michael Fallon,” and Branson added, “Fortunately, David rightly suspected and the attempt failed.
On some other attempt, Branson wrote on his Virgin blog about a cleaner who approached him and thanked him for his “plan to get there fast.” The $300 the guy had invested were over $450, but, Branson writes, “before returning the $450, he had to send another $1,000.
“Pretending to be his uncle, I called the thief. ArrayArrayArray I said we’d send the $1,000, but first we’re looking for the $450 back. They refused to refund the money.
A Virgin Group spokesman told Forbes that the challenge began in 2017 “after a wave of bitcoin-related scams.” Since then, Branson’s team has been forced to react to the new truth of online scams.
Virgin warns that the latest scam is to use Branson’s face “for his credibility” and that he regularly accompanies a fake story that resembles that of CNN or the BBC. Other strategies involve copying Virgin websites. “Recently, we have noticed that criminals log in to internet sites with ‘virgin’ in the name. They then use those Internet sites to exploit email addresses in order to communicate with members of the public and clone genuine Virgin Group websites to give credibility to their scam. activities, ” said a Virgin director from the London office.
Some scams come from “sophisticated and reliable scammers,” Virgin’s spokesman adds, “individual targets are thoroughly decided, and criminals put in place meaningful preparation, involving phone calls, in which Richard can be tricked, to give authenticity.”
Branson wrote an online scam after the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in the British Virgin Islands in 2017, where a “very successful businessman” deceived through an “extremely accurate impression” of Branson when the businessman “tried to mobilize aid in the BVI.” “
Branson wrote in October 2017: “The businessman, incredibly graciously, gave $2 million, which temporarily disappeared,” and then added, “This one takes the cookie! In fact, I’m sorry that this incredibly kind and incredibly grateful guy is in a position to help us after the hurricane.
“If only your money had gone to the BVI population, to the criminals.
I’m a specialist journalist in Forbes, London, which covers the multimillion-dollar business, philanthropy, investment, taxes, generation and lifestyle. I studied at Goldsmiths,
I am a specialist journalist in Forbes, founded in London, covering the business of billionaires, philanthropy, investment, taxes, generation and lifestyle. I studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and joined Spear’s Magazine, where I covered everything from the Westminster bubble to the global realm of wealth management, personal banking, divorce law, election assets, taxes, generation and heritage. Notable examples come with a survey of Switzerland’s bilateral relations with the European Union and Via Bhutan, proving the thirst for democracy and love for its king. I joined Forbes in May 2019.