“Shark Tank” judge Barbara Corcoran is “thrilled” about getting back nearly $400,000 after it was stolen in an elaborate email scam.
Corcoran said last week that a phishing scam swindled her out of $388,700. The scammer tricked her bookkeeper into wiring the money by using an email address that was similar to her assistant’s, requesting a payment for a renovation.
The millionaire investor said in a statement Monday that she had “already accepted” that she had lost the money and “moved on.”
“I really thought it was a goner,” she said.
In a twist of good fortune, she said that the German-based bank the bookkeeper used to wire the money froze the transfer before it was deposited into the scammer’s bank account in China. Corcoran said her bank asked the German bank to freeze the transaction so her team could prove it was a fraud.
More than 114,000 people reported being a victim of that type of scam last year. Together they reported nearly $60 million in losses, according to the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report.
Phishing attacks are common methods of stealing usernames, passwords and money. Hackers pretend to be a trustworthy source to convince you to share personal data. To be safe, it’s important to make sure the sender is authentic before clicking on a link.
