After giving up hope that she would ever see the nearly $400,000 that was stolen from her in a phishing attack, Shark Tank co-host Barbara Corcoran learned that there was a happy ending to her story.
The 70-year-old real estate entrepreneur says that the German bank that was used for the wire transfer of $388,700.11 that a scammer duped one of her assistants into sending has frozen the money before it went through to Asia.
‘I’m thrilled!’ Corcoran told Page Six on Friday.
Barbara Corcoran has been cheated of nearly $400,000 in a phishing scam. Last week fraudsters instructed her bookkeeper to forward funds to a company they claimed was designing a building in which she’d invested
Corcoran’s accountant thought the email address belonged to her assistant as it was so similar
‘I had already accepted it and moved on. Everyone told me I wouldn’t get the money back and it just seems unbelievable!
‘I really thought it was a goner!’ she told Page Six.
Corcoran was cheated out of the money after a phishing scam instructed her bookkeeper to forward funds to fraudsters.
Last week, her accountant Christine received an email chain that appeared to include her assistant Emily’s details.
In the bogus email, impostors instructed Christine to pay $388,700.11 to a company named FFH Concept GmbH in Germany.
Corcoran told DailyMail TV on Wednesday that the scam cost her business dearly because it was ‘so simple and so well-executed’.
The scheme was pulled off using an email address that was identical except for one character.
In the communication, Christine is seen replying asking who the money is for.
The scammers tell her that FFH – a real company – is designing apartments in which the TV star has invested.
On Tuesday, Christine wired the funds to the account listed on the email.
Corcoran’s team only realized what had happened after Christine emailed Emily at her real address and the assistant suspected something was wrong.
Emily then noticed her email address was incorrect in the previous chain.
Corcoran described the attack as a ‘hit and run’, with the entire scam involving ‘only five emails’.
Corcoran told Daily Mail TV that the scam was ‘so simple and so well-executed’ which is why it cost her company dearly
Corcoran said her company had been targeted by a similar scam around six months ago and she believes they ‘came back for a second shot’
Her team had traced the IP address back to a ‘Chinese outfit’, which she also believes was the perpetrator of the previous attack. ‘It was a beautifully executed scam by a Chinese outfit – I suspect it was the same one that tried the first time,’ she said
The self-labelled ‘NYC Real Estate Queen’ spoke of her embarrassment over being conned out of the cash.
‘Is it more painful losing the money or is it more painful being embarrassed? I was going to say more painful being embarrassed but that’s not true. It’s painful losing money for no reason whatsoever,’ Corcoran said in an interview with DailyMail TV.
She said she felt ‘sick to my stomach, almost like how could that happen?
‘Is this really true? It is like finding out a guy is having an affair.’
She added that her team was familiar with how scams work but the fraudsters had managed to trick them because they ‘played on the card of trust’ between them.
It was critical that she reassured staff members caught up in it as soon as the scam came to light, Corcoran said.
‘First thing I told the staff member was not to worry and it’s water under the bridge. She is very responsible and I knew she was going to be sickened and feel responsible,’ Corcoran said.
‘I suppose there’s a sucker born in every crowd and today I’m that sucker,’ she said.
Corcoran revealed to DailyMail TV that her company had also been targeted by a separate scam around six months before to the attack.
‘I was almost scammed about six months ago for a little bit more money than that and we caught it as we were about to wire the transfer… so I should know better,’ she said.
Her team had traced the IP address back to a ‘Chinese outfit’, which she also believes was the perpetrator of the previous attack.
‘It was a beautifully executed scam by a Chinese outfit – I suspect it was the same one that tried the first time,’ she said.
‘They came back for a second shot.’
Corcoran’s attorneys are considering their next steps.
However, she said there is little chance she will get the money back.
Corcoran appeared in good spirits outside the Good Morning America studios in New York City earlier on Tuesday. She may not have heard about the scam by then
Corcoran appeared in good spirits as she spoke to DailyMail TV about her podcast ‘Business Unusual’ on Tuesday.
She spoke about what makes a good entrepreneur in business.
‘Every entrepreneur is different,’ she said. ‘The best entrepreneurs are self driven.’
Corcoran said that the best entrepreneurs ‘ignore’ her advice ‘as they listen to their own counsel’.
The ‘worst’ are those that ‘take out their notepad’ because they are ‘looking for a secret formula of how to succeed’.
Corcoran also appeared on the Tamron Hall Show to give advice about being a ‘lady boss’ that morning, and was pictured waving to crowds outside the Good Morning America studios in New York City.
Before Corcoran appeared on Shark Tank, she sold her Corcoran real estate company for $66million.
She started the group in the 1970s with just $1,000 and let it go in 2001.