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Man stole $122m from FB & Google by sending them bills.....which they paid.

Xeon

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socaldude

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I'm sure there is a lot more to this than what is being told.

Thing is federal cases are sealed, so not anybody can just view the complaint and evidence that was used in this case.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Pretty ingenious. Usually someone with this level of detail and ingenuity could succeed in an honest business, always confuses me why they go to the dishonest route. My guess is the emotional thrill of winning the deception.
 

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Pretty ingenious. Usually someone with this level of detail and ingenuity could succeed in an honest business, always confuses me why they go to the dishonest route. My guess is the emotional thrill of winning the deception.
Probably selling a product that you didn't create yourself 100% (aka Bill Gates to IBM style) or in an industry you don't know much about (Jack Ma with no coding skills) would be the middle part of the honesty-deception paradigm.
 
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lludwig

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Probably selling a product that you didn't create yourself 100% (aka Bill Gates to IBM style) or in an industry you don't know much about (Jack Ma with no coding skills) would be the middle part of the honesty-deception paradigm.

Maybe SEO Consulting?
 

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Usually someone with this level of detail and ingenuity could succeed in an honest business, always confuses me why they go to the dishonest route. My guess is the emotional thrill of winning the deception.

It says he's a renowned money launderer, so my bet is that he started small, got good at it, and now this is where his comfort lies.

He could probably do very well legally, but this was likely a path of least resistance, given his experience.

I'm sure there is a lot more to this than what is being told.

The article says he had to forge a bunch of stuff to make this work - spoof email exchanges, exec docs, approvals, etc...

This story is going around making it sound like he simply sent bills to these companies that got paid. The reality is he forged a paper trail that made these bills look non-suspicious.

Really the only reason it worked was because it passed the sniff test from the people in accounts payable. You usually don't go double check every order when you see your boss's approval right there in the email string or other forms of faked proof that came with these things.
 

MJ DeMarco

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The article says he had to forge a bunch of stuff to make this work - spoof email exchanges, exec docs, approvals, etc...

Yes, he endured a pretty rigorous process to pull it off. This was no event-driven scam ... "gee I'll just make a few bills and send 'em over to Google." A shame such a process couldn't be focused on legit endeavors...
 

Surf16

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I'm sure there is a lot more to this than what is being told.

Thing is federal cases are sealed, so not anybody can just view the complaint and evidence that was used in this case.
Totally random but I like your profile pic @socaldude ! We go to Cabo all the time and love it.
 
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Real Deal Denver

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You usually don't go double check every order when you see your boss's approval right there in the email string or other forms of faked proof that came with these things.

Holy macaroni, I can't believe how stupid these companies are. I got a puter, so I'm sending em some bills right now!

In reality, a merely ACCEPTABLE accounting system has POs. Purchase orders. Nothing gets paid unless it has a PO - and it better match up exactly. When the PO is paid, it's marked paid, so it does not get paid again.

Chit. I knew this stuff in 5th grade. My Dad had a business that I would go to on weekends with him. I picked up knowledge here and there over time.

Gotta go - my printer just finished printing out 100 fake invoices. I'm gonna be rich this time next week!
 

ExaltedLife

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Probably selling a product that you didn't create yourself 100% (aka Bill Gates to IBM style) or in an industry you don't know much about (Jack Ma with no coding skills) would be the middle part of the honesty-deception paradigm.

This makes no sense
 

Brian Fleig

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I owned a staffing business years ago billing hospitals for labor. It occurred to me then that it would be easy to submit fake bills. Step one is knowing your target industry's threshold for kicking the invoice to a second level for scrutiny/approval vs paying at the clerk level.
Back in the 80's in FL I remember a guy who was generating fake bills for $10 each and sending them to everyone in the phone book. He got rich... Then busted lol
 
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ZF Lee

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This makes no sense
Let me explain...

If you can sell a product, of course you are filling a need.

However, if you don't have the product at the present moment, and haven't settled the supply details yet, of course there's a risk it could fall apart and you cannot deliver on your word.

That's why it lends both from the good (deliver product directly, the regular way) and the bad (selling the vision before giving the real thing)
 

The Legend

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It says he's a renowned money launderer, so my bet is that he started small, got good at it, and now this is where his comfort lies.

He could probably do very well legally, but this was likely a path of least resistance, given his experience.



The article says he had to forge a bunch of stuff to make this work - spoof email exchanges, exec docs, approvals, etc...

This story is going around making it sound like he simply sent bills to these companies that got paid. The reality is he forged a paper trail that made these bills look non-suspicious.

Really the only reason it worked was because it passed the sniff test from the people in accounts payable. You usually don't go double check every order when you see your boss's approval right there in the email string or other forms of faked proof that came with these things.
I reckon he probably had INSIDERS within the two companies, to execute the way he did.
 

ExaltedLife

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Let me explain...

If you can sell a product, of course you are filling a need.

However, if you don't have the product at the present moment, and haven't settled the supply details yet, of course there's a risk it could fall apart and you cannot deliver on your word.

That's why it lends both from the good (deliver product directly, the regular way) and the bad (selling the vision before giving the real thing)

There's a key difference between selling something you intend to and can deliver and selling something you don't. It isn't a spectrum.
 
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