Professional phishing - personal experience

In addition, there are harmful processes where the fraudsters are targeting business owners. Sometimes it's about an alleged succession solution, sometimes someone wants to "invest massively" in order to aggressively target the market with "innovative products" for more turnover and profit.

Attackers often refer to existing publications in SME or finance portals where a patron is actually looking for a succession plan or capital. This was also the case with us. On the one hand, we were advertised on Credit Suisse Opportunty-Net and also on a well-known finance portal. That's what I was referring to in this specific case:

The websites of such advertisers are very professionally done, and only the trained eye will notice that something has been screwed up here and there, be it grammatically or visually or links that lead to nirvana. Often the "investors", who speak perfect German, also appear in online meetings, send preliminary contracts, but then interpose their "head hunter", who is paid a commission of CHF 200,000 (variable depending on the investment amount, often 10 to 12 percent). And preferably with Bitcoin. In the investment sector, this is called a "retainer".

We at iQcom went to extremes this time with one of these "investors", then got a Slovenian identity card to match the contract, Mr. Ludwig Heinemann was actually listed in various commercial registers in London and Slovenia as the sole shareholder, but you could also see the capital outflows shortly after the foundation. The website had marginal errors in wording, presentation and linking, also with the portfolio references.

Listed reference properties for investments made in the real estate sector in mountain/ski areas and hotel residences could not be verified, as although the photos existed, the properties or companies behind them had different names. Someone answered the phone at a hotel complex for luxury "second homes" in an unknown Austrian ski resort, but the owner knew nothing about these investors. (Google Street View helped)

Involved in some of the mails was also a company: Sop-Invest SARL in Belgium, it was that of Mr. Kahn.
After two scheduled meetings at our company could not be realized for some reason, although they had been confirmed shortly beforehand, we actually wanted to shelve the matter. But things often turn out differently than you think.

They called us and said they wanted to somehow make up for the time that had passed and get straight to the point that they had really decided to invest with us and therefore wanted to meet as soon as possible to speed things up. They would come to us in Kerns.

However, the original term of 3-5 years offered by iQcom was not acceptable to Immofinanzinvest s.r.o. They were aiming for at least 7-10 years, on the grounds that they were profit-oriented and liked to invest for the long term, and also proposed a lower interest rate of 5%.

They suggested a hotel nearby as a meeting point, where we were then also asked to bring the commission for Mr. Kahn, the 200,000 francs in a suitcase, repeating once again that they would prefer Bitcoin because it would be safer for everyone involved. Alternatively, a bank transfer would also be an option.

We took the matter to the extreme, called in a lawyer, who then had a briefcase ready with CHF 200,000. The law firm was informed of our assessment and they went along with it. We even informed the FedPol and the NDB and offered to help them catch the people behind such ominous transactions in flagrante delicto. We transmitted quite a lot of information as a summary in a voice message to the case.

There was no response from either service. So we went it alone. We prepared everything so that the Slovenian company "Immofinanzinvest s.r.o" could invest CHF 2 million in iQcom's energy division. CHF 200,000, deposited in a suitcase with the lawyer and invited for notarization with lunch.

They went for it. So we giggled and took care of the contracts. Four days before the meeting, we received an e-mail asking if the lady from a bank in Lugano (UBS AG) with cc in the e-mail could represent Mr. Kahn at the meeting, as Mr. Kahn, as the beneficiary, was staying in Dubai longer than planned. Of course, they would have preferred the meeting to take place in a hotel, where the 200,000 would have been counted by hand (preferably without supervision). Of course, for understandable reasons, we suggested an appointment at the law firm under "legal supervision" with the lady representing Mr. Kahn, which would also be an opportunity to get to know each other personally and to discuss the market opportunities in Slovenia. This in turn met with approval.

The UBS lady then actually wrote back that although she could confirm on the spot that the amount to be paid was available, she was not a legal representative on behalf of the investors, of course she knew Mr. Kahn, and that this would have to be arranged additionally with a power of attorney if necessary. Our law firm then said on the phone that the power of attorney would have to be organized by the other party, which is what we told the "contributors".

Our tactic was that the lady, as agreed, could wait in the office until the SWIFT transaction of CHF 2 million on our account was confirmed by our bank, and she could then take home with the CHF 200,000 brokerage fee for the venerable Mr. Kahn, who is still up to his "mischief" today, against signature and with a notarial deed, for her "client".

The construct now looked like this:

For Immofinanz Invest s.r.o,:

• Shareholder Mr. Ludwig Heinemann
• Managing Director Mr. Felix Hager

The good headhunter and his accountant

• Mr. Kahn, the man with a fine nose for lucrative investments (recipient of the CHF 200,000 retainer)
• Mr. Abdabi, Mr. Kahn's accountant, who makes sure that the contracts and the financials are in order
• Plus the UBS client advisor at a branch in Lugano.

God, how we were looking forward to this date! But of course we knew it would never happen.

One day before the appointment at the law firm, we received a call from the amiable CEO of Immofinanz Invest s.r.o, Mr. Hager, that he had been lying flat in bed since yesterday morning and that his doctor had certified him with corona. Instead of the lady driving to the appointment alone, he suggested a personal meeting in Milan, Italy, after his recovery, as it was closer to Slovenia, and Mr. Kahn would certainly be back from Dubai next week and he would certainly be fit again by then.

We struck. And that was the point where we brought the matter to the attention of a FedPol employee and an NDB employee. We also mentioned that the name "Kahn" had become a victim of this Mr. Kahn and Mr. Hager in a current fraud case involving a well-known hotelier in Lucerne - who had been shaken by the Corona period and had only recently carried out an expensive renovation of his hotel. The amount of the offense: also 200,000 francs. There was no feedback on this, neither from FedPol nor from the FIS.

We did it anyway, and our dear Guido took the express train from Basel to Milan for a meeting with Mr. Kahn and Mr. Hager, the conversation was recorded. Of course, Mr. Kahn had come alone to the meeting in Milan because Mr. Hager had not yet recovered from his coronavirus illness.

During the meeting, Mr. Kahn tried several times to get Guido to transfer the money to him in Bitcoin. That would have settled the matter for him. He was happy to do this on the spot and slipped Guido a business card with his Bitcoin QR code across the table.

Guido of course said no, but offered to reschedule the appointment after Mr. Hager's recovery in the office. He also let Mr. Kahn know that we weren't actually in such a hurry to get this done, as we were also listed in the Credit Suisse Opportunity Net and institutional providers had also expressed interest.

Another meeting never took place. Although there were efforts on the part of the "investors", it was clear to us from the outset that it was a scam. We got involved in the game to find out more about the machinations and the people behind it. The name of Mr. Abdabi, supposedly Mr. Kahn's accountant, appeared in the emails from time to time.

Communication was exclusively via VoIP numbers, which were sometimes inactive, as well as WhatsApp and email. At some point, Mr. Hager decided to take himself out until the retainer with Mr. Kahn was settled. The IP addresses were sometimes from Austria, sometimes from Slovenia, sometimes from Italy and sometimes from the Seychelles. Mr. Kahn, on the other hand, only used Whatsapp. He never replied to emails.

This pattern alone should set alarm bells ringing.

However, it must be clearly stated that the approach and presentation is so professional that it would not even catch the eye of a normal businessman. And ultimately, such criminals target their victims in the virtues of need, greed and lust.

For us, it was a not inconsiderable effort that we indulged in for fun. To get to the bottom of how something like this works.

After it somehow did not work out with various appointments, the managing director, Felix Hager, contacted us again by e-mail and telephone to complain about these unfortunate circumstances and that, since we were not Bitcoin-savvy, the matter could alternatively be settled with a bank guarantee that should be deposited irrevocably with Immofinanz Invest s.r.o.. However, despite all our good relationships, our bank did not play along.

Nevertheless, we let the gentlemen know that we could do this with the bank guarantee, at a cooperative bank, and that their beneficiary bank would then have ten days to complete the formalities. However, we insisted that the costs for this should be shared equally. Mr. Hager then said that we could discuss the costs over dinner, that we would certainly come to an agreement, and that he would now clarify the whole thing with Mr. Kahn and let us know by phone the next day.

After eight days without hearing anything, I tried to reach Mr. Hager by phone. No connection under this number. I then emailed him and informed him that something was wrong with his VoIP connection (as a system architect for a VoIP company) and played the naive. He called back and said that he had had a very long conversation with Mr. Kahn and that it was a stalemate. He was fed up with this constant back and forth. Either Bitcoin for him, or he would leave it alone. And as the managing director of Immofinanz Invest s.r.o., he is personally fed up with this because the bank guarantee is a clean deal. He would try to appease Mr. Kahn and then get back to him...

After another two weeks, the homepage was deleted, the e-mails went nowhere and the Whatsapp account was also deleted, as was the Telegram account. Nobody could be reached on the phone number either. After another four months, the number reappeared on both Whatsapp and Telegram, and the author of these lines had fun writing to Mr. Kahn from a mobile number in the Middle East, saying that they had met last spring, and because of the investment project (another fantasy property in the real estate sector, and in response to the salutation: "Hello Mr. Kahn, how are you? Kahn, how are you? long time no see, here is XY, we got granted all necessary permits to start the building in approx 3 months", came back: "Hi XY, nice to hear that, I am fine thanks. Can you please share more details, I have so many things going on, I lost track... but still interested"

Notes:

The contacts with the aforementioned services were made during the Legal Interception Day 2017, where all providers of telecommunications solutions participate and exchange information in the context of supporting law enforcement authorities in illegal activities. Please also refer to our "Transparency Report". Available in the footer of our website.