HN Explorer

What scam is Denis trying to pull?

8 points by danman01 ↗ HN
We've all got the email recently, and I'm wondering...what does someone do with the information he is requesting? Well, a friend was lured into responding to denis. To start, here's the message Denis sent (have you also gotten it?)

From: Denis Alexender <denis.alexender@gmail.com> Subject: Important Connection

Hi there,

Just came across your company website, I work with Investors in various sectors who are open for new Investment opportunities; Wondering if you are looking to raise Capital or if you need access to Mentors / Advisors?

Appreciate if you can connect me with right person in your management & If he/she could drop me quick note with contact info; I would be happy to help

Best Regards, -Denis

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So my friend Michelle replied and said "Yes we are looking for mentors and money, let's keep in touch" or something along those lines.

Denis responded again with:

From: From: Denis Alexender <denis.alexender@gmail.com> Subject: Thank you for connecting

Thank you for connecting & your email is important to me. How ever, I have been swamped lately & my response times are longer than usual.

If your company is raising Capital or looking for Advisors, Faster way to get my attention would be forwarding your pitch deck with 1 page summary.

Best Regards, -Denis

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SO he wants a pitch deck and one page summary. And then what? We didn't take the bait further.

6 comments

[ 6.2 ms ] story [ 27.0 ms ] thread
slater
First guess, s/he's trying to steal your idea. Heck, if you've gotten as far as considering raising capital, your product must have legs.
aviv
Then he tells you his investors are impressed with your pitch deck, want 10% of your company for $200K and a (fake) cashier check is already on the way. All you have to do is wire Denis a 10% finders fee as soon as possible.
danman01
Ah, yes this seems the likely path, and then the scammer is back in the familiar waters of a money wire scam.

The other thing I was thinking (this would be too much work on their part though), is Denis is getting a wide variety of business's pitch decks and exec sums, and will host them on a website that charges a membership fee to view the next big idea's plans or something along those lines.

sherm8n
Maybe Denis is a really nice guy who just wants to help startups out. With the pitch deck he can help summarize your company to show to his network of investors/advisors.

Or he's looking to screw you over. Who knows? The internetz is a crazy place.

danman01
True dat. First rule of the internet, "Don't click it!"
pizza
Ask for proof first.