I wasn’t planning to write about this. But after what happened following our embassy event, I think it’s important to share — not to create panic, but to raise awareness.

We’ve all heard stories about scammers pretending to be investors. Most of the time, they sound like something that happens to “someone else.” But this time, it happened right inside our community.

When we started signing up investor partners to help us rate the founders who applied for Demo Day, everything seemed smooth. Most submissions came from well-known VC funds with established websites, so verifying them was easy.

But it gets tricky when it comes to angels and family offices.

Anyone can put “angel investor” on their LinkedIn, and family offices are drowning in secrecy — which, of course, scammers love.

So this one guy registers to join as an investor. He claimed to represent a family office investing on behalf of several high-net-worth individuals. No LinkedIn, a generic website, and a company that technically existed on Companies House — but he wasn’t listed anywhere in it.

Weird, right? But not impossible. Some legit family offices actually prefer to stay under the radar. I marked him as “not sure” and decided to keep an eye on him.

He didn’t rate any applications. Didn’t log into the investor app. But since we invited everyone who initially registered — even those who didn’t finish ratings — he got an invite to the event. He never showed up.

Everything was fine… until today.

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This morning, I got an email from one of the founders who pitched at the event. He said he’d been approached by that same “investor” and that something felt off.

He asked if I knew the guy.

I checked. Yes, that name looked familiar — the one I’d marked as “not sure.” I told the founder to be careful.

A few hours later, a second message came in. Another founder. This time with a lot more detail.

Apparently, the “investor” had reached out via our event mobile app. He said he was very interested in investing in the founder’s startup and wanted to introduce him to a high-net-worth client in Europe — urgently.

But there was a catch. He wanted a kickback, and it had to be done in crypto so there’d be “no track” of it.

Red flag 🚩. Huge red flag.

Because I’d heard that exact story before — and lived it myself a few years ago.

When it happened to me, I decided to play along just long enough to understand the scheme. They tell you you’ll only send crypto after the investment happens. Sounds safe, right?

Wrong.

The goal is to make sure you have crypto in your wallet before you meet. They’ll meet you somewhere “exclusive,” like a fancy restaurant. You drop your phone to the table. They drug your drink.

When you’re out — they unlock your phone with facial recognition, clean out your wallet, and disappear.

If you wake up — you’re lucky.

Most victims never talk about it. They’re embarrassed, or scared. And that’s exactly why there’s so little about these scams online.

As soon as I realized this was happening again — this time inside our community — I sent a message to all the founders who pitched. I didn’t name him (no proof = no accusation), but warned everyone about the situation.

Within minutes, founders started replying.

Five said they’d had similar conversations with the same person.

Then I rechecked his website. Domain registered only a few months ago. IP address pointing to Finland, not the UK like he claimed.

And one founder said that, when this guy briefly turned on his camera, his face looked completely different from the WhatsApp photo.

At that point, it was clear — this was no investor.

I emailed all event attendees to warn them to stay alert. Since then, seven more founders told me they’d been approached by him. I never even mentioned his name publicly — yet everyone knew who I was talking about.

Because again — we talk.

Sadly, this isn’t new. It’s just that no one likes to talk about it.

Here’s what I tell founders now:

And remember — no legitimate investor will ever rush you or tell you how “amazing” your business is without asking hard questions first.

Good investors challenge you. Scammers flatter you.

To all the scammers who might be reading this:

You’re barking up the wrong tree.

In our community, we talk, we communicate, we support one another. That’s why, when something like this happens, founders step forward immediately. Within hours, we knew exactly what was going on.

So let me be clear — go somewhere else.

Get a bloody life.

Work on your own business.

Stop scamming.

And definitely do not get anywhere near our community or our events.

Because A, you’re blocked.

And B, even if you change your name, your email, your identity — you will be identified.

Eventually, karma will catch you.

✅ If this hit home, pass it on — there’s probably a founder in your circle quietly gearing up to fundraise right now. And drop a comment if you’ve seen or heard something similar — the more we talk about it, the harder it is for scammers to hide.

(👉 Vote now — we’ll share the results in next week’s issue. All votes are anonymous.)

(Last week’s poll results)

👉 Is it just me, or has the vibe around fundraising suddenly changed?