The Investment Table: The Return of the Con: How Fakes Still Fool Real Money, and how to stay safe

Featured Guests

Key Insights From This Episode

Spot Fake Identities Early

Fake family offices like Anthony Ritossa's (bogus 600-year lineage, "Sir" title) rely on social engineering—proximity to celebs like Indra Nooyi, vanity logos, and unverified claims; always demand third-party proof. Ritossa's olive oil "empire" traced to a Croatian co-op he doesn't own, with unpaid debts.​

Theranos: Hype Over Expertise

Theranos raised $900M on false blood-testing tech promises, backed by Kissinger et al. but lacking medical pros; red flags include secrecy ("patent pending"), charisma (Forbes 30 Under 30), and no tech vetting—insist on team domain knowledge and independent verification.​

Dark Triad Traits in Con Artists

Scammers exhibit narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy: charisma masks manipulation, thrill-seeking, no remorse; they exploit trust shortcuts, flattery, FOMO via elite events/locations, rationalizing fraud as "earned."​

Anatomy of a Con: Put-Up to Blow-Off

Cons follow stages—target desires (wealth/access), build trust (impressive buzz), small "wins" (convincer), then extract big commitments; historical like 1906 "Captain of Köpenick" uniform scam or Madoff show patterns persist.​

Due Diligence Protocols Essential

Implement cooling-off periods, devil's advocates, preset verification questions (esp. AI deepfakes); diversify sources, ignore prior investors/board names without scrutiny—40% of family offices polled admitted prior fraud victimization.​

AI Amplifies Scam Risks

AI enables fake voices/videos/emails at scale; family offices must train staff, use blacklists, self-organize verified events—legit ops withstand scrutiny, fakes crumble under questions.​