They’re some of the biggest playboy scammers!
Let’s get right into their scams and what they do with the money!
5 - Not a Scammer Playboy Karan Mishra is an alleged
fraudster that scammed older people worldwide out of their life savings. Mishra lived a lavish
lifestyle that he bragged about on Instagram and Facebook. He used social media to share his global
jet-setting, took pictures with luxury cars, and always wore expensive, designer clothes.
Jim Browning
Youtuber Jim Browning revealed Mishra’s crimes to the world during a 2021 interview
with the Daily Mail. He exposed Mishra for ripping off British pensioners.
Browning hacked Mishra’s phone call center in India and obtained records where Mishra
spoke about his greed, talking about how when you first start making money,
all you want to do is make more.
He said he needed a private jet but had to make more money first. He bragged about
things he liked to buy, including drinking Blue Label Johnny Walker whiskey worth $750.
Browning runs a Youtube channel that exposes scams and has even led to some arrests. He took
to Youtube several years ago so that he could warn others of all of the scams that were out there.
Three years later, he started hacking scammers’ computers and sharing the results on his channel.
He goes along with frauds,
giving fake names and credit card numbers so that the scammers don’t suspect him.
Thomas Mulligan
One of Mishra’s victims was Thomas Mulligan,
an elderly retired former surgeon for the British National Health Service.
Mulligan received a phone call on his landline from an Amazon
cyber security representative that wanted him to help stop hackers.
However, Mulligan wasn’t speaking to an Amazon representative at all.
He was on the phone with Mishra, talking to the criminal he was supposed to be helping stop.
He trusted Mishra, who already knew his bank details. Mishra told him he
was being chased for outstanding debt because the scammers used his account.
He pressured Mulligan into paying 10,000 pounds into a specific bank account so that they could
use it to chase the money and find the criminals. Afterward, he would be given a full refund.
Mishra instructed him to download software to help track the criminals, and Mulligan
unwittingly gave Mishra access to everything on his computer, including personal documents.
Browning was watching Mishra at the time and caught him amid his scam.
He contacted Mulligan and stopped the transaction.
Playbook Mishra scammed
his victims of millions of dollars. He did this by coaxing them into downloading
TeamViewer, a software that would give him access to their computers and cell phones.
Once he had the victims' account information, he drained them of their savings.
When Browning hacked into Mishra’s computer, he found spreadsheets
with thousands of customers' details, including passwords and account numbers.
Mishra had scripts that served as guides on how to scam victims by
gaining their trust. He also had logos for major companies to seem more valid.
One of the scripts had Mishra pose as an employee who needed to warn victims
that hackers in Nigeria accessed their computers’ IP addresses and
gained access to all their financial details and personal information.
Some of the files on his laptop had selfies of him posing with an expensive watch and pictures
taken at a call center, although it can’t be confirmed if that’s where he committed his crimes.
Other files contained pictures of personal documents and a meme of a
room covered in cash that said ‘the only room I would like to clean’.
There are fraudulent call centers that buy victims’ personal information,
like their dates of birth and addresses, and then sell it to other scammers.
The Daily Mail broke his story. Despite all of the evidence against him,
when they confronted him at his home in Kolkata, India, he denied all accusations,
telling reporters that all he did for work was run stationery shops in India with his father.
4 - Sullied Enterprises Marco Perez, also known as Sully Perez,
was the founder and director of Permian Basin Proppants, Inc. The company was supposed to sell
proppants like sand for fracking operations, but that was a front for a Ponzi scheme. He solicited
investor money by misrepresenting his company and ran the operation from 2017 until 2022.
Perez made $14 million off the scheme and put the funds towards elaborate personal
purchases like his wedding, property, vacations, a helicopter, and luxury vehicles. He liked to
travel in style and bought many cars, including a Rolls-Royce, a BMW, and a Cadillac Escalade.
Permian Basin Proppants
He told investors that their money would go towards purchasing discounted frac sand,
which would then be resold at a profit to fracking operations around and in the Permian Basin.
The Permian Basin is the largest sedimentary basin
in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It has natural gas,
rich petroleum, and potassium deposits. It’s drilled by oil producers like Chevron.
He promised them guaranteed substantial returns on their investments and that they’d get all of
their money back plus the profits from the resale. His pitch was enticing to investors,
particularly as he told them that they would get their money back quickly.
Classic Recipe
Perez’s scheme was a classic Ponzi scheme. He used investor money for his personal expenses and kept
the scheme running by using a portion of new investor money to pay previous investors.
He was investigated by the FBI and the Securities Exchange and Commission,
who uncovered the truth behind his scheme.
In April 2022, he pleaded guilty to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from
specified unlawful activities and one count of wire fraud.
He was sentenced to 163 months in prison and ordered to pay $14 million in restitution.
3 - Mining Nothing
Mining Capital Coin was supposed to be a cryptocurrency mining and investing platform,
but its CEO, Luis Capuci, used it to orchestrate a $62 million worldwide investment fraud scheme.
He lured investors with “Mining Packages”, a network of cryptocurrency mines with a
guaranteed weekly return on investment. Another product he sold was “Trading Bots”,
which he claimed could make thousands of trades per second and give investors daily returns.
Mining Capital Coin
The company began in 2017, and Capuci built a strong network of
investors when he promised that if they invested a minimum of $125 that day,
they’d get a 1 percent return every day indefinitely.
Those profits would come from trading cryptocurrencies,
traditional stocks, and bitcoin mining.
He worked with a business partner, Emerson Pires. The cost of bitcoin mining machines
is upwards of $4,000, and the pair claimed they owned more than 4,500 of those machines.
They showcased the machines in videos on social media,
where they shouted over the sound of the motors whirring in the background.
Capuci knew how to make his business look legitimate. He lied about his background,
saying that he studied computer science at Harvard
University and then worked for the FBI for eight years.
He bragged about the company’s charitable work,
saying that he partnered with the Clinton Foundation and the World Bank.
Crypto blogger Peter Obi reviewed the mining platform. He calculated that
MCC’s $50 monthly membership and 3 percent withdrawal fee made it
unlikely for investors to make money without referring other investors.
MCC's referral process was similar to other crypto scams he had researched.
Lifestyle
Capuci and Pires had over 65,000 investors who invested $62 million. The partners paid
themselves monthly bitcoin salaries ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
They made extravagant purchases. Capuci bought a Lamborghini, two Ferraris, a yacht,
a Mercedes, and $10,000 worth of designer clothes. Pires purchased a Lamborghini,
a Mercedes, a Harley Davidson, and a Land Rover.
When Capuci’s third wife became pregnant in 2020,
he threw a gender reveal party where two Ferraris and a Lamborghini shot blue smoke
out of the exhaust pipes, elaborately telling their guests that the couple was having a boy.
Capuci’s son’s first birthday party was over-the-top and even had a live giraffe.
His outrageous displays of wealth alarmed his daughter-in-law, Katlyn Capuci. They went
shopping together, and he offered to buy her whatever she wanted. She seemed uncomfortable,
prompting him to open his bank account on his phone to show her that he had $4 billion.
She didn’t understand where the money came from. All that she knew was that it kept growing.
Cash Out
Investors were initially told they could cash out on Bitchain whenever they wanted, but whenever
they went to cash out, there were delays and roadblocks. Capuci said to them that the
issue was with Bitchain, which was building new interfaces slowing down transfers and withdrawals.
Cracks
Capuci’s life began to fall apart. According to court documents obtained by The Daily Beast,
he was sued in Lucie county court for failure to repay an
$11,000 loan from 2015. He failed to pay $25,127 in rent on one of his other businesses.
He divorced his second wife in 2019, and his ex-wife claimed he stopped paying the
mortgage on their home, despite it being a part of their divorce
agreement. When asked why he hadn’t paid it, he said he didn’t want to.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, filed a 25-page lawsuit against Capuci and Pires. In the
suit, the commission accused them of running a fraudulent company that scammed investors.
When Pires spoke with investigators, he admitted that the business was never in
operation in the US, and the SEC found in their investigations that it wasn’t a real business.
CAPTLCoin was the cryptocurrency Capuci invented and paid his investors in, which was found to
be worthless. Bitchain, the platform that investors used for cash outs, was owned by
Capuci too. He registered Bitchain’s website and then paid to ensure the registration was private.
When the SEC issued subpoenas against MCC, Capuci immediately shut down bank accounts,
offloaded his assets, and sold his belongings, including two properties, a car, and his yacht.
At the time of the subpoena, he had six different bank accounts, two Paypal accounts,
and dozens of digital wallets. He operated bank accounts in the name of the other 17
companies he claimed to own. He had $18.5 million in crypto assets when MCC was active.
Pires and Capuci fled to Brazil when they were served by the SEC.
In May 2022, Capuci was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit
securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. He denies
all allegations. His trial is ongoing, and he faces up to 45 years in prison for his crimes.
2 - Wolf of Old Hall Street Stephen Evans was named the
‘Wolf of Old Hall Street’ after he engaged in a Ponzi scam where he stole 4.4 million pounds.
Evans ran his fraudulent company in Liverpool, but his influence reached as far as the United
Arab Emirates, where many of his victims were. He convinced investors to hand over large sums
of money so that he could invest it on their behalf but used it for his own gains instead.
Evans went to prison for his crimes in 2014.
SE Investments
Evans lived in the UAE and worked as a financial adviser and stockbroker from 2007 until 2010.
He soon created Stephen Evans Investments Ltd., also known as SE Investments. When
he began scamming clients, he lived in Dubai and the Isle of Man for tax purposes. The Isle
of Man is a British dependency between England and Ireland in the Irish Sea.
He convinced his clients to give him money to be invested. His past work experience made investors
trust him, and they had no idea that their money was being used for different purposes.
Like most Ponzi schemes, he was under pressure from old investors who wanted
to know where their money was. Evans used money from new investors to pay the old ones.
One man gave him 3.7 million pounds and never got his money back.
Lifestyle
Investors supported Evans’ luxurious lifestyle. Between 2010 and 2013,
he made countless elaborate purchases. He bought 20 luxury cars, including a lime
green Lamborghini for himself and a Porsche 911 for his girlfriend.
He bought corporate sponsorship deals at Liverpool and Everton soccer clubs.
He burned through 4.4 million pounds, spending 1.5 million pounds on luxury cars,
36,000 pounds on yachts, 300,000 pounds on jewelry, and 250,000 pounds on a racehorse.
His extreme purchases didn’t end there. He spent 280,000 pounds on travel expenses,
including chauffeurs, flights, and hotels. He rented properties at
exclusive addresses and wore designer clothing, like handmade bespoke suits.
He bought a racehorse that he called Fat Gary. Not only did he have to pay the initial 250,000
pounds for the animal, but he also needed to cover 50,000 pounds in stabling fees
and gave 15,000 pounds to Chester Racecourse to sponsor a race under the Fat Gary banner.
He didn’t spend all of the stolen money on himself. His charitable
donations included almost 60,000 pounds to Marina Dalglish's cancer appeal and
52,000 pounds to celebrity hairdresser Herbert Howe’s charity.
In 2012 one of his clients hired a private detective who started tracking Evans.
He turned himself in to police custody, and he was tried at Liverpool Crown Court.
His lawyer, Christopher Stables, defended him by saying that Evans was reeled in by
the extravagance of the lifestyle and couldn’t stop himself. He painted the
picture that Evans was addicted to being a big spender and the perks of being wealthy.
Judge Watson sentenced him to five years and three months in jail,
holding him accountable for his actions and how he used his charm to lure his clients.
Changes
Life was different when Evans left prison. He no longer had millions of pounds to spend.
He worked part-time at an outdoor adventure center for Bendrigg Trust, a local charity.
Neighbors also said he worked in London, where he was seen buying watches and jewelry. He kept a low
profile in his neighborhood, barely interacting with neighbors, running from his car to his house.
He lived alone in a small house, a far cry from the life he once knew.
In October 2022, police officers found his body in his home. Evans was 38 years old,
and the cause of his death is yet to be released.
1 - Otunba Cash In October 2018,
Otunba Cash was arrested by Turkish police. Danish police contacted Turkish police via Interpol to
tell them that there had been unauthorized access to a company named GM-Plast’s email.
Inside the mail was proof that the company had paid large sums into a Turkish bank account.
Otunba changed his name from Ammanuel Aneke to Otunba Cash.
Rise & Fall
Nigerian-born Cash became a socialite around 2017 and 2018 when he was seen hanging out in the best
clubs where he was a big spender, buying expensive bottles of wine and enjoying the party life.
Nobody knew where his money came from. Some thought he was related to wealthy
politicians or got rich through an undisclosed business venture.
In October 2018, Cash’s true source of revenue was unveiled when Turkish
police arrested him while he was staying at a luxury hotel.
He had several accomplices but was the brains behind the operation.
The group impersonated different companies and sent emails to victims,
who input personal information into what they thought were legitimate companies.
They were running a phishing scheme and stole $1.4 million from victims.
When the police raided the luxury hotel that Cash was staying in,
they confiscated many items, including 1 Rolex watch, a luxury car, $85,000, and 5,000 euros.
Danish police caught Cash’s suspicious activity and passed it along to Turkish authorities.
Cash was arrested, along with his scammer friends. They are still in
prison and expected to stay there for a long time.
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Let us know in the comment section who you think is the most annoying famous playboy!