Hackers...

I sh!t you not.

I lost $11,271 without even knowing it at the time.

You see, as a 19 year old entrepreneur at the time I had no clue what I was doing.

As a college entrepreneur, I was learning by doing.

I started a watch brand that sold cool watches and sunglasses.

We grew it to just over six figures in the first year.

What I didn’t know, was that wire transfers are ripe for fraud.

I thought I was sending money to my manufacturer.

I ended up sending about 30% of our invoice to a fraud.

At the time, I had no clue how it happened.

I didn’t even know I had fallen victim to a fraud until three weeks later when the manufacturer asked for 30% of the invoice to start production.

What the f*ck I thought?

I already paid.

After much emabarrassement on both ends, I realized a hacker had gotten into their email servers.

Whenever they sent a email, it went through the hacker.

All the hacker did was change the bank account numbers.

Being a first time entrepreneur at the time, I should have confirmed this bank account over Skype, WeChat, or Whatsapp.

But hey, stupid me at the time didn’t think twice about a fraud.

I had already planned a trip to China before this fiasco to meet my manufacturers.

I was frustrated to say the least.

I worked hard as sh!t for that money.

And then it was gone in a flash.

When I got to China, one of the first things I did was go to the bank where the fraud supposedly banked.

Maybe they can help me I thought.

Wrong.

They had the interest of their customer in mind.

Even if he was a fraud and even if I had the documents to prove it, this guy was probably long gone.

I then went to the Hong Kong police department.

Maybe they have a fraud detection unit.

They actually took my case right as I walked in.

I waited maybe ten mintues before a officer saw me.

I then began discussing my case.

The officer was very respectful and attentive.

He then brought in his senior team.

When I told them the amount of money I lost, they chuckled a bit.

Turns out this happens a lot, like a few times a day.

The amount I lost compared to others was nothing in their mind.

$11,000+ dollars is a lot to me.

I told them I would be everything I could to get that money back.

They understood that and said they would make a case to try and find the fraud but that the chances were very low.

I left the office with mix feelings, knowing I would probably never see that money again.

Though I wish I could end on a high note here, that was my biggest mistake as a entrepreneur.

That mistake was taken as a major lesson and I’ve now turned to focus my life on stopping manufacturing fraud.

We use Sourcify to ensure people have a smooth manufacturing process.

Since being a 19 year old entrepreneur, I’ve brought dozens of new products to market and been a part of projects that raised over $1mil on Kickstarter.

I’ve honestly only told my dad about this loss.

It’s the biggest loss of my professional career and I have the numbers #11271 written on the reminders tab of my phone so I always see it.

Take mistakes as lessons.