
Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears - levifig
http://cecileortlieb.com
======
idlewords
I have extensive experience prosecuting cases like this and would be happy to
assist the OP. I ask that he fly me to New York City at his earliest
convenience (after wiring me a good-faith deposit) so that we may discuss this
in person.

------
lingben
I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action?

world-glance.com screams caution since there is so much missing, team info,
personal names & bios, contact, address, etc. and it was only registered in
Feb 2015 and has whois privacy protection

[http://whois.domaintools.com/world-
glance.com](http://whois.domaintools.com/world-glance.com)

privacy protection is not normally an issue but when a COMPANY (not personal!)
webpage has no personal details, address, phone, etc. it is a huge redflag

don't mean to criticize a victim of fraud but no reputable VC or investor
would be asking for money for petty expenses like a cab or flight, etc.

The whole point of this is that they are the ones that are supposed to have
money and they may or may not give it to you.

Not the other way around :/

But I get it, she was using the 'boiling frog' strategy

~~~
aikah
Absolutely, the owner of this website could be sued for slander. If everything
in this story is true then just sue Cecile because she obviously committed
fraud, the case should be a slam dunk. Then expose her once she has been
sentenced to prison.

edit:

Cecile's website is a joke :

[http://world-glance.com/](http://world-glance.com/)

Does it look like a serious VC to anybody? there is absolutely no information
whatsoever. Remember the legend about about nigerian scammers? they make it so
obvious it is a scam to screen people, that website feels a bit like that.

~~~
hluska
Between:

a) absolutely horrible, meaningless copy.

b) A very poorly designed website.

c) a very weird photo of gazelle which appears to have been taken from
aliexpress.com ([http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Animal-
Gazelle-2-Poster-3-Siz...](http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Animal-
Gazelle-2-Poster-3-Sizes-Silk-Fabric-Canvas-Poster-Print/32366799006.html))

d) a host shared by another 18,000 websites (according to Bing)

This company genuinely does not look real. I understand that the writer would
be extremely excited by the prospect of a $4m investment, but I also feel like
he should have done a little more due diligence. Based on what I see, I can't
imagine genuinely expecting to receive $4m from this firm...

~~~
hackaflocka
Hi there -- please share how one can find out how many websites are sharing a
host via Bing.

Thanks!

~~~
icelancer
Just use DNSstuff. Her site is simply a branded Wordpress.com account.

[http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools#dnsReport|type=domain&&value=c...](http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools#dnsReport|type=domain&&value=cecileortlieb.com)

~~~
hluska
Two things. First, cecileortlieb.com is not actually Cecile's website - it is
the website that hosted that article which claims that she is a scammer.

Cecile claims to be with world-glance.com. He site would be here:

[http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools#dnsReport|type=domain&&value=w...](http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools#dnsReport|type=domain&&value=world-
glance.com)

Second, dnsstuff is great - I haven't used it before, but I have it bookmarked
now.

------
gkoberger
Having read through this, it seems less like she wanted to be wined and dined
(given how the "victim" flew to London), and more that she just wanted to seem
important. A lot of people want to be VCs; and it turns out you can get most
of the VC experience without having money if you just never invest. (On the
flip side, a lot of people want to be entrepreneurs but have no product.)

Having been through bad experiences with wannabe investors in the past, I made
a rule that I would only ever deal with investors that were well-known or were
heavily vouched for by someone I knew that had been invested in by them.

------
anon1385
>Though the most successful founders are usually good people, they tend to
have a piratical gleam in their eye. They're not Goody Two-Shoes type good.
Morally, they care about getting the big questions right, but not about
observing proprieties. That's why I'd use the word naughty rather than evil.
They delight in breaking rules, but not rules that matter.

Sounds like a perfect YC founder to me.

[http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html)

------
glynjackson
I really feel sorry for the guy, but even just a few simple due diligence
checks would have shown the company has no money even the accounts are
overdue: [http://companycheck.co.uk/company/07335249/WORLD-GLANCE-
LIMI...](http://companycheck.co.uk/company/07335249/WORLD-GLANCE-LIMITED)
[http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//compdetails](http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//compdetails)
On top of that the website screams fake. A limited company should always show
company number and have contact details.

------
bbcbasic
Scammers prey on people who want things so badly that they blind their
instincts. I think the lesson is to not be desperate for investment and assume
an equal standing of both parties (i.e. the investor is not some superior
deity). Also an appropriate due diligence throughout the whole process.

------
kossTKR
My impression is that much of top-tier financing is riddled with people like
her, maybe not as unstable, but just as ruthless and without any empathic
regards at all. The only difference is the numbers and the complexity of the
scams committed. Spiderwebs of companies, incomprehensible systems and
networks of hedge-funds, company-carousels, lobbyism, and straight up
corruption. Just look at the scandals of the last ten years.

The fact that webpages like this are not made about them and mostly about low-
level charlatans, is because of the legal repercussions.

------
laurentoget
maybe she is a performance artist making a movie about how out of touch with
reality startup executives are.

------
marczellm
Cecile's text messages are horribly sloppy regarding spelling and grammar, I'd
never trust a person like that.

------
Frozenlock
It's the little things, but I read

> Hindsight is 2020

as "Hindsight is two thousand twenty"

I would invite the writers to use '20-20'.

~~~
erikwiffin
The expression comes from a measurement of visual acuity, the correct notation
would be 20/20.

~~~
Frozenlock
Or that. Really, anything else than 2020.

------
DanBC
What did the police say when you filed a report?

------
nycspicebo
Brian Lefevre

------
ild
The apartment is so hipster/yapster (bikes on the wall, the kitchen design),
it is actually tacky.

------
crablar
This post is worse than Cecile's actions.

She's obviously not right in the head, you are basically saying "Watch out for
crazy people", and she has to be the scapegoat for your messaging.

This is super cruel and merciless.

~~~
mrbtie
"This is super cruel and merciless." srsly, dude? have we lost all
perspective?

