In “The Hollywood Con Queen” (Marie Claire, 19 Feb. 2020), K2 Intelligence’s work on the nefarious impersonation scam is profiled in great detail. Highlighting the investigative work of the K2 Intelligence team spearheaded by Nicoletta Kotsianas, senior director, the piece describes the twists and turns of the scam – and how K2 Intelligence worked to track down the con artist behind it.
According to Snežana Gebauer, head of U.S. investigations at K2 Intelligence, the fraudster preys on specific vulnerabilities: “The impersonator exploited people’s weakness or association with celebrities or with having that Cinderella moment, your one big chance.”
This served as part of the reason the team worked so diligently on the case. Jules Kroll, K2 Intelligence chairman and co-founder, notes in the article, “The people who were conned were hoping for a way to advance their professional careers and spending tens of thousands of dollars and enormous amounts of time only to find out they’d been scammed. So we decided, you know what? We’ll stay with the case.”
K2 Intelligence has engaged an active investigation into the Hollywood Con Queen case since 2018, with the firm’s investigative work prompting the FBI to formally announce an investigation into the scammer’s activity. In September 2019, the FBI also launched a Victim Portal to identify those who may have fallen victim to the perpetrator’s acts.
Backed by the global reach of a network built over decades, K2 Intelligence’s team—including former prosecutors, law enforcement agents, cyber experts, research analysts, and forensic accountants—has the proven ability to help clients investigate, identify, and disrupt such fraudulent schemes.