Sir Richard Branson targeted by conman pretending to be the Defence Secretary

Sir Richard Branson considered handing almost £4 million to a conman pretending to be the Defence Secretary in need of money to save a British diplomat from terrorists, he has revealed. 

The Virgin boss said that the fraudster sound "exactly" like Sir Michael Fallon and he told them that he was "sympathetic" to his request but wanted to check it was genuine. When he phone his office it was found to be a fraud. 

Now Sir Richard believes that the same fraudster has successfully impersonated him to convince one of his businessmen friends to hand over £1.5million which he thought was being used for the Hurricane Irma relief effort. 

He has now said that he regrets not highlighting the first incident as he says it may have alerted others and stopped the second.  

"This story sounds like it has come straight out of a John le Carré book or a James Bond film, but it is sadly all true," he wrote in a blog on the the Virgin website.

Comparing the story to The Great Rock N Roll Swindle, Sir Richard said that the first attempted con took place six months ago when his assistant received a note on "what appeared to be official government notepaper" claiming to be from Sir Michael requesting an urgent call.  

The British Billionaire returned the call, he said, continuing: "He asked that we speak in strict confidence and said that a British diplomat had been kidnapped and was being held by terrorists.

"He told me that British laws prevented the government from paying out ransoms, which he normally completely concurred with. 

"But he said on this occasion there was a particular, very sensitive, reason why they had to get this diplomat back. So they were extremely confidentially asking a syndicate of British businesspersons to step in. I was asked to contribute $5million dollars of the ransom money, which he assured me the British government would find a way of paying back."

He told him that he was "sympathetic" but had seen a lot of scams in recent weeks so would need to check the authenticity of the request. 

The caller agreed and asked for Sir Richard to send one of his team to Whitehall to talk to Sir Michael's secretary using the code-word "Davenport".

"Although the Sir Michael I spoke to sounded exactly like Sir Michael, I was understandably cautious," he said. 

He asked his lawyers to go to Whitehall and then phoned Sir Michael's office, who assured him that the Defence Secretary had not been in touch and there had been no kidnap and the police were informed.  

Six months later as he checked his emails for the first time after Hurricane Irma had devastated the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where he lives on Necker Island, he saw an email from a friend - a "very successful businessperson" - who was asking when he would repay the three week loan they had given to help rebuild the community.

 "I had no idea what they were talking about," Sir Richard wrote. 

The businessman had also received an email, this time from someone claiming to be Sir Richard's assistant, asking to arrange a call. 

"When the call happened the conman did an extremely accurate impression of me and spun a big lie about urgently needing a loan while I was trying to mobilise aid in the BVI. 

"They claimed I couldn’t get hold of my bank in the UK because I didn’t have any communications going to Europe and I’d only just managed to make a satellite call to the businessman in America. The business person, incredibly graciously, gave $2 million, which promptly disappeared."

He said that he later spoke to the unnamed man and they quickly realised he had been "duped". 

Sir Richard said that it was "too sad for words" that his generosity had been preyed upon, adding: "He has spent his life being cautious and told me he couldn’t believe how stupid he had been."

He said that he now regretted not publicising the earlier con attempt, but was cautious because of ongoing investigations.

Calling on anyone who can help to alert the US authorities, Sir Richard warned others to be alert to scams. 

An MoD spokesman said: "“We are aware that there have been attempts to impersonate the Defence Secretary for financial gain and have been working with the police to assist catching those responsible.”