What happens when your professional credibility becomes someone else’s weapon — and what businesses need to learn from it.
I investigate financial fraud for a living. I’ve worked on over 600 cases — crypto scams, trading platform fraud, identity-based manipulation. I know the patterns. I know the scripts.
Last year, I became the case study.
Someone used my name, my professional title, and my public credibility to approach a victim who had already lost a significant amount of money. They didn’t hack my accounts. They didn’t breach any system. They simply borrowed my credibility — and used it to run a carefully scripted manipulation.
How This Business Impersonation Fraud Worked
The approach came via WhatsApp from a UK number. The message introduced itself as me — a crypto investigator who had reviewed the victim’s recent transactions and spotted something urgent. The tone was calm, authoritative, and reassuring. Exactly how a real investigator would sound.
The script had all the hallmarks of a professional fraud operation:
“Please do not share this with anyone.” “Do not stress. Keep calm so I can assist you.” “Place a test withdrawal and tell your account manager it will make you feel safe.” “Kind Regards, Hanna Adynets.”
The goal was to redirect the victim’s funds into a wallet controlled by the scammer — with me positioned as the trusted intermediary who would ‘recover’ the money and return it safely.. A second loss layered on top of the first.
What Stopped This Business Impersonation Fraud
One decision. The victim contacted me directly to verify before acting.
We spoke. I confirmed it wasn’t me. We worked through the situation in real time. No additional funds were transferred. The fraud was exposed.
That single step — verify before you act — was the entire difference between a contained situation and a second significant financial loss.
Why This Matters for Your Business
This isn’t just a crypto story. It’s a business risk story.
The more visible a professional is — the more their name, title, and public presence carry weight — the more valuable their identity becomes to someone willing to misuse it. For CEOs, directors, finance leaders, and founders, impersonation risk is real, growing, and almost entirely behavioural.
The questions worth asking in your organisation:
Would someone on your team act on an urgent message that appeared to come from you — without verifying first?
Is verification actually procedural in your organisation — or just assumed?
Do your people know what to do when an instruction carries authority but can’t be confirmed?
Most modern fraud doesn’t exploit your systems. It exploits your reputation, your authority, and the natural human tendency to comply with urgency. The attack vector isn’t technical. It’s behavioural.
Operational Discipline Over Paranoia
Building verification into how your organisation operates isn’t about distrust. It’s about closing the gap that fraud relies on — the gap between receiving an instruction and questioning it.
Simple procedural steps — a secondary confirmation channel, a call-back protocol, a culture where “let me verify” is normal rather than suspicious — are often the only things standing between a business and a significant loss.
In this case, a victim who had never heard of me before took thirty seconds to check. That thirty seconds changed the outcome entirely.
At AdnSol, I help founders, executives, and teams identify the behavioural gaps that fraud exploits — before reputation, authority, or urgency are turned against the business.
Through T&H Consulting, I also lead active investigations into financial fraud and crypto crime, with over 600 cases handled to date.
If your organisation needs to strengthen verification culture, fraud response, or executive-risk procedures, I’m available for a confidential conversation.
