Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, who hosts the "Shark Tank" show, lost almost $400,000 in a phishing email scam.
She then found out that the email was not from her assistant and that it was fake. Someone used her assistant's email address but misspelled it with one letter. Corcoran did not catch the error until her bookkeeper sent an email to the assistant's correct address for confirmation.
Corcoran said the scammer has "disappeared," and she acknowledged that she wouldn't be getting her money back.
"I was upset at first, but then remembered it was only money," Corcoran told the magazine.
Corcoran's assistant Emily Burke told CNN Business that the "Shark Tank" star wouldn't provide any additional comment "at the advisement of her attorneys until the authorities are done investigating."
However, Corcoran tweeted: "Lesson learned: Be careful when you wire money!"
Corcoran was the owner of the global real estate agency The Corcoran Group, but she sold her real estate empire for $66 million in 2001. She is currently hosting ABC's Shark Tank show.
Phishing scams are a common problem. The FBI's 2018 Internet Crime Report shows that almost 30,000 people reported being deceived by a phishing scam last year. Scammers brought nearly $50 million losses to the deceived people.
Phishing attacks are a common method of stealing usernames, passwords, and money. Hackers pretend to be a trustworthy source to convince you to share personal data. To be safe, it's important to make sure a sender is authentic before clicking on a link. Google has rolled out security protections that warn people of potential unsafe emails.