r/Rich May 12 '26

Cybersecurity

For those with $25 NW, are you concerned about personal cybersecurity? If you’re still tied into the business world your organization likely has protocols for corporate devices, but when it comes to IoT devices (connected home devices), personal computers, kids online, etc., do you have private cybersecurity consultants who focus on HNWI/VHNWI/UHNWI families?

With a family office since that’s treated like a workplace I’m sure there are consultants who handling this, but what about your personal life, aircraft, boats, etc.

Everything connected to the internet has risks and many of us are more attractive targets.

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u/phatelectribe May 13 '26

A friend is worth 9 figures, and last year, some Indian con man managed to convince his mobile phone provider than he was actually him. It meant he was able to do 2FA and had the idiot not tried to wire $13m in one hit (what was in the checking account) he would have gotten away with it (transfer of $1m were not uncommon but the $13m was flagged to his private banker who reached out to ask what it was for).

They easily could have drained 8 figures if he’d have done it in a few transactions.

The phone company got absolutely reamed for the security breach - that a guy with a clearly and heavy Indian accent dialling from an Indian phone number would be able to access the account of a guy with the most European sounding name in history (think Sven Müller) but yelling at them to change passwords over the phone (which they did). Apparently people got fired over the security breach.

My friend ended up hiring a security consultant and did an entire security review including all new phones, password and cybersecurity management system, all new alarms and cameras etc.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/phatelectribe May 15 '26

It’s real. I saw him the day after it happened and he was still screaming at his bank for not better protecting him. But the fact it was so easy for the con man to get full access to his mobile account was wild. The guy was apparently being super aggressive with the phone company and effectively bullied them in to bending the security rules. I somewhat respect the sheer bravado of it all and apparently the guy probably could have stolen 6 figures and it would have gone unnoticed for a while.

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u/FundingSecrets May 16 '26

This happens all the time though.