Bug fixing in business - two frauds of almost half a million! - by Velizar Velichkov

This talk explores the real-world challenges faced by a serial entrepreneur while running Grabbi, a daily deal company. The speaker shares two significant fraud cases that nearly cost the company half a million euros. In the first case, they were deceived by an elaborate scam involving fake company representation, which led to lost customer funds and a negative public perception. In the second case, trust was again betrayed, but this time by an employee who manipulated company procedures to divert funds to a partner in crime. The speaker reflects on the lessons learned from these experiences, including the importance of thorough vetting and establishing a quality assurance department to prevent similar issues in the future.

Challenge accepted. [music] Challenge Challenge accepted. Challenge [music] accepted. Challenge accepted. P2 is always [music] challenge accepted. And now buckle up because we are shifting gears straight into our final talk of the day. >> In software we talk a lot about fixing bucks. >> But our next speaker will show show us that sometimes the biggest bugs aren't in the codes, they are in business. He is a serial

entrepreneur, actor turned business leader and the driving force between behind companies like one forfeit, gravy and art. >> He's also a huge traveler having visited almost 100 countries. So when he tells tell us tell you about exploring loopholes and navigating crisis, you know he's speaking with the heart of an adventurer. Today he's here to tell us about two fraud cases that nearly cost his company almost half

a million. Yes, >> This story has it all. Police loopholes, personal mons, and reminder that the trust is the most fragile system we run. >> With charisma, humor, and brutal honesty, he'll show us that in both take and life, the real bugs are often the humans. Please welcome on the stage the one and only. [screaming] [screaming and groaning] >> Hello everyone. Can you hear me good? All

right. It's going to be a little bit different from the the other stuff that you watch. I'm going to tell you uh what kind of a big loser I am right now with two stories uh related uh related with grabbi both of them. How many of you know grabbi? All right, good. Uh for from the people that you don't know it's daily deal company group like website

we started it 2010 and in 2010 I was 22 23 something like that. I didn't have any experience in the business. I was graduated in the national academy for theater and film arts. I didn't know anything. I was playing Shakespeare and something like that. And uh we started Grabbi. I was very very passionate uh in internet and that's why I joined the team. So we started a

business and uh from week two it was profitable and it was insane for us. Oh my god. week two and we are making money and uh 6 months later uh in Grao we are selling all all kinds of services we're selling haircuts massages and also a tourists offers like for example a guy wants to go to the molds let's say and he's buying the offer from us

and the tour operator is uh is making the the the journey for for the customer and uh a guy came to us uh it was 6 months after the start of the company and he was like a very stable guy looking like a very rich one. He was like I don't know with a with a very expensive suit with a very expensive watch with a BMW parking

in front of our office. I was like, "Guys, hello. I came from the construction business and right now I'm going to the business with the tourism. So, I'm going to offer you a very big opportunity for your company." And it looked like, "Oh my god, we're a millionaire. It happened." and uh he came to the office and uh he offered uh a deal for the Modif,000 level

and uh for like a week we sold out 100 vouchers so it's 100,000 level and after that he he called us again and he told us okay another deal and another deal and a deal for the island of Corfo and another deal and it was almost quarter a million leava all the turnover and uh when when become the time uh to come to sign the contract he

told us guys I'm just the COO the CEO of the company is going to sign the paper the CEO of the company I don't know the word in English but I'm going to tell you in Bulgarian it's bushon do you know what I mean I don't know how to translate it if somebody have the right wording please uh tell the tell the guys that don't speak Bulgarian

so the guy the the the the real CEO came to the office again with a very good suit with a watch but everything was a fake. We didn't know that until now. We even went to his office and he hired an office. He hired the ladies but they were like promoters. I I don't know but they even had a computers there. They had everything branded and it

looked like a very very stable company. Everything was scam but we don't know that. And uh the guy came to our office, the CEO of the company and uh we signed with him and the real scammer prepared us. He told us guys you know this guy he doesn't speak. He's a very rough guy. He doesn't speak at all. After that we understood that he can't actually he

has four degree. He can't write. He's from Stupininovu, uh, a neighborhood with a lot of, uh, Rob, how to say it, chips is all right. I don't know if it's if it's okay to say this word these days. It's very complicated. We should be careful about everything. And uh, we signed the papers with the guy from the Stalup neighborhood. And after that, we we didn't know. And

we're waiting for for the deal to happen. And it was August. And I was at the office and we received an email from a customer and he told us there's nobody at the office. It's a scam. And we were like, "It's impossible. This guy assumed a BMW. It's it's impossible. It's like a multi-millionaire. How how he could make this? It's it's insane." Unfortunately, the other day we

received one more email and one more and one more and the emails were like 10 and we started calling the guy. Of course, no connection with this number and after that we went to the office and of course there is no office over there anymore. The office was hired for a while like a week to see that he has an office and after that there is no

office, no ladies, no computers, no branding, nothing, nothing at all. And we were like okay. We were scammed. Of course, we send the money in advance because he told us I have to pay to the hotel. It's it's impossible. You you have to send the money to to me. And we're working on a commission of 10%. 90% of the money were in his pocket. Uh and meanwhile

2 three days we were preparing we hired a private uh private investigator and we were preparing all the documents uh investigating what was happening and uh we sent the documents to the police economy police I think it's the the right department but in the meanwhile the journalists understood about the case and it was very interesting because back in the days in 2011 11 e-commerce was was not

so popular and from time to time every two three months they were like a journalist investigation what kind of a scammy place is internet and how dangerous it is and how you should not buy anything from there because you're going to be scammed and we were the proof unfortunately and all the journalists from the three national TVs from BTV Bulgarian national TV and no TV and another

journalist they were in front of our office with the microphones and asking us, "Guys, what you're going to do? Are you going to uh give back the money?" And we're like, "Guys, we we are scammed also legally wise, we don't have a problem actually because we are signing a contract with the third party company and the obligations about the trip at the third party company." But morally,

it's our fault of course. And uh we were thinking for like I don't know two three days. I was thinking to myself, all right, I played a businessman for like six months. It was good. I'm going to ask my director at the theater to to go back to play for 300 level. Uh but uh we decided to give back the money. We didn't have so much money.

We gave up all of our profit and we took a loan also from one of our founders, Sbrin, you know him. He gave the company loan and we give back the money. And after that we told all the televisions, all the journalists, guys, guys come. We we want to give a press conference to to to tell that we're going to give back the money. We are the

good guys. Nobody came. Of course, because there is no bad news. You know, when you go to the journalist uh department, when you when you study journalism, they are they are they are teaching you that the good news is the bad news. when when you have a a good news, there is no news, unfortunately. So, we were with the with the good news, we're going to give

back the money, nobody came. And after that, we we went against the police, economy of police or whatever department was. And actually, it worked and they catched the guy and the guy was in prison for four years. Unfortunately, we didn't get our money back. And what is the lesson here? After that, we were not so naive and uh we established a QA department. A QA department that

is checking two things. First of all, the company itself, the owner of the company, everything documentally lies. And second of all, the deal itself is if the deal is real. And we didn't have such kind of a problem. But we had another one which is even more uh let's say humiliated. Uh 2017 we had first of all I I have to tell you how Grao is working.

Uh the other scam is again at the same amount and it's from our own employee. Yeah it's interesting. And uh yeah, big- time loser, not only me, my partners also. [laughter] Uh so what happened actually Grabo how it works? When you buy a deal, when you are a business partner of Grabb, you're signing a contract. You come to us, but we're living in Bulgarian. It's very very

common that the business owner uh uh of the company is asking us to change his bank account. the the bank account that he's going to receive the money that we owe him because we're collecting money on the behalf of the customer but they are not our money they are money of our partner and after that we are transferring the money to to his bank account and from

time to time some of our business partners are changing the the bank account Da Iban and they are just sending us an email from the email that is written in the contract and they're sending the email directly to the sales sales guy and the sales guy is forwarding the email to the accounting team. This was the system. Can you see a buck because I'm seeing it? But

I I couldn't imagine that somebody's going to be so stupid to change the bank account to his own. It's insane. But he was not so stupid. He changed it with his partner in crime uh the bank account. So the business partner is sending an email and he's writing an additional part from this email. For example, the business partner is sending thank you for the offer. It was

very good blah blah and please change the bank account but this please change the bank account is written from our sales guy and he's sending this email to the accountant team. They are changing the email the the bank account and the money are going to the bank account of the partner in crime of our employee. A little bit about this the best sales I've ever worked with.

The best one he was like with a very good sense of humor first of all. Second of all everybody loved him. Third of all, very good sales, very stable and uh how to say it, the one of the biggest hotels were working with him and he looked like a very trustworthy guy. After that, we understood that he had a problem with the Hazard with the casinos and

this was the case. And what is happening? I'm going to the mountain to the Himalayas going to base camp of Everest making a trek and it's like the third or the fourth day during my track and I'm receiving a vibr who is telling me uh what is going on? Do you have some problems with money because I saw that you owe 40,000 level to to one hotel

that I know him and I was like he's kidding it's grabb we never owe money. we have a system. It's impossible. And I opened our admin panel, looked there, and I looked that we owe him 40 cents. And I was like, he's kidding, I guess. And I went to base camp of Everest. It was like two two days. I don't I don't have internet. And I'm at

the base camp base camp. It's 5,300 m. And there is a hut and it's very cold. And there was internet with a scratch card. You're scratching the card. and one megaby no 10 megabytes were $1. So it's very expensive but I opened one account with one scratching cart and my v viber my email everything booming because my partners and the colleagues that were at the office because

during this time the other partner was in Cyprus and the other part partner the third one was in South America so nobody at the office in in Pov. Yeah, we're traveling and uh our colleagues they were investigating and they fi found out that this scam was made for 6 months and he was lying to all kinds of business partner. He was lying to you and telling you

you're going to receive your money just wait a little bit. my bosses that have a very very huge problem right now and he's receiving the money from you and giving to him and after that he's receiving from his own bank bank account he's just and three or four of our business partner he even went to them and give them cash and the cash was taken from another

business partner it's like a Ponzi scam you know like a pyramid like Ignatuba but in a little bit little scam yeah and yeah a demo version of Roua And we we are understanding this. I'm telling you, I'm at the at the at not the roof of the world, but almost there. And uh I didn't sleep at all over there. And after that, I uh I took a

helicopter, I guess, to went down faster and uh to have internet. And when I when I got internet uh this guy again the same private investigator six years ago we had a private investigator. You remember we called him again. We are you remember us? Yeah I remember you. Okay we have another case. This time is with with our employee. Oh my god guys. Are you kidding me?

And after that we collect all the documents. Two three days collecting the documents. Blah blah. I was in Bulgaria already and we went to the economy of the police in Pliff in the same director and he was like guys. Are you serious? It's again new. Uh so we gave him all the documents and we understood that this guy our employee for six months he was speaking on

my behalf on the phone with the business partners. He was writing emails on my behalf on on behalf of my partners like he made a fake emails. Uh for example, Verizar Velichkov at Mayo I don't have such kind of an email and he was writing to the business partner I'm going to give you the money blah blah blah blah blah blah. We called to all of the

partners that were scammed and some of the partners came to our office furious and they were like I don't believe you. I believe to the to the guy to the scammer and uh of course we give back the money on our behalf to all of the partners again another quarter a million uh and we hired an HR [laughter] because the work of the HR is not only

to pick the right people, but it's also to try to investigate a little bit about the people that are going to work in your company. Because if we made only one phone call after that we understood that this employee made absolutely the same thing but uh for a little bit less money like two 20,000 something like that uh for TBI credit his ex employer if we just

called him and after that of course he was he was arrested he was in uh uh c custody not in the jail But before jail, I don't know the word in English. Yeah, custody, something like that for like 8 months. But the 8 months is the limit. And the prosecutors didn't uh didn't make a case. 8 years later, we still don't have a case, unfortunately. But we're

waiting with a hope that he's going to be in jail. He was for 8 months. And this is my second story. Uh so I have like seven minutes if you have some questions or I could tell you a third one. I have another one uh because I have time. I'm seeing uh it's from one for fit. In one for fit we are selling personalized meal plans around

the globe more than 180 markets almost everywhere. We are selling diets even in Somalia which sounds like a little bit controversial but maybe the Kingdom family I don't know and uh do you back in the days we were not so prepared technical wise and we were spending a lot of money in Facebook and Instagram a lot by a lot I mean we had sometimes for like 60

70k per day spending US dollars I mean and Uh it was very good that three or four nights I go to bed, my partners are going to bed, everything is all right. And you're waking up 7 8 hours later and you understand that you spent $3,000. You didn't and you didn't have a website because the servers, because whatever happened, but you're spending money and one more day

like that and one more lady like that. And that's how we lost almost 100k in US. So after that we hired a team that is a how is the word there is a modern world right now not CIS admin but the other one devops sorry about it back in the days was CIS admin no more problems like so this is the third story another failure I'm going

to think about all right if you have some questions is going to be very good for me to answer and I hope that you like it. It's uh it's not for like but it's for for for a lesson you know. Yeah. >> What >> do you need a QA director also for your fourth story? >> A QA software testing directors. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course we

have five or we we had five or six people QAS but back in the days we didn't have I mean this story that I'm telling you it was at the beginning at the at the right beginning we had only one CTO one co and another partner and two guys in the marketing team but we were growing like crazy you know like crazy like all right we know

that we have problems with a website a lot of problems we know that but we don't care okay three days we're going to lose money but the other four we're going uh we're going to earn money. So that was the case. I always believe in the field of business that you should make a fire. >> The question was very different. >> All right. Make a fire. Make

another fire. Make another fire. And after that play like a fireman, but you're going to grow. This is my uh how to say it, my logic. All right. >> His question was very different. He asked you, do you want a QA director to uh handle your entire QA team? >> And he and that will make your fourth >> All right, we're going to speak after that. No

problem. But nowadays, we don't have problems. These problems were like, I don't know, seven, eight years ago, even more. From 8 years, we now have problems with the website. After that, we had an SMS, you know, and a ringing when the site is down and an SMS and I received it. I wake up, I turn off the arts, blah blah blah. It's in the middle of the

night. A year later, we hired a guy who is waking up instead of me. And after that, we had the CIS admin. And after that, the modern one, DevOps, the modern word. Yeah, just just a question like what did you learn um from from the situation where investors started believing scammer more than you? I mean how that influence you and what are lessons learned from this? Very

good question. But uh I've always I've always believed in people and me and my partners, we've lost half a million because of people. But I never never ever stop believing in people. And how to say it? People are the the the most valuable thing. And they could help you a lot. Of course, they could lose you. half a million. But when I look back, okay, I lost

this money, but I made much more because of people. So I never stopped believing in people. Of course, I have like this in my ear. How to say it? Earing. Yeah. To think like twice or three times maybe better. [snorts] But I never stop stop believing people. loyal loyal customer discount from the No, but uh I don't know if I have if I if I'm okay to

tell this, but I'm going to tell you. We are in a private private circle. Uh we we made after all this not like a bribery just to say it. We made a little present from for the guy the economy of the police after the two cases not before them. It was not a bribery it was a present. And uh the present was a bitcoin one of one

bitcoin. And actually he's very very very happy nowadays because he told us that he never sell it out. Back in the days it was like 400 level I don't know 1,000 level something like that and we were like man save it because we were one of the first companies which were accepting bitcoins back in the days in 2013 2020 something like that and you know the bitcoin

there uh back in the days were like 300 level 200 level even less. So we made this present to the heart of the police economy of police like a present not like a bribery and he's very happy if this is a loyalty I don't know sounds like something like that timing >> thank you very much visual it was great again as always