Maybe it was out of boredom, maybe a little bit of hubris and self-gain, or maybe an honest belief that he could score millions of dollars by the end of the week. Whatever the reasoning, Sam pulled the trigger and sent the alluring Asian woman in Los Angeles $3,000 one Monday afternoon last July from the swivel chair in his home office in Solon.

But this wasn’t just any woman on the internet. This was Kristina Tian from Mucker Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in California. Her LinkedIn profile showed she a had finance degree from Stanford and another one from NYU. Everything seemed to check out, with what little checking Sam did. So, when Kristina reached out to the 53-year-old consultant about investing, he listened.

“I work in finance, and have been for a long time,” Kris

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