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The sharks on Shark Tank know how to make money and that includes Barbara Corcoran. However, they can be victim to scams just like everybody else. Corcoran lost almost $400,000 due to a phishing scam. Find out how and her surprising response to it.

Barbara Corcoran sold The Corcoran Group for $66 million

Barbara Corcoran attends the Tribeca Talks Panel: 10 Years Of "Shark Tank"
Barbara Corcoran attends the Tribeca Talks Panel: 10 Years Of “Shark Tank” | Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

The shark made the bulk of her wealth through real estate. Corcoran started as a secretary at the Giffuni Brothers’ real estate company in her early 20’s. Her boyfriend at the time then gave her $1,000 to help her start her own firm. She sold her company, The Corcoran Group to NRT for $66 million back in 2001.

“When you build a business, it’s an extension of your body and your soul and your mind every day. … You’re emotionally tied to that business,” Corcoran told CNBC. She admitted it was a struggle “ego-wise, to go from being a big shot one day with the press calling you for your opinion on the real estate market all the time, to the next day when you’re not in the game at all. Nobody’s calling.”

Of course, she is still busy trying to make deals on Shark Tank. She then continues to work with the entrepreneurs.

She has talked about being hard on entrepreneurs

Fans might wonder what Corcoran is like as an investor. The answer is that she’s tough when things go wrong.

“I’m merciless with them,” she told Buzzfeed News when talking about her female business owners. “I say, look at yourself. Is this something you’re going to be proud about? Is this the mother you want your daughter to see? And I’ll go so far as saying, you should be ashamed of yourself. I get to the point where I almost make them cry, and then I let up on the gas.”

Corcoran explained her upbringing is the reason behind her strategy. “We weren’t allowed in our family to cry and be victims,” said the real estate mogul. “My mother said, ‘Okay, what are you going to do about it?’ It was always, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ — an action step.”

She lost $400,000 to a phishing scam

Corcoran reportedly lost almost $400,000 due to a phishing scam, according to Page Six. This scam relies on victims giving personal information through emails.

Her bookkeeper reportedly received an email last week that was posed to be from Cocoran’s assistant telling her to pay a German company called FFH Concept GmbH $388,700.11. However, the people behind the fraud changed just one letter of Cocoran’s real assistant’s email for the scam. The bookkeeper was told the money was going toward the design of Cocoran’s investments of German apartment units.

“It’s true and a bummer,” Corcoran told Page Six. “The scammers disappeared and I’m told that it’s a common practice and I won’t be getting the money back. I was upset at first but then remembered it was only money.” It looks like the millionaire isn’t sweating over the loss.

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