Scammers duped billionaires with fake tickets to access the USA House at Davos, where wealthy buyers hoped to gain access to Trump administration officials.
USA House organizers posted on the venue's website that so-called VIP tickets being sold online were fraudulent, according to Bloomberg.
“Caveat Billionaires, It has been brought to our attention that again this year external parties are selling ‘VIP access to USA House’ and other Stromback Global venues in Davos,” the post said. “Volume of inbound queries this year suggests that these fake VIP passes may be the fastest selling fiction about Davos since Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain.”
The post continued, offering "our sympathies to those who fell victim to these scams."
The USA House is located in a church just beyond the security boundary for the Davos event. It hosts panels with CEOs and some of President Donald Trump's Cabinet officials during the Davos event week.
Trump will address the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, and his speech is set to be live-streamed for individuals at the USA House.
The president is reportedly going to use his address to convince the American public that he can make housing more affordable, though it's unclear why he's making the case for his policy during a meeting in a Swiss ski town.
"At the end of the day, it's the investors and billionaires at Davos who have his attention, not the families struggling to afford their bills," Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a liberal think tank, told the Associated Press.
The fact that Davos is primarily populated by world leaders and billionaires is exactly what makes the event attractive to scammers like the ones who duped prospective USA House attendees.
Trump's appearance at Davos this year comes as he threatens a trade war with the European Union, demanding that they hand him Greenland or face steep tariffs.
The president is well aware that many of his European counterparts are completely opposed to his plans to acquire Greenland, and told reporters on Monday night he expected the issue to come up during his trip.
"Let's put it this way: It's going to be a very interesting Davos," Trump said.
On the anniversary of his return to the White House on Tuesday, Trump spoke to reporters at the White House and told them they'll "have to find out" when asked how far he is willing to go to acquire Greenland.
