A Startup Scam I Need to Warn You About
A Startup Scam I Need to Warn You About
Aron Meystedt
December 26, 2025
Hello!
Aron here. With ValidatorAI.com
A big part of the idea validation journey is putting up a landing page and getting feedback on social media. If you’re publicly talking about your project (good idea) then you’re at risk of falling victim to this scam. 👇
People have been posing as representatives of family offices and other capital sources. They will DM a new founder on social media and tell them they are looking to invest in a few startups. “We represent a family office which seeks to allocate capital into the startup market”… etc. Below is an actual example from this week:
This is a scam. There’s a discussion on LinkedIn right now about this, warning everyone: If you receive a cold inbound request like this, please delete it and do not reply. I personally have received a dozen of these this year.
One person on LinkedIn said:
Unfortunately, this is very common. I actually continued conversations just to see what they say. The guy wanted me to go to Spain to meet the supposed investor. I think this is dangerous. We never know who the people and their intentions are.
Several have mentioned there is a company called Drexel Morgan that is the source of much of this. These are all fake investors, fake family offices… it’s a scam.
The way it works:
They get you excited for seed money.
They meet with you in person or online. DO NOT go to meet these people.
They extort a fee from you (processing fee, doc fee etc.) before your money is released.
Your money never comes.
More insight from commenters on LinkedIn:
Noticed ‘Drexel Morgan’ in the Calendly link - I’ve seen some posts about them before. It’s a scam which concludes with them asking for a $25k upfront fee for ‘due diligence’ which they claim is refundable… but isn’t.
I met one founder who had been told she needed to get on a plane to Italy, and I was really worried about what might happen. It’s a really terrible fraud targeting people who are desperate.
I had a similar case. After initial calls and bunch of documents they sent me as "they are serious people", they insisted I register the company in Dubai. They even had "people" who could do it in 2–3 days
All I can say to people looking for funding from VCs and family offices or PE is that there is no magic bullet. It’s very hard work for everybody involved and remains very much an insight driven (rather than quick fire spaghetti on the wall) approach.
Some even change the message to act like they want to acquire your startup:
I’ve received a few nearly identical acquisition inquiries, sent from different names and domains.
This is NOT how startup investment works.
VCs and investors are flooded with deal flow. They won’t come to you to invest, at the idea stage.
Please protect yourself and delete any cold inbound messages you get about investment into your startup. If in doubt, forward it to me and we can discuss: info (at) napkin.com
Base44 makes this newsletter possible
Build Your Landing Page Next (Free)
Our members who move from idea to landing page move faster.
Paste this prompt into Base44 to instantly mockup your idea and collect emails:
“I’m building [X] for [specific customer] who struggle with [specific problem].
My goal is to validate demand by collecting emails and pre-orders.”
👉 Build your landing page for free on Base44
See you next week.
Reply to this email if you need a second set of eyes on your idea.
Aron Meystedt
Chief Data Nerd at ValidatorAI.com
👬 Let’s connect on LinkedIn!
This newsletter may contain paid promotions. I never recommend a company or service that I wouldn’t use myself. In fact, I decline 9 out of 10 ads that come my way.
Follow along on social media below 👇👇
