Madame G | 1

The "President Scam" (l'arnaque au président) represents a sophisticated form of confidence trickery where perpetrators manipulate corporate employees into transferring large sums of money by impersonating high-level executives or government officials. Pioneered by Gilbert Chikli, this method relies on creating an immersive, high-stakes narrative—often involving fabricated anti-terrorism operations—to isolate victims and exploit their sense of duty or vanity. Chikli’s initial success with a French postal manager, who was coerced into delivering hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, served as a blueprint for subsequent multi-million dollar frauds targeting major international firms. By leveraging psychological pressure, meticulous social engineering, and technical support from partners like David Atiyash, these scams effectively weaponize institutional trust. The resulting financial devastation highlights the extreme vulnerability of organizations to well-crafted, persistent impersonation schemes that bypass standard security protocols.