Wirecard and the missing €1.9bn: my story | FT
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2020
- Surveillance, spear phishing and missing billions. 'At times I thought I was going crazy.' Dan McCrum explains the twists and turns behind the massive fraud. Read more at on.ft.com/2ZpAeKc. See if you get the FT for free as a student (ft.com/schoolsarefree) or start a £1 trial: subs.ft.com/spa3_trial?segmen....
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This is journalism, investigative journalism of the highest quality. Good work FT!
I have to admit I was suspicious of Financial Times for 1.5 years. Meanwhile I have to admit that the FT was right. This is good journalism and I learned from it.
Turns out they have more credibility than whichever country that said Iraq has WoMD
didn't they leak information about the publication of the article to short sellers, before publishing it?
Only heard about this via Al jazeera!
Totally agree. hands down...big bow! Well done FT
The free press is the golden thread in our history, and hopefully our future, good work guys
Not in my country, unfortunately
What does it mean? "free press" as long as it is mainstream?
@@CroHerceg88 what does mainstream mean?
In Germany, there is no "free press" anymore. Otherwise Olaf Scholz would not be Chancellor of Germany...
Well in a way Wirecard was taking this whole "cashless society" think waaay to serious ^^
😂😂😂
😂👏🏼
good one
Bafin and Ernst &Young should be held responsible.. both were sleeping, EY on wirecard's money and Bafin on tax payers money..
I think Bafin is a state institution financed by tax money anyway.
@@innoclip237 They are under investigation here in Germany right now
BaFin is not responsible for auditing financial statements, that would be EY ... As said earlier: BaFin is responsible for investigating Wirecard Bank AG and e.g. its risk management. But yeah, feel free to run around and make unfounded claims.
@@obstimhaus5086 So, why did they ban short selling on Wirecard AG stock?
@@obstimhaus5086 So why were they backing up Wirecard AG and attacking FT?
I am a fellow German and I congratulate you for your great work. This is how journalism should be. Job well done mate
What is truly damaging is that you can't rely on some auditors to have done the most basic check of verifying cash balances in accounts they are signing off for even massive listed companies. The auditing profession is clearly failing and needs the kind of reforms that it is incapable of providing itself.
Thank goodness we have a free press and the internet to hold people to account.
EY auditors....what do you expect.
Great Video! As a 22 year old german dude, I was so dumb to Listen to the BaFin and was owner of Some Wirecard stocks, that I bought three year ago. In my opinion itis absolutely amazing That the FT didn‘t stop its critical journalism! Next Time I Listen to your words. Love from Germany
Tolles Buch zu einem ähnlichen Fall ist David Einhorn - Fooling some people all of the time.
How tf do you own company shares at 19 years of age?!?!?!?
@@geoffreycharles6330 you can buy stocks as soon as you turn 18
@@MelinaH I know but how do you get money to buy stocks at that age?
@@geoffreycharles6330 work or savings
Good journalism requires courage and perseverance. You showed it both, Dan. Thank you and keep on the work!
I wish I had listened to him, then I would not have lost thousands of Euros with Wirecard.
Owning shares is always a bit of a gamble, but this is never on anyone's mind when they buy.
Wherever there is smoke,there is fire.Always follow the mantra of the 2007-8 period:sell first ask questions later.
You wrote that and never returned to say that all your money is available again and operations are back to normal. It was just a preventive freeze by FCA..... Not Wirecard's illiquidity.
Payoneer even wanted to shift to self-issued MasterCard but they gave up and continued using Wirecard, obviously too high of a cost and responsibility.
even ernst and young didn't listen, or the bafin. bad communication skills on part of ft.
They are not lost, your euros... They just belong to someone else right now.
The FT is a damn fine newspaper and McCrum is one of its assets.
I must say that I didn't believed it on myself... costly. But it was so out of thinkable for me that something to this scale could happen .... Thumbs up FT
That too, Under the watch of BaFin..
Daniel, whatever FT is paying you, it’s not enough. You’ve done incredible work
I wonder who will play Dan in the Netflix movie
Can I have a fiver on Benedict Cumberbatch???
David Tennant or Tom Holland
Dan himself
Shia Labeouf 👌
Wirecard=Wirefraud!
Why don't we talk about the CFO at all?
He’s in jail
@@BipoIarbear I don't think so and he deserves more advertising
Some heads should roll in the German administration, that thought investigating FT but not Wirecard was the way to go !
It's not the administrations job to investigate financial fraud, and they weren't the ones to launch the investigation into FT. That was BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), an independent regulatory authority.
Won't happen.
Great Work! And a good recap video. As a German I have to admit, that I thought and hoped you were wrong back then.
surprise surprise
I was invested in Wirecard until 18th June 9 am. After the opening of the stock exchange, I sold all shares because no figures were published. Up until the previous day of 18th of June, I assumed that there was hardly anything wrong with the allegations. This was mainly since there have already been numerous investigations, which, however, have never led to really stressful results. Likewise, I could hardly imagine that EY has made negligent test mistakes over the years. Just as an example: With such constellations (TPA = customer & supplier at the same time), a closer examination is usually normal. Likewise, the bank confirmations of the trust accounts should have been obtained every year. However, this has not been done and relied on fake balance confirmations.
After the opening of the stock exchange, I expected bad news because there was something wrong with the certificate, but I would not have expected that 1.9 billion would be reported as "missing".
In retrospect, I am primarily amazed by EY and BaFin. These should have looked much more critically into Wirecrds' books since the allegations were justified.
Anyway, I have to say that the work of the FT (especially you) was extremely good.
Dan, I owe you an apology too. I was so convinced by Wirecard, I never thought we'd be so scammed. You did your job well. Not only did you show that Wirecard scammed, you also showed how bad Germany is as a financial centre. A shame for BaFin and all the auditors and accountants who were involved!
In that case every financial centre is bad.
This kind of journalist and journalism should not only lauded but also handsomly compensated.
At the end of the day money matters..you can't eat ethics and principles.
Great work guys. Hope to see some more investigative journalism
Thanks to your work I saved my savings while the entire country here was again fooled by an Austrian. Thanks from Frankfurt 🙂
The Netflix documentary on this fraud is as good as any thriller. Dan , Stephanie and all those at FT are real superheroes.
Keep up the good work. You exposed those frauds while the officials responsible to prevent fraud were investigating YOU because you did your job.
wirecard : wolf of Wall Street, German style
"Der Wolf der Mauerstraße"
Felix N. 😂😂😂😂😂
More like nick leeson
FlowTex?
@@florianlaur5300 exactly, first time I read someone mentioning flowtex. It was the first thing that came to my mind, when i heard about the scam.
Everybody is praising the journalist. I just also want to praise the editors for the excellent color grading.
Thank you, Dan McCrum for your job and for your stamina standing behind your story although everyone said you were wrong (including me)! You and your team were the only ones who have done their jobs to find and tell the truth! Thank you! Journalism is one of the most important things in a democracy and in a better world!
Wish you all the best for your future!
Greetings from Germany
Thx for your investigation, i remember the first articles and consequently never added wirecard to my portfolio because I could not estimate the growth potential of its business model
My money is stuck in one of these fintech "banks" , this is a nightmare
All money is now released, and the only country blocking it was UK.
If you are in trouble dobbel
n26 revolut?
@@wm2008 Brexit...
WOW. Thank you for this. Today my internet bank called U bank stop access to my funds. They said that the F C A has stop business pending inquiry. U bank partner is wirecard solutions. I am stroke survivor and must isolate. I cannot buy my food for my family and myself, I cannot top up my electricity, I cannot pay my internet and phone bill, i cannot buy necessary items for hygiene, I have no clue about my money. I have reported fraud on my account to be told I was one day late in reporting it as per wirecard policy. I pay my banking fee every month and for what? Someone is being greedy. I am ex ambulance medic. I work hard for my money. Give it back to me now pls
This may help. I’ve seen other people in similar situations try to contact help through the FCA’s page www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/requirements-imposed-wirecard-authorisation
Thank you for your helpful reply. Most appreciated.
It was your own reckless decision to entrust all of your assets to one party. Don't blame others for your own stupidity.
@@AMGmachine moron - if I get my pension on my account, what´s wrong about? Do I need two different accounts for my small savings and my pension ??
If you have enough money you can buy the people who are supposed to be regulating you.
We need to support more to this type of media content. They in risk but still work for their principle to bring out the truth for society! Good job FT and the journalist’s team!! Thank you!
So it was a house of cards
The whole financial system worldwide is a house of cards and is now falling. More to come.
whole financial system being house of cards, yes, _now_ falling, no. as long as usa, eu, asia keeps printing money and such, it will limp on, for a while.
@@Redmanticore "For a while".
House of Wirecard
I can't get enough of this story
Great work!
Glad you pulled through these difficult times
Well done FT
Great financial detective work, quite spectacular downfall of wirecard. Haha :D
I will read FT more often know. Thank you for a good job!
Fantastic journalism, good work everyone!
Again: you are a true hero! Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan McCrum and the whole team!
Great report thank you:)
Wirecard somehow reminds me to Theranos/ Elizabeth Holmes, if you see a phony CEO wearing a turtleneck to make people beliefe he/she is as brilliant as Steve Jobs, run ! . Because
all they have to offer is a turtleneck.
There's an old joke among programmers that managers are dumb because their ties cut off the blood supply to their brains. Apparently, a turtleneck is even better at doing this!
😂😂😂
not true though, as Braun DID save Wirecard back then and they have a legit business model - but horrible accounting as governance.
@@wm2008 Describing a €2bn fraud as "horrible accounting" is like describing cold-blooded murder as "serious anger management issues"
Good journalism, well done to uncover this fraud. we live in Africa and here everything goes, the governments mostly are unaccountable and oppress anyone who dares to tell the wrongs they are doing.. we need help from people like you..
Thank you for this video and of course your whole investigation. You did a great job! Best regards from germany
Thanks for your clear explanation. Unbelievable that it can be that simple to explain this corruptible system
Fantastic work! Well done 👍
Well done guys for exposing this scam! Luckily I only had a balance of $18.65 in my wirecard issued card
Love FT. Trustworthy and rock solid journalism. Sadly I can't afford them LOL.
Thanks Dan and FT.
Good journalism in the face of seemingly corrupt people and organisations.
This may be the BEST Wirecard video out there
On the day they planned to release their yearly finance statements, I was short-selling the stock as I was expecting it to drop by a few percentage points (maybe by 5..10%). I checked back into my broker terminal at 11am (German time), only to see that the stock price was falling from ~100€ down to ~30€.
I was very glad to have made a bit of a profit on that drop, however, I was also thinking about the share holders which have lost everything by investing into this company for a couple of years .......
Moral of the story: Always remember to diversify your portfolio guys!
This is a shame for Germany and it's authorities. And I do say that being a German national.
It's not the first time...FlowTex?
And once again, the guy in charge was an Austrian. We've gotten more sneaky when screwing Germany, it seems! Greetings from Austria hehe
@@Deserthacker You are right. May be we should make the Austrians stay in the Alps. LOL.
@@michaelkaercher Haha that seems like a good idea to be honest. We're fun and nice, but apparently only in our own country 🤔
Cool, man! Ranked up the image of FT! Thanks for investigations and contribution to stop this messy game. I should listened to you instead of MB :)
You Sir and Ms. Fahmi Quadir saved me some money. Thank you! Keep on the good work!
The Peep Show-ish soundtrack a the beginning was a nice touch.
really great journalism! Investigative! such a relief to this kind of depth and amount of investment in journalism from the FT to pull this off (and all the other scoops!). Thank you!
This report and the work done by FT proves that they are the only financial journal that really earns its subscription money. Amazing job keep up with the good work fellas!
I bank with a pockit card account now my account is frozen but I'm one of the lucky ones I got up early Friday and withdraw my money went shopping wasn't till latter on in the day I found out my account got froze lucky I only left £7.00 in the account I feel bad for all the people who can't pay bills buy food pay their rent
It's working again as of today
@@liquicitizendirk2147 it works again since Monday.
As I had a few shares in the company I lost a fair bit of money last week (luckily 'only' a third due to a stop-loss order)... Still, good job holding fraudsters accountable!
Great video!
Well done for investigation discovery and reporting 👍
sehr gute Arbeit, wahrscheinlich wäre es ohne seine Berichte gar nicht aufgedeckt worden.
Great job. Kudos to you guys. I think you guys should investigate on WIrecard backer SOFTBANK. I am surprised that no one questions what is SOFTBANK is doing.
Facts still matter. Thanks from Germany. You did a great job
Great work!
As soon as I read your story, I knew I wouldn't invest in Wirecard. Thank you for that, you propably saved me an awful lot of money!
Top job!
Thanks for the good work Dan!
Thank you for the excellent journalism.
Great journalism!!
I remember the day before the collapse, wirecard stock increased massively. How sad for those who speculated on the hope of the publishing its late year end. And again, well done Dan! For not giving up.
Great report, great work! Thanks a lot
Chapeau for this accurate and precise research, thanks for pushing the boundaries and keep workin on it despite all the struggles. As a German I feel a bit embarrassed for our investigators. Luckily I never mistrusted the allegations and kept a view from the sideline.
Well done sir. When something looks too good to be true...
Superb journalism
No more credit Card - ever. Cash rules. I hope these Wirecard guys get locked up for ever.
It’s not just a credit card though. People use it as a type of debit card with payment systems like Payoneer for freelancer/contractors.
Great work. Keeping those greedy finance folk honest ft!
When’s the screenplay to be released? It must’ve been a very exciting story especially from your POV (awful for shareholders!)
Thanks for your work! Gruß aus Deutschland!
Why would you even want a man in the middle for those financial transactions? Retailers and Banks have working systems in place since decades.
That is a good question.
simple: cost efficiency. These companies have smaller fees and are working worldwide. Banks do not (with some exceptions).
Retailers wanted to just use a system, not develop and maintain their own. Banks probably constricted by major regulations. This way they're inflexible in making quick changes to follow current technology. So they make a common interface and have third party following modern changes.
Great Job! Greetings from Germany! :)
Actual journalism? We don't see much of that today in this cynical world. Good on you.
¡Felicitaciones a todo el equipo del FT! Son en estos casos donde vemos que la libertad de prensa es un pilar fundamental en la sociedad actual.
Thank you Financial Times. Respect 🙌
Thank you for your work! Excellent job
Good work.
The cashless society model is incredibly susceptible to these types of fraudulent acts.
if people keep working on the fantasy and the light keeps on, ultimately, does it even matter?
What amazes me about these frauds is the incompetence of those carrying them out and those who are supposed to stop it. With no accounting skills whatsoever, I managed to find, for a friend, exactly who was stealing what even without a decent paper trail. At that point, of course, I got fired(?), he got his kickback and the company collapsed. What else do you expect from these companies?
Oh, and regarding the paranoia. I've talked a few friends down by pointing out that they're just not important enough to warrant surveillance. In your case, no, it's probably justified.
Thank you from Germany ! Keep on the good work
Excellent analysis
It was unneccesary to be afraid of the german government. I am a citizen of this country and i feel deeply ashamed.
Great reporting and insight 👍🏿
Good journalism , keep it up
Thank you very much for doing this great job.
Well done! Greetings from Germany
Kudos and congratulations!
I bought a VW diesel automobile with wiredcard because they were both german precision products
kopi bin ...haha.....stereotypes are a fiction my friend, especially good ones which those who are so stereotyped like to promote as it puts them in a good light.
The Austrians bring Germany down again :D - first Piëch, then Braun & Marsalek. Some things never change.
No you didn't. You just want to be funny.
I landed a job at wirecard in June 2020. The day before I was supposed to hand over my resignation, they filed for insolvency. Thank God that was a near miss
What did you do?
Brilliant job well done.
Great job