Scammers target ‘Who’ list

THE publisher of Who’s Who in America claims that scammers have been targeting the notable names on its lists to clean out their bank accounts in a con.

When Erica Lee became CEO of Marquis Who’s Who — the publisher of the reference work and 23 other similar titles, such as Who’s Who of Professional Women — she says she uncovered a company that was fraudulently targeting listees, and she contacted federal authorities.

“People thought they were us,” Lee, the first woman CEO of Marquis in its 122-year history, told Page Six. She said the scammers would tell their marks over the phone that they were from the publisher’s “shipping department” and get them to send checks so they could steal bank information.

The New York Times called Marquis’ various catalogs “a librarian’s Vanity Fair” in a 2005 piece that wondered how its “familiar two-volume ‘big red book’ ” could remain relevant in the Internet era. One way of late has been to launch a personal branding operation for its members, including a partnership with Star Jones.

Another issue surrounding the books is that the term “who’s who” is in the public domain and can’t be copyrighted. There are other, smaller directories that also use the moniker and are legit.

Lee says of the scammers who claim to be associated with Marquis: “They’ll shut one company down, and start right back up again.” After the first group was caught in 2018, a new crop, she said, has been using Marquis’ genuine press releases in pitches to targets to get their credit card info. “They read like the exact content that we created,” Lee said.

Federal investigators are now looking into the latest scammers, she said.

One listee who alerted Marquis to the recent fishy calls is a former Virginia attorney general who was contacted, and who has filled out an affidavit for Marquis and is helping them look into the matter.

Lee added that the members can be convenient targets: In many cases, “they’re preying on the elderly . . . You have to be at a certain level to be in Marquis Who’s Who . . . They’re looking at these people as victims.” Marquis has sent a letter to members, telling them to be wary of scammers.