Greatest Scams in Technology Today

Bouxtie’s Broken Promises

Renato Libric, a Croatian-born entrepreneur, had a clear goal: to disrupt America’s vast gift card market. Bouxtie (pronounced “bow-tie”), Libric’s firm, offers consumers customizable digital gift cards with custom inscriptions and artwork to distribute to family and friends.

Libric used various tactics to inflate his company’s financial health to create the appearance of a thriving, attractive startup. After Libric secured a million dollars to expand the platform, he later revealed that he had used a series of complex deceptions to persuade investors to keep funding his company.

Libric forged initials on checks to appear that a public company was courting Bouxtie with a takeover offer. He also obtained a “loan” from a Las Vegas business that had previously invested in Bouxtie by forging various signatures of the company’s board of directors. Libric planned to transfer the monies obtained illegally into Bouxtie shares later.