INA FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images
- Scammers are duping attendees of the World Economic Forum with fake VIP passes for the USA House.
- "Our sympathies to those who fell victim to these scams," USA House posted on its site, saying it will not honor fake tickets.
- Based on the number of questions it has received, USA House estimates that the false tickets sold fast.
A recent warning out of Davos highlights that even the world's business elite can fall prey to online scams.
Fake VIP passes for the USA House — America's privately funded celebration site at the World Economic Forum's event in Davos, Switzerland — have hit the market. In a statement on its website, the USA House warned those attending not to be duped.
USA House
"We will not give access to people who purchased such packages," the statement reads. "Our sympathies to those who fell victim to these scams."
The scams seem to be working. Based on the number of questions the USA House has received, it wrote that the "fake VIP passes may be the fastest-selling fiction about Davos since Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain." (In "Magic Mountain," Hans Castorp visits his cousin at the Davos sanatorium. In the century since it was published, the novel has become a mainstay of the World Economic Forum.)
The USA House is a privately funded venue set in a historic church. The site celebrates 250 years of American history.
According to its website, the USA House is programmed to reflect themes of "innovation, opportunity, collaboration, and democratic values."
The list of speakers at the USA House is sprawling. It includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the White House's AI and crypto czar David Sacks, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Microsoft president Brad Smith, among others.
President Donald Trump's special address will be livestreamed at the USA House on Wednesday.
Business Insider's Ben Bergman visited the USA House. He found a long line outside, and a buffet of tomato soup, chicken salad sandwiches, and Greek salad inside.
Amanda Estiverne, a consultant to fintech companies, told Bergman the USA House was "very hard to get into."
Some attendees Bergman spoke to questioned the decision to host the USA House within a church.
"I'm always in favor of open and active diplomacy, but I'm not sure if a church is the right place," said Nils Handler, who works at the University of Zurich. "It feels strange."