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“I’m almost embarrassed to admit how many ‘no’s’ I’ve gotten,” Brown said in an interview.

But Brown recently believed he found his investor — someone he located through LinkedIn. The investor told Brown (in poorly-written English) they would give him $1 million if he put up the boat as collateral, and said there would be no upfront fees. But the investor later told Brown they would need to receive a $4,700 insurance fee before handing over the money.

That fee, they said, would need to be paid through Richard D. Palmer, a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio.

“I wanted to believe these people. I wanted so bad to believe them,” said Brown, whose world records include longest non-stop journey in a flats boat. But because he has been scammed before and didn’t want it to happen again, he started doing research.

Among the emails Brown received in relation to the deal was a URL for a website under Palmer’s name. That site, Brown eventually discovered, was a knock-off of the one owned by Yousefi’s firm in Vancouver. After contacting Yousefi directly, Brown came to believe that the U.S. site — and his investor — may be part of an elaborate fraud.

Yousefi’s site can be seen at ylaw.ca. The knock-off site is at rdpalmerlpa.com. It has the same photos and layout of Yousefi’s award winning site, but most of the names and numbers have been changed to fit a Richard D. Palmer of 580 South High Street, Suite 250, Columbus, Ohio.

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It is unclear whether Palmer is aware that his name is being used on the website or that he is in any way involved. Extensive attempts to reach Palmer failed.