July 8th 2023.
Robert Kerbeck was a man of many talents: an actor in hit shows such as ER and Melrose Place, and a talented corporate spy. For nearly two decades, Robert lived a double life as a deceitful information thief, relying on his acting training to manipulate innocent workers into divulging sensitive corporate information.
Robert would put on various accents, mimicking corporate big-wigs, to convince workers to give him confidential information. “I would call up and say ‘This is Gerhard, calling from the office in Frankfurt. We have the European Union regulators here and we need some information from the States,’” he says, with a convincing German accent. “What are people taught in the corporate world? Be a good teammate. So they want to help you. Nobody’s thinking you’re pretending or that you’re a trained actor impersonating a real person. I was able to get people to tell me passwords, new product information, what they charged clients, what they paid their employees, who the top employees at their companies were and who their rock stars were.”
The information Robert gathered was extremely valuable. Take the example of the iPad – “imagine if you could learn the names of the people on the design team in the early days of the iPad. How much money would that have been worth?” Robert earned millions of dollars from his espionage work alongside his acting career, and was even awarded just over $1 billion in damages when Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung for infringing on patents related to iPhone and iPad product design.
Robert and Rob Moore, the focus of Tortoise Media’s latest podcast ‘Into the Dirt’, had a similar story. When work dried up, they started gathering corporate intelligence. Corporate espionage is a big problem nationally and internationally. According to cyber security specialists Gatewatcher, across the European markets, spying is the fifth biggest concern for companies.
Robert would use a variety of ruses to obtain confidential information, such as studying accents of industry giants on TV interviews and mimicking them on the phone. He would also form relationships with employees and call them multiple times over a series of years, pretending to know family members, or terrify his target with claims of being from head office. “The words corporate compliance strikes fear in employees,” Rob explains. “People are afraid but when they hear there’s some corporate emergency that you need help with, they relax.”
Robert kept his double life a secret from all but his wife, and at one point in the late nineties, he was hunted by the FBI and other government agencies. Robert often had to talk his way out of hot water, change names, switch phone numbers and go underground.
Though corporate espionage is illegal in some countries, it is not illegal in the UK, according to private investigator Jack Charman. Robert concludes that it was “like taking candy from a baby”, adding “nine out of ten people give it up”. He believes his acting training gave him an edge, saying “my lies sounded better than the truth.”
Robert Kerbeck was an actor who had worked with some of the biggest names in show business, but he had a secret life for nearly two decades. Robert was a corporate spy, making millions of dollars by stealing sensitive information from some of the biggest companies in America.
Using the skills he had acquired from his acting career, Robert was able to mimic corporate big-wigs and manipulate innocent workers into giving him vital intellectual property which he then sold to competitors. For example, he would put on a thick, convincing German accent and call up a company claiming to be from the office in Frankfurt. He knew that corporate employees were taught to be good teammates, and so they were willing to help him.
The information Robert was able to get had great monetary value. In 2011, Apple sued Samsung for infringing on patents related to the iPhone and iPad, and was awarded over $1 billion in damages. Robert himself was able to make millions from his espionage work, earning up to $2 million a year.
Robert's story is similar to that of Rob Moore, the focus of Tortoise Media's latest podcast, "Into the Dirt". Rob was a corporate spy who would use a variety of ruses to obtain valuable information. He would study the accents of industry giants on TV interviews and use them to starstruck employees, form relationships with employees and call them multiple times over several years, and terrify his targets with claims of being from head office.
Robert's methods were effective, and he made millions alongside his acting work. He was even hunted by the FBI and other US agencies, and had to change names and go underground to avoid prosecution. Corporate espionage is not illegal in the UK, as long as the methods used are legal and there is just cause.
Robert was able to use his people skills and acting training to great effect in his espionage work. He was able to manipulate people into giving him information they would never have released, and as he said himself, "My lies sounded better than the truth." For nearly two decades, Robert lived a double life as an actor and a spy, and it was only his wife who knew the truth.
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