Tech YouTuber Marques ‘MKBHD’ Brownlee has revealed what happened the day that the FBI contacted him due to the Escobar folding phone.
Back in March 2020, Marques Brownlee uploaded a video showing off the $399 Escobar Fold 2 – a gold Android phone that looked just like the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
It turns out that it was a Galaxy Fold but with a gold sticker over the back and hinge of the phone. After removing the sticker over the hinge, MKBHD discovered a Samsung logo.
In the years since, Brownlee has hinted quite a few times that he had an interaction with the FBI – but many brushed his comments off as jokes.
On July 26, 2024, he finally revealed the story behind his interaction with the FBI after they contacted him to talk about the Escobar phone. They asked to see all of the conversations that his team had with the company, and took both the devices for evidence in a then-ongoing fraud case.
“They basically then had a bunch of questions about that video and the process of dealing with that company in any way,” he said. “Any and all communications I had with them, any email… they wanted everything.”
Brownlee claimed that the company was shipping phones to YouTubers and people they hoped to get positive comments from, and then allegedly not shipping devices to others.
“Those people were getting scammed out of their money,” he said. “Honestly, in hindsight, I don’t know how they thought they were going to get away with this… eventually their whole plan backfired after I made a video about the whole thing.”
In February 2024, the CEO of Escobar was arrested for fraud after allegedly failing to deliver almost 600 of the phones to customers. On top of that, he was charged with smuggling, money laundering, and illegal art trading.
This FBI story comes just days after MKBHD recieved backlash over his Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra video, causing him to respond to some of the comments.