Austrian Millionaire Hired a Bezos Lookalike and Assigned Real Special Forces Officers to Guard Him: Corporate Joke Turns Into Scandal

Austrian tool manufacturer Haidlmair found a rather unusual way to celebrate the largest contract in the company’s history with Amazon. However, the most memorable guest at the event turned out to be not quite who everyone thought he was.

Last month, a professional Jeff Bezos lookalike arrived by helicopter at a corporate event held by the company in Micheldorf, Upper Austria. Dark suit, aviator sunglasses, a smoothly shaved head, and the familiar beard — the resemblance to the Amazon founder was obvious.

But standing alongside him were three real Austrian police officers wearing masks and carrying firearms.

The result was a truly extraordinary corporate spectacle: the billionaire was fake, but his security detail was absolutely real.

The officers were members of the Upper Austria Schnelle Interventionsgruppe (SIG), a special unit based in Linz. Apparently, they knew perfectly well that the person they were accompanying was a lookalike.

According to Der Standard, the police are now conducting an internal investigation. They are examining how the special unit was brought in, who was responsible for the decision, whether it had the appropriate jurisdiction, and who ultimately should pay for the officers’ presence at a private event.

Additional questions were raised by the fact that SIG is intended to respond to particularly dangerous situations and, reportedly, does not have specialized training in VIP protection.

The celebration itself was far from an ordinary company party. Guests were offered helicopter sightseeing flights, freestyle motocross performances, live music by brass bands from Nussbach and Waldneukirchen, a performance by the Austrian band Mountain Crew, mechanical bull riding, roast suckling pig, and grilled dishes.

Paradoxically, even the real Jeff Bezos would not normally receive this particular kind of Austrian police protection — for a visiting billionaire, private security would be much more customary.

Haidlmair may simply have wanted to give its Amazon celebration a finale worthy of Bezos’s scale. But in the end, the main attraction of the event was neither the injection molds, nor the helicopter, nor even the billionaire’s lookalike.

All eyes were on the three completely real police officers who were guarding a completely fake Jeff Bezos.