James Blake (businessman)

The topic of this article may not meet Wikitia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "James Blake" businessman – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

James Blake

Add a Photo
Born| July 1993

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Nationality| British
Occupation| Businessman, television presenter
Title| CEO and founder of Vindicta Digital
Website| https://james-blake.co.uk/

James Blake (born July 1993) is a British businessman from Belfast, Northern Ireland.[1] He is the CEO and founder of the Vindicta Digital marketing agency and presenter of the BBC Three documentary, Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 2 Business career
* 3 TV career
* 4 Personal life
* 5 Awards and nominations
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Early life[edit]

Blake went to Fort Hill Integrated College.[3][4] He had mixed academic experiences at school, which led him to become an entrepreneur, and he launched his first online business shortly after completing his A-Levels.[5]

Blake played youth football for Lisburn Rangers F.C. and Lisburn Distillery F.C.[6]

## Business career[edit]

Blake founded Vindicta Digital, a digital marketing and SEO company, in 2016, when he was 23.[7]

## TV career[edit]

Blake is the presenter and subject of the 2023 BBC Three documentary Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang. In which he investigated the criminal network that stole his identity and used it for an online catfishing scam.[8][9] During the investigation Blake discovered that hundreds of fake social media profiles had been set up using his likeness, and multiple women had been defrauded.[10][11]

## Personal life[edit]

Blake's father died unexpectedly in May 2018.[12]

## Awards and nominations[edit]

In 2019, Blake was a Belfast Chamber of Commerce, Belfast Business Awards 2019 Finalist in the Young Business Person of the Year category.[13]

In 2022, Blake was nominated for Businessman of The Year at the Ulster Tatler Awards.[14]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ "Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang entrepreneur James Blake reveals how his identity was stolen and what he learned about online scams". BBC. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
2. ↑ "The man who had his identity stolen by fraudsters". ITV. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
3. ↑ "Digital Marketing firm is top of the charts". Ulster Star. April 29, 2018.
4. ↑ "James joins BBC to help unlock 'Your Inner Boss'". The News Letter. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
5. ↑ "High flyers: 'In my mind no one ever works for me, they work with me'". The Irish News. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
6. ↑ "Anne Blake - Questions & Answers 2010". Lisburn.com. 15 October 2010.
7. ↑ "Entrepreneur James Blake to keynote White Lable World Expo". The News Letter. 3 September 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
8. ↑ "Catfishing: How I hunted down the gang impersonating me online". BBC News. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
9. ↑ Sophie McLaughlin (17 June 2023). "NI man James Blake who had pictures stolen for online scam focus of new documentary". BelfastLive. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
10. ↑ John Toner (22 October 2023). "'Catfish' gang used NI businessman's face to con people out of their life savings". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
11. ↑ Alison Rowat (21 October 2023). "TV picks: Hamish Macbeth; Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang". The Herald. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
12. ↑ "James Blake: Resilience in business". ThinkBusiness.ie. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
13. ↑ "Spotlight on Success….Belfast Business Awards 2019 shortlist is revealed – 105 companies made the cut". Belfast Chamber of Commerce. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
14. ↑ "Belfast nominees set to shine at Ulster Tatler Awards 2022". lovebelfast.co.uk. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2023.

## External links[edit]

Add External links

This article "James Blake (businessman)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.