Email scams getting personal, even cybersecurity experts are being fooled

We all like to think we’re immune to scams. We scoff at emails from an unknown sender offering us 2 million pound, in exchange for our bank details.

But the game has changed and con artists have developed new, chilling tactics. They are taking the personal approach and scouring the internet for all the details they can find about us.

Scammers are getting so good at it that even cybersecurity experts are taken in.

One of us (Oliver Buckley) recalls that in 2018 he received an email from the pro-vice chancellor of his university saying: “This is it, I thought. I’m finally getting recognition from the people at the top. Something wasn’t right, though. Why was the pro-vice chancellor using his Gmail address? I asked how I could meet. He needed me to buy 800 pound worth of iTunes gift cards for him, and all I needed to do was scratch off the back and send him the code. Not wanting to let him down, I offered to pop down to his PA’s office and lend him the 5 pound note I had in my wallet. But I never heard back from him.”