Is that really a text from your CEO or is it a scam?

Have you ever received an email or text from someone claiming to be your CEO?

Say someone sends you a message explaining that they need your help to buy some gift cards as someone in your team dropped the ball - would this kind of request make you pause and wonder? Or would you quickly pull out your credit card to do as the message asked?

This scam can come by text message or via email. A surprising number of employees fall for this. There are also many variations, such as your boss being stuck without petrol or some other dire situation that only you can help with. What happens is that the unsuspecting employee buys the gift cards, send the numbers back then find out later that the real company CEO wasn’t the one that contacted them. It was a scammer.

So how do you avoid these scams?

Always double check unusual requests

Check in person or by phone. If you receive any unusual requests or any relating to

money, verify it. Contact the person through other means to make sure it is legitimate.

Don't react emotionally

Scammers will often try to get employees to act before they think. Take a minute to

look at the message/email objectively and work out whether this is legitimate.

Get a second opinion

Ask either a colleague or your IT service provider to take a look at the message. This

stops you from reacting right away and making a costly judgement error.

Need help with email scams?

For more information regarding email scams and security measures, contact Netko IT today.

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.