When Poppy started her new job as an executive assistant at a consultancy for private members’ clubs, the first email to appear in her inbox bore the name of the chief executive. As his assistant, this seemed routine. She quickly set about working on the task he gave her. “I just immediately jumped on it,” she says.
She had been asked to buy a dozen Apple gift cards as presents for clients, spending more than £2,000 in one of its central London branches. “It didn’t really click until I messaged him with the gift cards and said, ‘here you go’, and he said ‘what are these?’”
Poppy had been a victim of a scam known as “spear phishing”. In this iteration, “boss scams” target the natural vulnerabilities of new starters. Fraudsters pose as figures of authority, requesting urgent help to buy gift cards as a “treat” for clients or employees. Once victims pass the voucher to the fraudster, it is posted for sale on the dark web at a reduced price. As cohorts of graduates begin their new roles this month, new hires are warned to be vigilant.