Your supervisor or one of your colleagues expressly asks you to “solve a problem”? Here’s why you’d better not respond to this email.
Receiving an email from your superiors often puts pressure on employees, who generally respond to the boss’s request as a priority. Some people even receive emails or text messages when they are not at the office, in the evening or on weekends, when there is an emergency. Generally, we do not dare to question our orders, and we run to restore the problem. It is precisely in a case like this that it is better to check twice before responding.
Indeed, if you receive an urgent message from your superior or the CEO of your company, or even from a colleague asking you to “resolve the problem quickly”, be wary. Because it may be a fraudulent email, which warns you of a delicate situation, which could put the company at risk. You might even get fired, but luckily, you have ways to save the situation. How ? By providing sensitive information about the company or your position, or simply transferring money.
This scam is wreaking havoc, warns cybersecurity company Kaspersky. And for good reason: the email comes from someone we know well (their boss, their colleague, an employee of the legal or accounting department, or even the CEO of the company), which reduces our distrust of the person. regard to such a message. Generally, the person in question suggests that their victim contact an external correspondent who will explain to you the steps to take to resolve the problem quickly. This could be a law enforcement officer, a tax officer, a banker or even an auditor. The urgent nature of this request is also typical of scams set up to deceive victims and encourage them to act quickly.
Depending on the employee’s position and their income, they may be required to carry out a financial transaction intended for a supplier, or a law firm mandated to resolve the situation. Employees may also be forced to hand over confidential information about the company or department in question, such as passwords for internal systems. Photo montage, rigged audio imitating the voice of the interlocutor… Everything is done to convince without suspicion.
So how can we protect ourselves from such an attack? If you receive an urgent email of this type, take the time to check information such as the email and telephone number of the person contacting you and pay attention to the tone used, as well as the manner of ‘to write. Does this email seem unusual to you? In this case, contact your superior directly through another communication channel, and find out from your colleagues.