A Summons by any other Name.

A recent email scam has shown the growing sophistication of cyber based criminals, as "subpoenas" have begun arriving in people's inboxes, apparently from the Australian Federal Police. 

At first glance the emails look as though they may be legitimate, but they are in fact a scam. The emails invite the named party to attend their local court because of "crime commitment." They also contain a link to download your file. 

"The AFP does not issue subpoena's via email," an AFP spokesperson said to the ABC in an article about the scam. "Do not click on any links. Delete the email straight away and clear out your deleted folder."

Hackers and cyber-based criminals are growing consistently more sophisticated, adopting technology improvements and learning to cover their tracks more effectively. There's hardly a day that goes by without receiving spam emails reporting to be from a Bank advising you your account details are frozen and to click here to reactivate. 

It is important for internet users to be stay aware of the various scams. A good rule of thumb is not to click any link or attachment from someone you do not know. Another tip for cyber safety is to ring the institution you've received an email from if it makes you suspicious. 

Some of the popular buzzwords around at the moment are innovation and disruption, but  there is a darker side to innovation and disruption, and understanding how criminals are embracing both innovative and disruptive technologies to drive new life into traditional schemes is something not only the Australian public, but corporate Australia needs to understand.

Tamsyn Harris, Head of Fraud Strategy - Financial Crimes Unit from the ANZ is examining this issue at Akolade's 5th Australian Fraud Summit, being held in Sydney, May 24th to 26th 2016. For further information on how to protect your organisation from the darker side of digital disruption, please click here. 

Mike Cullen has recently returned to Akolade after a period as the conference producer for one of Australia's leading economic think tanks. Mike began working in the conference industry in 2007 after looking for a career change from the high pressured world of inbound customer service.

Mike has worked for some of the most well-known conference and media companies in the B2B space and in his spare time is working on his first novel in a planned Epic Fantasy trilogy. Mike’s first published work will be the short story Seeds of Eden, in the Sproutlings Anthology scheduled for release in March 2016.