Phishing scams: How innocent emails can steal your identity and what to do

Phishing scam. (Courtesy/iStock)

Recently, one of my acquaintances, Frank, received an email late on a Monday afternoon with the subject line, "Are you still in the office?" It appeared to come from his manager, who claimed to be stuck in a long meeting without the means to urgently purchase online gift vouchers for clients. He asked for help and shared a link to an online platform, from which Frank bought R6,000 (about US$325) worth of gift vouchers. Once he'd sent the codes he received a second email from the "boss" requesting one more voucher.

At that point, Frank reached out to his boss through WhatsApp and discovered he'd been duped. Frank had fallen prey to a phishing scam.