2 November 2026 · 4-minute read
Hello again. This week's stories all come back to one idea: scammers are getting very good at looking like the real thing. A fake IT helper, an email that sails through the safety filters, a voice that sounds just like family. None of it needs to fool everyone. It only needs to fool someone on a busy Tuesday. Here are five stories, each with something small you can run with.
1. The "IT helper" who caused the problem
Security researchers have tracked hundreds of cases of a sneaky trick. First, scammers flood someone's work inbox with hundreds of junk emails. Minutes later, a message or call pops up on Microsoft Teams (the chat tool many workplaces use) from someone claiming to be IT support, kindly offering to fix the mess. They then ask the person to install screen-sharing software, which hands over control of the computer. The twist: anyone outside your company can often message you on Teams, and the chat quietly shows a small "External" label when they do.
Talking point: ask your team, "If your inbox suddenly filled with junk and IT popped up on Teams offering to fix it, what would you do?" The answer to spread: real IT does not appear out of nowhere right after a problem starts. Hang up, and contact IT yourself through the usual channel.
2. Scam emails are slipping past the filters
A large security company studied the scam emails sent to its customers this year and found that roughly 4 in every 10 got past the automatic filters, and most of those also passed the behind-the-scenes checks that confirm where an email came from. In other words, "it reached my inbox, so it must be safe" is not true, and neither is "it came from a real company's address, so it must be safe". It's worth noting the company sells security training, so it has an interest in the message, but the trend matches what others are seeing.
Evidence you can use: "About 4 in 10 scam emails get past the filters. The filters are the net, but people are the goalkeeper." A handy line for anyone who asks why these reminders still matter.
3. The AI tools your colleagues are quietly using
A survey of security professionals found that about 6 in 10 believe their colleagues use AI chatbots and tools at work outside the official rules, often pasting in work information to get a quick answer. Here is the hopeful part: in workplaces with clear, specific rules about which AI tools are approved and what can go into them, quiet rule-bending was about half as common. People route around rules less because of malice than because of confusion.
Try this activity: at your next team catch-up, ask two questions with no blame attached: "Which AI tools do you actually use for work?" and "What do you check before pasting something in?" Collect the answers and pass them to your security team. In ten minutes, you will have told them exactly where clearer guidance is needed.
4. Protecting the older people in our lives
Researchers at a Hungarian university reviewed years of studies on scams against older adults, and the numbers are sobering. In America alone, people over 60 reported losing about 7.7 billion dollars to online crime last year, up by more than half on the year before, and scammers now use computer-generated voices that sound like a panicked relative. The tools built to spot fake voices? The researchers found they work noticeably worse on older voices, and none had been properly tested with older people in real life. For now, human habits beat clever software.
Try this activity: this week, agree a family code word with your parents or grandparents, a word a caller must know before anyone sends money or shares details. And share the golden rule: if a call feels urgent and emotional, hang up and ring the person back on the number you already have.
5. Fake websites, made by machine
A research team tested whether AI chatbots can be talked into building fake login pages, the kind designed to steal passwords. They can, in minutes and in bulk, though the results are often clumsy and less than half work properly end to end. The lesson is not that perfect fakes are everywhere. It is that there will be far more fakes, because making them has become cheap.
Talking point: share this one line with your team: "Never judge a login page by its looks. Get there your own way, through a saved bookmark or by typing the address, and let your password manager be the sceptic, because it will refuse to fill in a fake."
Until next week
A code word agreed at Sunday lunch, one honest chat about AI tools, a single line about fake IT helpers passed on at standup. Small things, all of them, and every one travels further than you will ever see. Keep dropping them in the pond.