01/07/2026
๐ช๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ% ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ?
We recently caught a highly sophisticated trademark scam hitting our inbox and our clients' emails. It skipped the usual red flagsโthere was no gibberish email address, and the website looked professional. It was designed to trigger panic and force immediate, unthinking action.
Here is exactly how we investigated it, and how you can protect your team:
๐ญ. ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ก๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ
The email appeared to come from a real professional. Because it demanded immediate action, we didn't trust it. Remember the golden rule: Never click links inside a suspicious email.
๐ฎ. ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐
We manually typed the website address into who.is, a free online directory. The domain was less than 30 days old. For an established professional service, this is a massive red flag.
๐ฏ. ๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ด๐น๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐
We searched the sender's name and company. The top result was a public warning from the real individual on LinkedIn, stating that their identity was being used to run this exact scam.
๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐จ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐
Don't just hit delete. If you receive one of these emails in New Zealand, forward it to [email protected].
This service, run by Netsafe NZ, deploys an AI chatbot to reply to the scammer. The bot uses multiple personas to trap them in a never-ending, time-wasting conversation. Every minute a scammer spends arguing with a bot is a minute they are not robbing a real business.
Take 5 minutes to verify before you pay or reply. Pass this along to your accounts team today.
