Austin-based employee met with convincing scam; company rewards her with trip to France for catching it
May 29, 2024 – Published on KVUE ABC News
Scams are nothing new, but the sophistication fraudsters are using is continually increasing. One woman in Austin was nearly scammed out of her own money after a fake text posing as her CEO was sent to her.
Kaylin Balderrama runs the social media accounts for Austin-based Bazaarvoice. She got a text last week from someone posing as the CEO of her company, asking her to spend her own money on gift cards he urgently needed.
“At first I was like, ‘OK, he’s filling out his full name.’ Normally, the CEO does not do that or spell out my full name, but this seems legit. So I replied back,” said Balderrama. “I then quickly realized it was one of those scam people that ask you to buy gift cards for them.”
She played into the scam, knowing it was fake and adding her own requests.
Workplace scams like the one that targeted Balderrama at Bazaarvoice are becoming more common. A cybersecurity expert says these kinds of scams are getting more sophisticated as well.
“With the advent of AI in all sorts of ways, as we continue to use this technology, it gets better both for us, but it also gets better for those that use it for scamming or fraudulent activity,” said Mitchem Boles, a cybersecurity expert at GuidePoint Security.
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