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Impersonation scams

ended 20. August 2026

The Newspage news team have been given some jaw-dropping insights today into how easy it is for bad actors to impersonate your brand or you personally. We're looking for views from cyber experts and other relevant spokespeople on whether impersonation is on the rise, how easy it is for criminals to impersonate a person or brand, what steps people and firms can take to protect themselves against impersonation and any anonymised examples where a person or company has been impersonated with serious (financial or otherwise) consequences.

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Francis West
CEO at Security Everywhere
Impersonation is rising fast, and it's easier than most people think. I demo this live at talks all the time. I send someone a test email that looks like it's from their own address, and it lands straight in their main inbox, not junk. People are genuinely shocked. The reason it works is only 9%-10% of UK businesses have their email locked down properly (DMARC at "reject" level). Over three-quarters can be spoofed straight into your inbox. What I tell people to do today: run a free DMARC check on your domain; turn on two-step verification everywhere; stop reusing passwords; check if you're already in a data breach (Have I Been Pwned has logged 17.8 billion breached accounts); and never act on a bank-detail change by email alone - pick up the phone, using a number you already had. I saw the damage first-hand: a friend's nephew lost £47,000 when his conveyancer's email was impersonated and the deposit account was switched. Bank and firm both refused to take responsibility. Very sad.
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Simon Baggs
Executive Chairman of Brand & Content Protection at Corsearch
From fraudulent websites to AI-generated impersonation, bad actors are becoming more sophisticated. Consumers interact across digital channels, making deception easier. AI enables deception, including using celebrity images to appear to endorse products. The concern is consumer trust and safety: those deceived by fraudulent platforms may lose money, expose personal information or obtain unsafe products. Fraudulent operators can also build businesses by exploiting brands’ reputation. AI enables organisations to monitor the internet at scale, assessing billions of data points daily. Brands need IP foundations, protected trademarks, and tools to respond quickly. Brand protection should be a business priority. Marketing, compliance, security and legal teams have a role. Successful operators recognise that it safeguards trust, protects customers and preserves long-term business value.
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Philly Ponniah
Chartered Wealth Manager and Financial Coach at Philly Financial
I've personally experienced this with my TikTok account, where I have 20,000 followers. Scammers find it very easy to download my videos and set up accounts with just a single letter or digit changed, making my followers believe I am contacting them directly.

They pretend they are going to invest money on the user's behalf, but it is a complete scam. I had over 50 copycat accounts taken down last year. This year, I’ve given up trying because TikTok repeatedly responds that no community guidelines have been violated. It is incredibly frustrating.

I’ve seen people send £5,000 thinking it was being invested. While these might not seem like huge sums, for some, it represents all their savings. Fake accounts are a massive problem for financial content creators because audiences trust them and naturally assume it’s really them reaching out.
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Harvey Dhillon
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
Among businesses, impersonation is falling, not rising. DSIT's cyber breaches survey counts businesses impersonated in emails or online, 12 per cent in its 2025/2026 survey, down on 2023. The category here is invoice and mandate fraud, which on UK Finance's members' returns hit a record low in 2025. The bar is low: a fake invoice only has to look like the supplier's real ones with the bank details changed. How the emails are faked is a cyber specialist's job, and I've no client case. Two things protect you: name who may change supplier bank details, and confirm old and new on a number you already held, not one in the email. When you are the one being copied, print on every invoice that you never email new bank details, and give a number your customers already hold. The refund rules are a poor safety net. They reach only firms of fewer than ten people, and cover Faster Payments and CHAPS between UK accounts, not Bacs. Print it before your name is the one on the email.