Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and two Citigroup executives — CEO Michael Corbat and CEO of global consumer banking Stephen Bird — are the latest victims of an email hoax conducted by a self-proclaimed email prankster, according to fnlondon.com and cityam.com.
The email impersonator has been contacting corporate executives, masquerading as senior executives within their companies and posting the exchanges on Twitter.
One of the latest targets, Mr. Blankfein, responded to emails sent by the email impersonator pretending to be Harvey Schwartz, co-COO of Goldman Sachs.
On June 11, the two joked about a trip to Vegas and briefly discussed President Donald Trump's Twitter usage. Minutes after the exchange, the impersonator released screenshots of the conversation on his Twitter account, @Sinon_Reborn, according to cityam.com.
This exchange was later referenced in another hoax sent to Mr. Corbat and Mr. Bird, when the impersonator pretended to be Citigroup Chairman Michael O'Neill June 11, fnlondon.com reported. The impersonator sent a link containing a news story detailing the Goldman Sach's email scam to the two Citigroup executives and he told them he felt the bank should improve its email security moving forward, to avoid being hit by a similar hoax in the future.
"Can never be too careful Mike. Hope that's our real Chairman!" Mr. Bird replied before discussing Citigroup's current e-mail security.
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup both confirmed the exchanges, according to fnlondon.com. However, they declined to offer additional comment.
Barclays CEO Jes Staley, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and Shadow Home Secretary of the British Labour Party Diane Abbott have all recently been tricked by the email impersonator, according to cityam.com.
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