Payment fraud is seasonal, and the season is whenever the person who normally asks ‘hang on, is this right?’ is off. School holidays, the week between Christmas and New Year, a founder finally taking a break - these are the windows a fraudster hopes for. The scam does not need to be clever if the one sceptical person is unreachable and everyone left behind wants to be helpful.

The classic version is an email that looks like it is from you, sent to whoever is covering. It is urgent, it is plausible, and it leans on the fact that the sender cannot easily be reached to check. ‘I'm in meetings all day, can you get this paid before close, I'll explain later.’ The pressure and the absence are the whole attack; the amount is often just below whatever would normally trigger a second look.

The fix is to decide the rules before you go, not while you are away. Agree who can approve a payment in your absence and up to what limit. Above that limit, nothing moves without a real conversation, and being on holiday is a reason to wait, never a reason to rush. Write it down so the person covering can point to it and feel safe saying no.

Set your out-of-office honestly but not helpfully to a fraudster. ‘Away until the 5th’ is fine; the name and mobile of the person handling payments is an invitation. Give internal contacts internally. Do the planning once and the person left holding the fort stops being the weak point and becomes the reason the scam fails.