“The heart of the problem is email as a means of communication. People send all their confidential information, and it’s easy to hack and see what they are talking about.”

Here at Hallett independent we see at least one case of cybertheft per week, it’s much more prevalent than the physical theft of an artwork.

By cybertheft – what are we talking about exactly?

Well, often its email scammers trying to trick you into giving them your personal information. Many of these scams use social engineering as a tool to convince people to either divulge sensitive information or send money to mysterious overseas accounts, with scammers researching specific targets in order to pose as someone they trust.

So, what can galleries do to prevent this?

Put some simple measures in places. Password-protect invoices send sensitive information (including pricing details) via WhatsApp or another encrypted messaging service, or even consider using good old-fashioned snail mail.

This is a topic fully explored in Artsy’s latest blog, How Art Collectors Can Avoid Online Phishing Scams and Social Engineering.