Warning over scams targeting Manx email accounts

People have been warned of scams targeting Manx emails after users were told they would need to begin paying a subscription or lose access to their accounts.

It follows the announcement in October by Manx Telecom (MT) that its Manx.net service was being transferred to specialist provider Junara, which would charge a subscription fee from 21 January.

The Isle of Man Cyber Security Centre (CSC) has warned that scammers had been impersonating MT, sending emails including links that urged people to switch to the new firm within a few days.

The link - prompting people to fill out their email address and password - enables scammers to gain access to the account and ask contacts to buy gift cards.

Once someone's account had been compromised, the scammers either changed the password to lock the user out of the account, or redirect emails to another account while undetected to gain information on them, the CSC said.

The email address could then be used to send emails out to contacts saying the account holder was ill and needed to communicate by email, before asking the person to buy gift cards for them, the centre continued.

Sam Hudson, a cyber intelligence and operations analyst at the CSC, said between the announcement of the move to Junara in October and mid-December, up to 40 Manx.net accounts had been compromised.

That marked a spike when compared to the total of 100 throughout the year in 2024.

The scams had left victims "shocked" and "quite a few people feeling bad that they had been misled" after their account had sent out "all these gift card scams to their contacts, with some people having bought them", he said.

He said it was important that members of the public did not put any weight on who was sending an email, and if the correspondence was unexpected and included links or attachments it should be considered suspicious.

"Manx Telecom has warned customers that they and Junara would not send out emails with links in them," he added.

Those who receive suspicious emails have been urged to report them to the island's Cyber Security Centre.

He said: "For Manx.net users, if they are receiving phishing emails which are going to their main inbox, and if they are not comfortable with being able to identify them, it might be better to allow the account to close and move to a new email."

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