Tribune Publishing Dangles Fake Raises to Employees in Phishing Scam Test
Tribune Publishing just pulled one of the most despicable stunts we've seen from a media company in a long, long time. And that's saying something.
The media giant has spent the last few years cutting staff at newspapers across the country, leaving workers underpaid and overworked. On Wednesday the company sent out emails to employees suggesting they would be getting raises for all their hard work. It turns out it was a test to see how susceptible they were to a phishing scam. Needless to say, the employees were furious.
Here are a few of their responses:
How much contempt does @tribpub have for its employees?
— The Hartford Courant Guild (@CourantGuild) September 23, 2020
After cutting our pay and laughing at our bargaining proposals, the company had the gall to offer fake raises as part of a cybersecurity test.
When you think they can’t go lower, they do. pic.twitter.com/4sQ5meSB0j
Love to get a phishing email test from MY OWN COMPANY in which they offer targeted bonuses due to “success created by the ongoing efforts to cut our costs”
— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) September 23, 2020
It’s not like we’re already underpaid, overworked and *incredibly* understaffed.
Very classy move to dangle fake bonuses. pic.twitter.com/LvBmK0EMZ0
After slashing our staff, closing newsrooms, furloughing reporters and cutting pay during a pandemic, @tribpub thought a neat lil way to test our susceptibility to phishing was to send a spoof email announcing large bonuses. Fire everyone involved. pic.twitter.com/tFZsSNrf30
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) September 23, 2020
One of the emails, obtained by The Big Lead, shows the sender as HR and begins with the words "Congradulations" [sic]. Clicking on the simulated phishing test led to automatic enrollment in a training session on such attempts to be completed in the coming weeks, multiple emails reviewed by The Big Lead show.
This is truly an awful, wildly insensitive thing for Tribune to have done. After years of being beaten down by budget cuts, they dangled raises in front of employees as a way to test for a phishing scam. Almost every other method would have been preferable. Impossible to defend such a decision.