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File 030358

Email Prank on Jes Staley Impersonating Barclays Chairman John McFarlane (File 030358)

A Financial Times article detailing a sophisticated email prank targeting Barclays CEO Jes Staley, where an imposter used a Gmail account spoofing chairman John McFarlane to send congratulatory messages following a contentious shareholders' meeting.

Summary

On May 10, 2017, after Barclays' annual shareholders' meeting, Jes Staley received emails he believed were from chairman John McFarlane but were actually from a prankster using a spoofed Gmail account. The imposter congratulated Staley on handling criticism and sent increasingly elaborate messages, including a poem with an acrostic spelling 'Whistleblower.' Staley responded effusively with praise for his supposed chairman before realizing the deception. The prankster later contacted the Financial Times claiming the prank was part of a personal dispute with Barclays over a customer issue.

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