Cybersecurity challenges are always evolving, but one thing hasn’t changed: attackers continue to rely on the power of human emotion. Rather than breaking through technical safeguards, many scammers now aim to bypass your judgment by triggering quick, emotional reactions that lead to risky clicks or rushed decisions.
For UBC faculty and staff—who regularly manage sensitive information and rely heavily on email—understanding how emotional manipulation works is an important step in protecting both personal data and our shared institutional resources.
How Scammers Use Emotion to Influence Your Decisions
Emotional manipulation is a social-engineering tactic that creates a sense of urgency, excitement, or fear strong enough to interrupt your usual critical thinking. Most of these attacks fall into two main categories:
1. Creating Fear or Panic
Messages that rely on fear are designed to push you into immediate action. These emails often warn of serious consequences if you don’t respond right away—such as losing access to an account or facing unexpected charges. This “emotional hijacking” works by overwhelming your logical reasoning with stress and worry, making it harder to slow down and question whether the message is legitimate.
Scams may claim that your access will be suspended unless you “verify your information,” or that you owe money for taxes or security issues. The goal is simple: get you to react quickly before you take time to verify the request.
2. Offering a Reward or Positive Surprise
Other messages pull you in with excitement or curiosity. These may promise prizes, investment opportunities, or other benefits that seem rare or exclusive. Because these situations feel positive and urgent, they lower your guard and make risky links or attachments feel harmless.
Whether the emotional spike is positive or negative, the strategy is the same: rely on a moment of heightened feeling to push you past your usual caution.
Why the University Context Matters
In a workplace as busy and interconnected as UBC, scammers often tailor messages to fit academic and administrative environments.
| Authority Bias: | Attackers may impersonate supervisors, department heads, or IT personnel to exploit the natural inclination to follow instructions from someone in a position of authority. An email that appears to come from a senior leader can create pressure to comply before you’ve had time to think. |
| Workplace Urgency: | Messages that express frustration, impatience, or a looming deadline are meant to provoke anxiety or anger—two emotions that can impair sound decision-making. Phrases like “respond within the next hour” or “final warning” are signals that the sender is trying to rush you. Because faculty and staff are accustomed to receiving time-sensitive requests, scammers count on familiarity with urgent communication to lower your defences. |
| Your Best Defence: Pause Before You Act | Protecting UBC information isn’t only about recognizing suspicious links or attachments—it’s also about noticing your own emotional responses. When a message triggers a strong feeling, that’s the moment to pause and reassess. |
A helpful approach is the Stop, Look, and Listen method:
Stop
Take a breath. Let the emotional reaction settle before doing anything else. Don’t buy gift cards, click a link, or approve a transaction just because the message insists on urgency.
Look
Re-examine the email with a neutral mindset.
Ask yourself: Is this request unusual? Am I being pushed to act immediately? Does it feel too good—or too alarming—to be real?
These questions help shift you out of the emotional state the scammer intends.
Listen
Think about how you’re planning to respond. Would the action make sense if you explained it to a colleague or friend?
If it sounds odd, rushed, or out of character, that’s a strong sign to stop and verify.
If something feels off, avoid clicking links, opening attachments, or even selecting the unsubscribe option. These actions can reveal that your email address is active. Instead, confirm the request by contacting the individual or department through known, trusted channels.
Building a Culture of Awareness at UBC
Emotional manipulation isn’t always obvious in the moment, which is why awareness and shared responsibility matter so much. By learning to recognize when an email is trying to trigger fear, excitement, or frustration, UBC faculty and staff strengthen their own safety and contribute to the overall resilience of the university community.
Taking a moment to step back is often the most powerful security measure you have.