This gives cybercriminals two major advantages:

1. Timing: They now know you’re unavailable and less likely to notice suspicious activity.

2. Targeting: They know exactly who to impersonate – and who to target with the scam.

That’s the foundation for a perfect phishing or business e-mail compromise (BEC) attack.


How The Scam Usually Plays Out

Step 1: Your auto-reply message is sent.

Step 2: A hacker uses it to impersonate you or the alternate contact you listed.

Step 3: They send an “urgent” e-mail requesting a wire transfer, password or sensitive document.

Step 4: Your coworker, caught off guard, assumes it’s legit.

Step 5: You come back from vacation to find out someone sent $45,000 to “a vendor.”

This happens more frequently than you might think, and it is even riskier for businesses that travel.

If your company has staff who travel often, especially executives or sales teams, and someone else handles communications while they’re away (like a personal assistant or office admin), this creates prime conditions for cybercriminals: