China’s fake email onslaught ensnares human rights activist
On July 21, an email was sent to the Chinese Embassy in London saying: “This is Drew Pavlou, you have until 12pm to stop the Uyghur genocide or I blow up the embassy with a bomb. Regards, Drew.”
Drew Pavlou, who at the time was protesting outside the embassy, was promptly arrested by U.K. police. The 23-year-old Australian human rights activist, who is vocal on Chinese human rights issues, says he was then detained for 23 hours. The catch was, Pavlou says he did not send the email.
Most people working on Chinese human rights issues have inevitably received an email claiming to be from someone it is not. Having worked for an organization investigating Chinese human rights abuses, the Uyghur Tribunal, I have seen this first hand. But from my experience the emails are often easy to spot.
In the context of more sophisticated attempts at harassment and disruption, which Coda has written about before, these fake emails are of less concern. While the police must take bomb scares seriously, one would hope that they would be able to quickly discern between a fake email and a real one.