RNZ In this episode of The Detail, Emile Donovan speaks to researchers Tom Barraclough and Curtis Barnes, and media commentator Gavin Ellis, about a new reality in which you can’t necessarily believe your eyes. (First published July 2020) ANALYSIS: When Hong Kong pro-democracy activists last month received messages from Australia’s Finance Minister, Simon Birmingham, on encrypted messaging service Telegram, they were overjoyed. But it was too good to be true. The activists quickly realised something was up when “Birmingham” requested they transfer money into a Hong Kong bank account. It was, in fact, a cyber hacker who had somehow managed to verify a Telegram account with Birmingham’s phone number, thereby stealing his contact book. This “phishing” scam also hit Health Minister Greg Hunt, Australia’s ambassador to the United States Arthur Sinodinos and a number of other senior diplomats.