Peter Rhodes on online scams, weapons and how a Scottish rock came to Salisbury Plain
Big wars mean big business. Rheinmettal, Germany's biggest arms manufacturer, has seen its sales increase by £3.3 billion over the past six months and today has orders worth more than £40 billion, thanks largely to sales to the German and Ukrainian governments.
According to the old saying, where there's muck, there's brass. Today it looks like where there's heroes, there's euros.
An unexpected email arrives inviting me to open a voicemail. Looks harmless enough except that there's no mention of my name. So first stop is Google where there are plenty of warnings about scams.
At best, it seems, the voicemail gambit could be a phishing operation to get your personal details. But there's a chance it might be something much cleverer, an Artificial Intelligence scam, luring you into a phone conversation to create a perfect replica of your voice which can then be used for all sorts of nefarious crookery, with victims convinced they are speaking to you.
