Scottish Tourism Minister hit by e mail scam
Scottish Culture, Tourism and Sport Minister Patricia Ferguson has been caught up in a £22million email with an internet fraudster using her name in an effort to trap unsuspecting victims.
The email titled, “Greetings from Scotland”, has been emailed around the world and contains a link to the minister’s parliamentary website.
The author of the mail has posed as Ferguson, appealing to investors to help her “re-profile” $40million “for safe-keeping outside the UK”.
It was spotted by IT security consultants Sophos and reported to police and the Executive’s IT security team and yesterday, Minister Ferguson said, “If I had $40million in a bank account I think my declaration of interests would make interesting reading”.
She added: “I hope that by highlighting this, people who get this email will know what to do, delete the mail and report it to the police.”
The email says: “My reason for writing this letter is to pass this very professional brief to you, asking for your partnership in re-profiling, investment and securing this $40million outside the United Kingdom for safe-keeping”. “This is because of my status as an MSP and particularly as the Scottish Minister for culture, tourism and sport.”
This is the latest in a series of 419 scams and like all those others we all receive from people we have never heard of in Nigeria, Ghana and a host of other places, once drawn in, the gullible victims receive requests from the fraudster for private information which can lead to their bank account being plundered, identity theft or requests for cash.
Report by The Mole
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