David Cameron has been a victim of a scam attempt (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
David Cameron has been targeted by a scammer posing as the former Ukrainian President trying to fish for information.
The Foreign Secretary was a victim of a hoax call and messages from an unknown prankster pretending to be Ukraine’s former leader Petro Poroshenko.
Now the government decided to reveal details of the gag in bid to stop malign attempts to manipulate the footage of Lord Cameron.
Cameron became ‘suspicious’ after the fake Poroshenko asked for contact details during the call.
The Foreign Secretary got suspicious after a while (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty)
But before the call ended, a number of ‘text messages were exchanged followed by a brief video call between the Foreign Secretary and someone purporting to be Petro Poroshenko, former president of Ukraine,’ the Foreign Office confirmed.
It said in a statement: ‘Whilst the video call clearly appeared to be with Mr Poroshenko, following the conversation the Foreign Secretary became suspicious.
‘Contact details for others were requested and, given his concerns, the Foreign Secretary stopped responding.
‘The department has now investigated and confirmed that it was not genuine and that the messages and video call were a hoax.
‘We are making this public in case the video of the Foreign Secretary is manipulated and subsequently used, and to ensure that others are aware of this risk.’
Why the Foreign Office revealed details about the call?
Explaining why the statement had been released, the Foreign Office said manipulation of the ‘information environment is becoming ever more present.’
‘Whilst regretting his mistake, the Foreign Secretary thinks it important to call out this behaviour and increase efforts to counter the use of misinformation,’ it added.
Politicians have received repeated warnings in recent months about the growing threat of misinformation and disinformation, especially as artificial intelligence (AI) technology improves.
Only earlier this week, broadcasters warned that on election day, channels will not be able to warn viewers about deepfakes and misinformation.
ITN chief executive Rachel Corp warned that ‘we’re going to be flooded’ with AI-created propaganda in the run-up to polling day.
The Foreign Office did not confirm when the incident happened.
Poroshenko was in power as the Ukrainian leader between 2014 and 2019.
While he is no longer the President after Volodymyr Zelensky took over, Poroshenko has remained a prominent figure in the country since leaving office.
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