Police have launched an investigation into alleged “malicious communications” against parliamentarians following a formal complaint from a serving MP. At least 12 men received “flirty” messages or explicit photos between October 2023 and February this year from two suspicious mobile numbers in a “spear phishing attack”.
After receiving the complaint from the MP, a Leicestershire Police spokesperson said in a statement: “Leicestershire Police is investigating a report of malicious communications after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to a Leicestershire MP last month. They were reported to police on Tuesday 19 March. Enquiries are currently ongoing.”
The messages received by victims generally followed a pattern which involved the sender claiming they already knew their target and that the pair had flirted at a specific political event or in a Westminster bar.
They then professed embarrassment at not being remembered and, in several cases, sending an unsolicited explicit photo.
The men, from both Labour and the Conservatives, are understood to include a Government minister, four MP staffers, a political journalist and a senior Labour MP.
Former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith branded the attacks – revealed by politics news website Politico – an ”assault on parliamentary democracy”. The House of Commons was expected to email all MPs with a fresh warning on cyber security.
Spear phishing is a targeted cyber attack on one or a select number of victims to induce them to reveal confidential information.
The salacious WhatsApp messages were sent to both straight and gay men – under the aliases of “Abi’ or “Charlie”.
There are concerns the attacks could be an attempt by a hostile state to compromise and blackmail senior political figures directly or through their staff. At least one victim is understood to have reciprocated with a photo, reports have suggested.
Alicia Kearns, the Tory chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said: “There is almost certainly a foreign hostile state behind this.
“It’s really clever to go for staff because they’re not as aware and aren’t used to these kinds of advances. But they have a huge ability to influence their bosses, access their emails and they could do a lot of damage if they have been entrapped.
“That’s why it’s really important to look at the level of protection we give to staff.”
