David Cameron falls for fake text messages

But not Ukraine's ex-president
David Cameron falls for fake text messages

The British Foreign Secretary believes he is in contact with Petro Poroshenko. During a video call, Cameron then casts doubt on his counterpart. However, the minister is not secretly ashamed of having fallen for it, but is deliberately seeking publicity.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron received a fake video call from someone claiming to be former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “A series of text messages” were exchanged, reported the British news agency PA, citing the Foreign Office. A short video call also took place. While the video call clearly looked as if it was with Mr Poroshenko, the minister then became suspicious, PA quoted a statement from the ministry on Friday evening. Contact details were requested and, given his concerns, the Foreign Secretary did not respond.

The department has now investigated the case and confirmed that the messages and the video call were false. They will make the case public if the video call is manipulated and exploited. They also wanted to point out the risk. The minister regrets his mistake and believes that it is important to draw attention to it and to do more to combat misinformation.

There have been reports of fake calls on several occasions. Last winter, for example, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni fell for a fake call from Russia, which was made by the Russian duo Wowan and Lexus, who had also deceived former German Chancellor Angela Merkel after her term in office ended. Recently, a fake video of US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller appeared on social media.