You Couldn't Make It Up

Former Home Secretary and now Justice Minister, Jack Straw, has been the victim of Internet scammers from Nigeria.

'Don't Worry It's Only My Constituency E-Mail Address'

The scam was excellent. Nigerian hackers bashed their way into Straw's Blackburn constituency email account and sent out a message to people on his address book like Party members, Council Chiefs and Ministerial people at The Justice Department, you know, the usuals on his joke distribution list. The message read that he was stuck in Nigeria and his wallet was stolen so he needed $3,000 to get home. Apparently a fair number of constituents and contacts received it and Mr. Straw only cottoned-on that he was the victim of a scam when he started to receive phone calls from worried constituents to see if he was actually in Nigeria.

It is a baseless lie that many called in to offer money to keep him there.

Mr. Straw was swift to point out that only his constituency email address had been hacked into. One theory is it happened when he logged onto some dodgy porn or gambling site, but we are sure that could not be the case. But Mr. Straw said that security was not at risk as his ministerial email account was fine and that there was nothing worth knowing on there as he didn't do much anyway, or some cynics would say. As for his constituents, they should not worry that they have been posting their private details of concerns or worries, possibly with revealing details about their homes or possibly even bills they have received unwarranted. Most likely all were safe as he deleted most off without reading them.

Embarrassment

Jack Straw knows a thing or two about Hi Tech security. As Home Secretary, he established a National Hi-Tech Crime Unit precisely to stop such Internet scams - good to see all that hard work and money paid off.

Mr. Straw was quick to point out that 'The Internet is wonderful in many ways, but I think it was so obviously ridiculous that I could go off trekking in Africa and lose my wallet.' He no doubt went on to say that's about as ludicrous as thinking highly sensitive data on CDs and laptops could be lost as close at hand as the UK.

The best laugh is that only one person apparently replied to the mail but no money was offered.