A MORAY woman has been targeted by callous internet criminals who sent her an e-mail telling her she could have cancer.
Fiona Crawford received a message purporting to be from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
It told her that a blood test she had undergone had raised a suspicion of cancer.
The official-looking e-mail advised her to download an attachment containing “test results” and take them to her doctor as soon as possible.
However, the document was actually a virus which allows crooks to remotely take control of infected computers and steal information such as bank details.
Mrs Crawford, of Hopeman, said: “I know people who have died from cancer, who have survived it, and who are currently undergoing treatment.
“I would hate to think that any of them would ever have received something like this.
“I think a lot of people receiving such an e-mail would open the attachment in a blind panic.
“It’s preying on people’s fear and it’s very cruel.”
NICE said yesterday it believed the fake e-mails – thought to have been sent from India – may have been received by thousands of people across the UK, despite the fact the body is only responsible for health matters in England and Wales.
The e-mail, headlined “blood test result” said: “We have been sent a sample of your blood analysis for further research.
“The complete blood count (CBC) revealed that white blood cells are very low, and unfortunately we have a suspicion of a cancer.”
Mrs Crawford, who works in customer support for food giant Baxters, initially dismissed the e-mail as a hoax.
But later the contents of the message started to prey on her mind.
She said: “I’d had a blood test before Christmas for a minor medical matter, but I’d already received the results.
“Yet I found myself wondering about it all day – maybe NICE were conducting special tests for some reason, maybe something had been detected.
“The more I thought about it the more angry I became.
“Eventually, I went on to the NICE website and saw that they had issued a warning about fake e-mails.
“I’m very sad that some people could do a thing like this, and that other people are going to be caught out by them.”
A spokeswoman for NICE said: “This e-mail is definitely not being sent out by us. Our systems haven’t been hacked.
“It’s just somebody using our name. The original IP address seems to be somewhere in India.” Sir Andrew Dillon, the chief executive of NICE: “This e-mail is likely to cause distress to recipients since it advises that ‘test results’ indicate they may have cancer.
“This malicious e-mail is not from NICE and we are currently investigating its origin. We take this matter very seriously and have reported it to the police.”
NICE is advising people who have received the e-mail to delete it without opening it and not to click on any links.
Comment, Page 28