The constituency office of famous Labour politician Jack Straw has been targeted by email scammers.

Those behind the fraud used a classic tale, saying that Straw had lost his wallet  and had been stranded in Africa whilst undertaking charity work and required $3,500 in order to travel home.

It is believed that up to 200 such emails were issued from the politician’s office and were sent to council bosses, Labour party members, Ministry of Justice Officials and even ordinary constituents.

The attempted scam was perpetrated on Thursday when staff at Jack Straw’s constituency office received an email which claimed that their account would be suspended if they didn’t reply.

However, when they did reply, they were locked out of their account and the scam email was then sent out, claiming that Straw was stuck in Nigeria and needed money to settle his hotel bills.

No-one is believed to have sent any money though one constituent did reply to the email.

Article by Lee Munson

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