Scammers may have hijacked Met text drive

CRIMINALS might have been able to hijack a Met Police drive to text 70,000 people who lost money in scams by copying the message and pretending to be the force, an expert has warned.

The UK’S biggest ever fraud sting brought down a phone number spoofing site used by criminals to scam thousands of victims.

Scotland Yard attempted to contact the victims by sending them text messages alerting them to the fact they had been a victim of the scam.

But hours after making the announcement about the communication, it was feared fraudsters were exploiting the messages.

Dr Budgie Dhanda, a cyber security expert, said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I would not be surprised if some very, very bright people out there decided ‘oh, this is an opportunity for me to start sending out spam text messages which make it look like I’m from the Met Police’.”

Members of British law enforcement were part of a global operation to bring down ispoof.cc.

A Met Police spokesman said: “The text message asks potential victims to visit the Met Police website for more information and explains how to report what happened...we are encouraging victims to report online.”