British politicians who might have been tricked into sending sexual messages were told on Friday to report it to the police. This came after a senior Conservative member admitted giving some colleagues’ phone numbers to someone who had embarrassing information about him.
William Wragg, who leads a government committee, gave his phone numbers to a man he met on a dating app for gay people. This happened after he sent private pictures of himself.
Wragg, 36, said to The Times that the man had bad stuff on him and he was frightened and tricked into giving his colleagues’ numbers to the person he met on Grindr.
“I gave them a few numbers, but not all of them,” he said. “I talked to a guy on an app and we shared photos. ” We were supposed to meet for drinks, but we didn’t. Then he began asking how many people there were. I was scared because he had information about me. He gave me a WhatsApp number, but it doesn’t work anymore. I have made people sad because I was not strong. I was very afraid. I am very embarrassed.
Treasury minister Gareth Davies advised people who were affected to report to the police.
“Will Wragg apologized for what he did, and I think it’s clear that people react differently in different situations,” he told Sky News.
The honeytrap sexting scam is a type of cyber-attack that targets specific groups, and it’s called “spear phishing. ” Scammers pretend to be someone you trust in order to steal important information.
Wragg’s big discovery came after people had been wondering for days, sparked by an article in Politico. It said that some current and former members of parliament had been messaged on WhatsApp by an unknown number. The messages talked about past meetings with politicians and asked for personal or secret information. The report said that some people were sent pictures of naked bodies. At least two of them then sent pictures of themselves back.
“If you ever feel like you’re in a bad situation or being threatened, go to the police right away. It’s very serious,” Davies said.
Police in Leicestershire, England are looking into messages sent to a local politician that were mean and unwanted.
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Top British politician arrested over sexting scam
