Online fraudster targets Ross-shire SNP MSP Gail Ross
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NORTH MSP Gail Ross has contacted police after finding herself a victim of online identity theft.
A fake Facebook Messenger account, shut down on Sunday after being reported, had been communicating with Mrs Ross's constituents and followers and had been pretending to be her.
The cloned account had the same profile image used on the Gail Ross MSP page on Facebook and fooled many into communicating confidential details in the online chat box.
Mrs Ross, the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said she was appalled and sickened.
Speaking on Monday, she said: “The fact that someone has taken the time to set up a fake Messenger account in my name is bad enough. That they have actually been contacting people and pretending to be me is appalling.
"Being an elected member carries a huge amount of trust and I deal with lots of confidential information on a daily basis."
She said that some of the messages that people had received from the fraudster had made her "very worried".
"The thought of this person pretending to be me makes me feel sick and very angry."
On Monday morning, Mrs Ross contacted the Scottish Parliament security office along with Police Scotland who, she says, are taking the matter "very seriously".
She said: "Hopefully they can work with Facebook to find the person behind this.
"No-one should have to endure this, but to target vulnerable people in this way is sickening and I am horrified that there are people out there that may think this is me.”
Mrs Ross received numerous supportive comments on her public profile account on Facebook.
One "particularly vulnerable person" related to the MSP how they had given their private phone number to the scammer.
Mrs Ross says she is very concerned at what information may have been given out by her followers before the fake account was suspended.
"This wasn't random – the person was actively pretending to be me and sending messages to the followers of my MSP account," she said.
Facebook account cloning is a simple scam but it can be easy to be fooled by it.
A cloned account is a copy that uses your profile photo and other public information to trick Facebook friends into giving up their information.
A cloned account may convince friends to send them money, collect passwords or other information, or dupe them into other scams.
If anyone has received a message from the fake account, they are asked to take a screenshot and email it to Mrs Ross at Gail.Ross.msp@parliament.scot
