- UK PM Andy Burnham exchanged messages with a fake White House Chief of Staff
- No significant information was shared; contact was quickly reported to authorities
- The impersonator targeted Susie Wiles' contacts, including US officials and executives
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with a person impersonating White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles before becoming suspicious of the contact, according to a BBC report.
The exchange, first reported by Politico, involved only a few messages and did not include a phone or video conversation, according to reports.
Reports said no messages of significance were exchanged and that the communication was quickly reported to the appropriate authorities after concerns emerged that the contact was illegitimate.
Downing Street declined to comment, saying: “We do not comment on national security matters.”
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The incident occurred after Wiles' personal phone was targeted by an impersonator who used her contacts to approach senior US officials, including senators, governors and business executives.
Wiles, a key ally of US President Donald Trump, was also among those targeted in 2024 by a cyber-espionage unit linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The latest incident is not the first time senior British officials have been targeted by impersonators.
In 2024, then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron exchanged text messages with a person posing as former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Cameron also took part in a hoax call with the impersonator.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office later disclosed details of the exchange, saying it feared the messages could be manipulated.
In 2022, then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted in sophisticated Microsoft Teams calls involving a person posing as Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
A Ministry of Defence source said the calls appeared credible because they were routed through another government department.
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