House of Lords peers have been warned to remain vigilant after
scammers and suspected state actors were found to be impersonating
members of the Royal Household and foreign dignitaries.
The warning was issued by Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the Lord
Speaker, who alerted members of the Upper House to an increase in
sophisticated impersonation attempts.
According to a letter seen by
The Telegraph, criminals and state actors have been
contacting prominent figures while pretending to be trusted
individuals or representatives of credible organisations.
Among the approaches seen recently were people claiming to be
foreign dignitaries or members of the Royal Household.
Lord Forsyth warned that the increasing sophistication of
artificial intelligence was making such attempts increasingly
difficult to identify.
Fraudsters can now use cloned voices, doctored photographs and
deepfake video calls to make it appear as though a communication is
genuinely coming from a known individual.
The Lord Speaker urged peers to be particularly cautious about
messages which appear “overtly flattering” or involve persistent
contact without an obvious reason.
He also highlighted the use of time-sensitive requests, with
scammers potentially using geopolitical events or other urgent
situations to pressure their targets into arranging meetings or
providing information.
WhatsApp and Signal were identified as among the platforms being
used by threat actors.
The warning comes amid wider concerns about attempts by hostile
states to gain access to parliamentarians and other prominent
figures.
Lord Forsyth said that those behind the approaches could use
information obtained from conversations to “cause embarrassment and
damage”.
The latest warning follows an alert issued to MPs by Commons
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in December after intelligence agencies
detected Russian-linked activity targeting commercial messaging
platforms.
The National Cyber Security Centre previously warned that
attackers had been impersonating WhatsApp support staff and
attempting to persuade users to provide access codes, click links
or scan QR codes.
There have also been concerns about foreign intelligence
services attempting to establish relationships with
parliamentarians through apparently legitimate online profiles.
MI5 previously issued an espionage alert after identifying two
individuals who posed as recruitment headhunters while attempting
to build connections with MPs and other parliamentary figures.
The warning from Lord Forsyth does not indicate that members of
the Royal Family themselves have been contacted or targeted.
Instead, it highlights how scammers are exploiting the names and
identities of people connected with the Royal Household to make
their approaches appear more credible.
Lord Forsyth is the current Lord Speaker, having been elected to
the position in January 2026 and taking office in February.
The role includes overseeing proceedings in the House of Lords
and taking formal responsibility for security in the Lords area of
the parliamentary estate.
