Melbourne: Thousands of people have been left distressed, frightened and confused after receiving emails as part of a sick scam informing them that they have been diagnosed with cancer.
The horrible hoax claims to be from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) — a real organisation that acts as an advisory service to the UK’s National Health Service — with the subject line: 'IMPORTANT: Blood analysis result'.
Upon opening the email, which looks quite genuine, it states "we have revealed that white blood cells is very low and unfortunately we have a suspicion of cancer”, News.com.au reported.
It then advises you print off an attached document to take to your doctor, which is almost certainly a virus or Trojan intended to steal your personal data as soon as you open it. While many easily identified the email as suspicious and chose not to open it, some who received the email actually went for tests.
NICE has denied any involvement in sending the emails and described the hoax as “sickening”. It has been fielding concerns on Twitter and warned people of the false messages on its website.
