Ed Miliband latest victim of Twitter scam as sex message and viagra link sent to 7,000 followers



Scam: Ed Miliband's Twitter account was hacked

Cabinet minister Ed Miliband was left embarrassed after apparently sending saucy messages to thousands of people on social networking site Twitter.

Mr Miliband's unusually personal message, which was delivered to around 7,000 of his followers at breakfast time yesterday, boasted: 'hhey, i've been having better sex and longer with this here'.

The 'tweet', which appeared alongside a picture of a smiling Mr Miliband, was followed by a link to another website.



Followers are friends and other subscribers who have signed up to receive any messages sent by a certain user.

The Energy Secretary later admitted that he had become prey to an internet sex scam sweeping Westminster.



In a genuine tweet, he wrote: 'Oh dear, it seems like I have fallen victim to Twitter's latest "phishing scam".'

Mr Miliband was not the only person at Westminster to be targeted by internet hijackers.

Harriet Harman, leader of the Commons, also revealed that a tweet had been sent from her account without her knowledge to a surprised Alan Duncan, Tory prisons spokesman.

Message: The cabinet member's 6,664 received this tweet this morning

Miss Harman did not reveal what was in the bogus message, but set MPs' imaginations racing when she told them: 'I wouldn't ever send a tweet like that.'

Internet experts last night warned that MPs were being naive in their use of the internet in their efforts to appear closer to voters. They said that politicians had fallen foul of a con where an account is hijacked and used to send out junk mail. To become a victim, the user must click on a false link and enter their details. Response: This genuine tweet was posted moments later by Mr Miliband

Harriet Harman's Twitter account sent a fake message to shadow prisons minister Alan Duncan

Graham Cluley, a consultant at computer security firm Sophos, said: 'There is an election around the corner and increasing numbers of MPs are keen to show that they are "down with the kids" and embracing new technology.

'Politicians need to take internet security much more seriously.'

Mr Miliband's brother David, the Foreign Secretary, was last year forced to deny being the author of a spoof tweet after the death of Michael Jackson, which read: 'Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low. RIP Michael.'