Cancer email ‘sickens’ web developer

A WEB developer was left sickened after he received a spam email telling him he might have cancer.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2014, 15:00 BST
Jeff Talbot received this spam email telling him he may have cancerJeff Talbot received this spam email telling him he may have cancer
Jeff Talbot received this spam email telling him he may have cancer

Jeff Talbot, 50, of Newland Road, Worthing, received an email with the subject line ‘IMPORTANT: Blood analysis result’, on Thursday (March 13).

The reference to health led Jeff to click into the email which contained ‘results’ showing a ‘suspicion of cancer’.

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Jeff said: “It’s the sickest form of email I can think of. It’s worse to me than the fishing scams trying to illicit money. The sooner this gets nipped in the bud the better.”

The email, claiming to be from NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), read ‘We have been sent a sample of your blood for further research. During the complete blood count (CBC) we have revealed the white blood cells is very low, and unfortunately we have a suspicion of cancer’. The text is followed by a table which states white blood cell and platelet levels are low.

NICE was quick to distance itself from the email after being inundated with phone calls.

Sir Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: “This malicious email is not from NICE and we are currently investigating its origin. We take this matter very seriously and have reported it to the police.”

Jeff was worried elderly people might not realise the email was spam.