British foreign minister deceived by fake Poroshenko in video call hoax

On Friday, the British Foreign Office reported an incident in which David Cameron, the British Foreign Minister, conducted a video call with a person pretending to be former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Whilst the video call clearly appeared to be with Mr Poroshenko, following the conversation the foreign secretary became suspicious. The department has now investigated and confirmed that it was not genuine and that the messages and video call were a hoax- the British Foreign Office conveyed this information in its statement.

The statement released did not provide specific details about the content of the conversation. The only disclosed fact was that the person impersonating Petro Poroshenko asked Minister Cameron for contact details of other individuals. The Foreign Office noted that Minister Cameron decided to disclose this incident to prevent potential manipulation of the video recording of the conversation and its later use, as well as to ensure that others are aware of such threats.

"Whilst regretting his mistake, the Foreign Secretary thinks it important to call out this behavior and increase efforts to counter the use of misinformation," the statement reads.

David Cameron is not the only member of the British government to fall victim to such fraud. In March 2022, just three weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, then-Defense Minister Ben Wallace revealed that he was also called by a fraudster impersonating Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. The then-Home Secretary Priti Patel also reported a similar incident.