White House hit by British email hoaxer

A BRITISH “email prankster” has tricked a number of White House officials, including the former media chief Anthony Scaramucci and Tom Bossert, the head of cyber security, into a series of embarrassing responses.

The man, who claims to have convinced Mr Scaramucci that he was three different people, said that his “pranks” prove that the White House needs to tighten up its IT security.

In a series of emails to Mr Scaramucci – who was sacked by President Donald Trump on Monday after just 10 days in his post – the hoaxer posed as Mr Trump’s recently fired chief of staff, Reince Priebus, in an exchange that ended with Mr Scaramucci telling him: “Read Shakespeare. Particularly Othello. You are right there. My family is fine by the way and will thrive. I know what you did. No more replies from me.”

The individual, who described himself as a “lazy anarchist” and is believed to be a 39-year-old web designer from Manchester, later revealed on Twitter: “I targeted @Scaramucci as I’ve suffered from mental health problems all my life, and he seems to think paranoid schizophrenia is a put down.”

He has also fooled Mr Scaramucci into believing he was Ambassador to Russia-designate Jon Huntsman and finally his friend Arthur Schwartz. And he convinced security chief Mr Bossert that he was Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and was then sent, unsolicited, Mr Bossert’s email address.

The hoaxer first came to light in May when he targeted key figures in banking including Jes Staley, the chief executive of Barclays, and Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England. He then impersonated Boris Johnson in order to dupe Norman Tebbit and posed as Seumas Milne, Jeremy Corbyn’s aide, to discuss claims about her health with the MP Diane Abbott.