NICE has warned patients not to open emails that appear to be sent from the institute and indicate the recipient has a diagnosis of cancer and are part of a ‘distressing’ online hoax.
A spokesperson from the institute said that they were currently working with the police to find where the spam email – entitled ‘Important blood analysis result’ – originated from.
NICE is advising people who have received the email to delete it without opening it and not to click on any links.
NICE chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said: ‘A spam email purporting to come from NICE is being sent to members of the public regarding cancer test results.
‘This email is likely to cause distress to recipients since it advises that “test results” indicate they may have cancer. 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.’
