Peers Warned: Scammers and State Actors Impersonating Royal Household to Target House of Lords
The Lord Speaker has warned members of the House of Lords that scammers and suspected state actors are impersonating members of the Royal Household and foreign dignitaries to deceive them, using cloned voices, doctored photographs and deepfake video calls to make the approaches appear genuine.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, who was elected Lord Speaker in January 2026 and took office in February, issued the warning in a letter seen by The Telegraph, which reported the story on 10 August. The Lord Speaker's role includes overseeing proceedings in the House of Lords and taking formal responsibility for security in the Lords area of the parliamentary estate.
The letter identified WhatsApp and Signal as among the messaging platforms being used by those behind the approaches. Lord Forsyth warned that the increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence was making the impersonation attempts harder to identify. He urged peers to be cautious about messages that were overtly flattering, involved persistent contact without an obvious reason, or contained time-sensitive requests. Information extracted from such conversations, he said, could be used to cause embarrassment and damage.
The warning did not indicate that members of the Royal Family themselves had been contacted or targeted. The impersonation centres on their household staff and on foreign dignitaries as cover identities.
The Telegraph described those behind the activity as foreign spies and hostile states. GB News, reporting on 11 August, said criminals and foreign intelligence operatives were targeting peers by posing as foreign dignitaries or members of the royal household.
This is not the first time parliament has faced such threats. In December, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle issued an alert to MPs after intelligence agencies detected Russian-linked activity targeting commercial messaging platforms. The National Cyber Security Centre has previously warned that attackers impersonated WhatsApp support staff and attempted to persuade users to hand over access codes, click links or scan QR codes. MI5 has also issued an espionage alert after identifying two individuals who posed as recruitment headhunters while attempting to build connections with MPs and other parliamentary figures.
For peers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: treat any unsolicited contact claiming to come from a royal household member or foreign dignitary with suspicion, watch for flattery and urgency, and verify through official channels before responding.
