Fiona Broome Camilleri’s blood turned cold when she opened an e-mail titled “blood test results”, informing her she had cancer. The e-mail purports to be from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and comes from results@nice.org.uk. However, it is nothing but malicious and cruel spam.

“I was shocked when I opened the e-mail to be told I had cancer,” Ms Broome Camilleri told Times of Malta. “I have recently had a blood test taken but I knew that it wasn’t sent abroad. It’s a very cruel hoax. What if it was sent to vulnerable people who didn’t realise it was spam? They would have had such a horrible shock. The ‘cancer’ keyword is terrible. “

Several people took to Facebook to denounce the malicious intent behind the e-mail.

“I’m not naive and never fall for these scams but I’ve recently been testing my white blood cells levels,” one woman wrote. “Had I received that, I might have believed it. How cruel.”

More on the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.

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