NICE warns of cancer email hoax

"A health watchdog is warning that thousands of people have been sent hoax emails," BBC News reports. The emails, purporting to come from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), wrongly warn people they may have cancer.

The NHS would never send any sort of confidential information via email and NICE is not involved in cancer diagnosis.

NICE is advising people who have received the email – the subject line of which is_ "important blood analysis result"_  – to delete it without opening and not to click on any links. Doing so could compromise the security of your computer.

Sir Andrew Dillon, NICE Chief Executive 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.”

Updates will be made on the NICE website during the day and also via Twitter: @NICEComms