A Reform party source said Mr Farage is “intensely suspicious” he was victim of a cyber attack by ‘”foreign state actors” who leaked details of his £5million gift from crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne
Furious Nigel Farage fears Russian spies have hacked his phone. The Reform UK leader reckons Kremlin spooks obtained details of his controversial £5million gift from crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne.
A party source said Mr Farage is “intensely suspicious” that he was a victim of a cyber attack by ”foreign state actors”.
The insider said: “Only four people in the world knew about the donation, and so Nigel decided to submit his mobile phone for forensic analysis by counter-espionage experts.
“They concluded that hostile state actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow, had used ‘spear phishing’ tactics to compromise his phone, email and bank accounts.
“It bore all the sophisticated hallmarks of a nation state actor using destabilisation techniques in the run-up to this month’s local elections.”
Mr Farage said: “These actions by Russia are deeply concerning and highlight the threat they pose to British security.”
Spear phishing is when crooks pretend to be a friend of the victim and send them links to install “malware” which probes devices for sensitive data.
The source added Mr Farage is likely to have angered Russian president Vladimir Putin by his support for Nato.
It comes as Parliament sleaze chiefs are probing if Mr Farage broke rules by accepting the gift shortly before he stood as an MP in 2024.
Those found to have broken the rules can be asked to apologise in the chamber or face being suspended, which could lead to a by-election.
Mr Farage insists he didn’t have to declare the gift as it “wasn’t political in any sense” as it was used to pay for his private security.
Meanwhile, defence secretary John Healey urged the Reform chief to explain whether any of the £5million could have been “derived from transactions with Russian state-linked energy companies”.