In Germany, scammers hacked the Facebook account of Rainer Wiegard, the former finance minister of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. They renamed the profile Snow Highmountains, replaced the politician’s photos with pictures of a woman, and then began messaging users in his name.

Wiegard’s contacts included prominent politicians, among them the state’s minister-president, Daniel Günther, which made the account appear especially convincing.

The scheme resembled a classic romance scam: the victim receives messages supposedly expressing romantic interest, the scammers gradually gain their trust, and then ask for money under the pretext of an urgent problem. Police in Schleswig-Holstein warned that accounts belonging to well-known people or organizations are especially attractive to criminals.

Wiegard himself said he had not used Facebook for a long time and learned about the hack only after an inquiry from Bild. He filed a police report.