Conmen target Tony Blair's Faith Foundation in email scam

His wife famously became involved with a convicted fraudster.

Now Tony Blair has become an unwitting victim of identity fraud  -  after conmen targeted his website to lure unsuspecting victims into parting with their cash.

The scam took the form of emails  -  advertising bogus international conferences in London  -  which were sent around the world to people who had expressed an interest in the former PM's charity.

The conferences were said to have been organised by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, with the former Prime
Minister listed as speaking at two of the events.

In return for paying hundred of pounds in cash, would-be delegates were promised humanitarian grants from commercial companies sponsoring the events, as well as paid air tickets to the UK.

In fact, everything about the e-mails was bogus.

Mr Blair's staff were alerted when a member of public contacted their office.

Farrer & Co solicitors, who also represent the Queen, immediately wrote to two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) stating that they were hosting the email scammers distributing the fake Tony Blair emails, and asking for them to be closed down.

One of the ISPs is Live.com, owned and run by the Microsoft Corporation, whose chairman is Mr Blair's friend Bill Gates.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation aims to use religion as a force for good

A Microsoft spokesman said: 'The email did not originate from an official Microsoft source.

'We apologise for any confusion or inconvenience this has caused our users.'

The other ISP provider, Ftml.net, is owned by the Australian firm Fastmail.fm. No-one there was available for comment yesterday.

The disclosure that the former PM has been targeted by fraudsters revives memories of the Peter Foster affair.

A convicted criminal, Foster became involved in the purchase of two flats on behalf of Cherie Blair in Bristol in 2002 although he did not benefit personally from the controversial deal.

Cherie Blair became embroiled in a scandal involving conman Peter Foster over the purchase of two flats in Bristol in 2002

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was launched in New York in May this year.

A page 'Warning of Fraudulent Activity' was posted on its website yesterday.

It read: 'The Tony Blair Faith Foundation has discovered that a group of individuals are falsely representing themselves as working on behalf of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.'

'Please note these solicitations are fraudulent and entirely unconnected with the work of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.'

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: 'It is disgraceful to use the Tony Blair Faith Foundation name in this way.

'Whilst it will be obvious to most people these emails are bogus, we believe we have a responsibility to draw people's attention to this practice which many organisations suffer from.'

The spokesman said they had no idea how long the fraud had been going on.

Professor Mike Levi, an internet fraud expert at the University of Wales, said: 'It will take a while to ascertain the scale of any financial loss due to the worldwide aspect and the sheer embarrassment people may feel at being caught out in this way.

'It is also bad news for Mr Blair from what I would call the "immense reputation-damaging" aspect of being at the centre of this sort of identity fraud.

'People may see his name listed on the internet at bona fide conferences in the future and be unsure as to whether they are real or not.'