‘F***ing migration agency’: Callers to Swedish govt service baffled by ‘rude‘ greeting

The Swedish Migration Agency seemingly fell victim to hacking on Monday morning with those ringing the authority’s switchboard hearing a threatening hiss with a rather rude welcome message.

Instead of the familiar female voice which usually addresses those phoning the agency, early-morning callers, ringing between 8 and 9am, were greeted with what was described as a man with a “threatening voice” who hissed “f***ing migration agency” at them, according to Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Citing “technical problems” with its switchboard, the agency apologised to callers in a statement on its Facebook page. By 9.30am, the switchboard was back operating as normal without the lewd message.

A later statement from the board’s press officer confirmed that the problem had been rectified. She added that phone operators had updated the system during the night but how the rude voice message had got there, in the first place, remained unclear.

An investigation into the matter is now underway and the agency hopes to have answers to the mysterious message once the telephone operators have finished their probe.

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Run under supervision of Sweden’s Ministry of Justice, the Swedish Migration Agency handles immigration to the Nordic country and covers citizenship applications, temporary residence permits, and asylum applications.

Monday’s incident is not the first time the board has been the target of harassment. In 2017, it warned staff to keep a low profile on social media after reports they were becoming the targets of death threats due to asylum applications which they processed.

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