British politicians were among those caught up in the latest Twitter- based scam which hijacks users’ accounts to ;send out sexually explicit messages to friends and followers.

The micro-blogging Web site has been hit by a wave of so-called “phishing scams,” which lure users to a bogus Web site where they’re enticed to part with their passwords. The compromised accounts are then used to distribute rogue messages to other users.

Those tracking the Twitter account of Ed Miliband, the British energy minister, were surprised by a message carrying an unusually .direct reference to the politician’s sex life.

“Oh dear it seems like I’ve fallen victim to Twitter’s latest phishing’ scam,” Miliband said in a message posted shortly afterward.

He wasn’t alone.

House of Commons leader Harriet Harman told lawmakers her account had sent a bogus message to opposition lawmaker Alan Duncan.

She didn’t say exactly what the content of the message was, but she left British lawmakers wondering when she told them: “I wouldn’t ever send a tweet like that.”

Other prominent politicians and journalists were among those who received the rogue messages.

Even tech-savvy Twitter users have been hit.

Intel UK, the British arm of the chip maker, apologized to its followers after saying its account had been hacked.

So too was the account of prominent tech blogger Cozy Doctorow, who blamed the small screen on his phone for falling victim to the scam.

The latest scams surfaced just as Twitter is prodding its users to update their personal settings to create more ways for people to connect on its communications service.

The request will pop up when Twitter users log into their accounts. Among other things, Twitter is encouraging people to allow their e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers to be included in the service’s search index.

To address privacy concerns, Twitter says it won’t publicly display e-mail addresses and mobile numbers even if the service gets permission to use the information as search tools.

Some account holders have already seen the information boxes, labeled “Be found on Twitter.”

A Twitter spokeswoman said that the box is coming soon to all account holders. More than 73 million people worldwide used Twitter in January, up from 6 million at the same time last yeas; according to the Internet research firm comScore Inc.

The growth is making it more challenging to find and track friends, family and people with similar interests on the service.

Twitter, based in San Francisco, broadcasts people’s messages in bursts of 140 characters or less, Users can choose to have all the posts of specific people delivered to their Twitter pages or sent to a mobile phone. But Twitter users must be found before their messages can be automatically
followed.