A senior Wimbledon politician warned people to reject friend requests on Facebook after someone stole her identity with a fake account.

Shas Sheehan, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Wimbledon, was among several senior Lib Dems reported to have spam accounts made in their names last week.

She said: "All we know is a number of Lib Dems were targeted. I think because I did react very quickly and reported it to Facebook who also reacted quite quickly I wasn't that affected by it but I know that others were."

Baroness Rosalind Scott, former Liberal Democrat Party President, is reported to be among those targeted, with the account hacker contacting friends to say they had been victims of theft.

Commenting on Mrs Sheehan's Facebook warning about the false account, Swansea-based Lib Dem Maria Pretzler said: "It has happened to a number of friends these last two days.

"As it happens, all of them seem to have been Lib Dems, and people with a high enough profile in the party to be publicly known as Lib Dems."

It has been a "nightmare" week for Lib Dem digital communications, with a technical hitch at their press office terminating their official phones and e-mail accounts.

A spokesman said he was not aware of the incidents and would not be able to comment on whether they were politically-motivated.

Mrs Sheehan said: "I hadn't realised that Facebook could be so invasive of your personal space and they could actually take your identity and if other friends don't realise it's not the real you, you could get into all sorts of trouble."

She said she is not considering cancelling her genuine Facebook account.