Scottish charity saves more than £600,000 from going to online fraudsters  

Scottish charity saves more than £600,000 from going to online fraudsters  

A Scottish charity has managed to recover or prevent £626,000 from being lost to fraudsters.

The Cyber and Fraud Hub has supported hundreds of victims of online scams since launching last summer.

Since June, it has supported 228 people and been involved in £8m worth of fraud investigations, becoming a “vital lifeline for victims”.

The charity was set up by the Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland to better handle the surge in calls to its incident response helpline, which had doubled over the prior year.

Alex Dowall, Cyber and Fraud Hub co-founder, said: “Since launching, we’ve seen first-hand the devastating impact fraud can have on individuals.

"Our team works tirelessly to support those affected by cyber-enabled fraud. These figures demonstrate just how essential our services are. While we are proud of what we have achieved so far, we know there’s still a lot of work to do.”

The hub offers “clear, actionable advice”, and works with key partners including UK banks, policing authorities, third sector organisations and crypto currency trading platforms to provide “critical assistance” when needed.

Cases of cyber-enabled fraud have been on the rise over recent years, with policing authorities’ resources unable to match the demand. Earlier this month, a Glasgow-based mum urged others to remain vigilant on dating websites after she was conned out of £17,000 by a fraudster on one of these sites. 

Police Scotland launched a cyber and fraud division and rolled out cyber and online training across the workforce in response to the crisis, late last year.