Scotland Police Give Warnings Due to the Rise in Cybercrime

Highland Police is taking a major initiative to warn the businesses of a spike in cybercrime and how they should protect themselves against it. Cybercrime is becoming a commonly experienced crime in the area.

Criminals are exploiting the vulnerable businesses and their customers and manipulating them out of their money or important personal information. Police say that criminals are becoming more advanced and they are using technology to perform fraud. According to government research, there has been an increase in fraud by 23%.

Malcolm Graham, Deputy Chief constable of Scotland’s Police department says, “We are well aware that fraud continues to rise and want to take the opportunity to warn the public and businesses take a few steps to protect themselves and remain vigilant. The banking and finance industry is committed to protecting customers from scams and is working closely with law enforcement and others to target the criminal gangs responsible, with almost £7 in £10 of fraud prevented in the first half of this year.”

The current pandemic has played an important role in the spike of fraud and crime. People have been contained in their homes spending an increasing amount of time on cyberspace which has led to the growth in crime on digital platforms. The police department has given out strategies that allow the entities to stay clear of the crime.

Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance said, “Criminals are experts at impersonating people, organizations, and the police. Particularly with the impact of Covid-19 and an increasingly digitized society, criminals are ruthlessly adapting their methods to target consumers online, via social media, and over the phone. These scams are often sophisticated and well-researched.”

The police department is committed to eliminating the fraudsters that harm the community.