Businesses warned of cybercrime danger

Over 50 people attended the first meeting of the Rutherglen and Cambuslang Business Network of 2017.

The event was held in Burnside Hotel on Friday.

Among those present was Margaret Ferrier MP and Clare Haughey MSP.

The meeting involved a presentation from Stuart Thom of the Royal Bank of Scotland who talked about cybercrime and steps businesses can take to combat it.

Many of the audience were shocked at the methods used by criminals and how easy it could be to access information.

Stuart explained that half of crime is now cybercrime and spoke about the various methods used involving computers, emails, phone calls, texts and even Twitter.

He spoke about a bank customer who was moving into sheltered housing. When her family posted on Facebook about it they alerted fraudsters, who got the woman’s details using malware.

The contacted her, claiming to be police officers investigating fraud in the area. They asked her to go to her bank, take out a large sum of money and then hand it to an ‘undercover officer’ outside.

She was told it would be used as evidence to convict the fraudsters.

The woman agreed, withdrew £25,000 and handed it to one of the gang.

The next meeting will be held in the spring.