Loan payments make farmers easy prey for scammers

Cybercrime experts have warned the farming industry to be aware of hackers following the latest loan payments from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) believes the widely publicised payments make farmers an easy target for scamming.

According to Gerry Grant, chief ethical hacker with the SBRC, criminals can easily work out an accurate estimation of what a farmer is likely to receive in CAP payments and, armed with this information, they can try to steal the money.

“They can send various emails to try and get passwords for bank accounts or even try and trick unsuspecting farmers into making payments to the wrong account,” he said.

This type of cybercrime is known as CEO or Mandate fraud and could put livelihoods at risk.

Farmers are now being urged to be extra vigilant about any suspicious emails or phone calls which might involve someone asking them to take urgent action in relation to payments or their bank accounts.

Anyone who receives a suspect call is advised to verify the email address or phone number with the person who initiated contact.

They can do this by hanging up the call and searching the internet to confirm the relevant phone number or address.

Farmers have been advised to be on the lookout for emails from suppliers asking for funds to be transferred to a different bank account; emails claiming that there is a problem with an account; and phone calls from banks saying that there appears to be unusual activity on their account.

Chief ethical hacker Gerry Grant says the widely publicised payments make farmers an easy target for scamming.