Better internet connection introduces scourge of online fraud to islands as cases increase 700 per cent

Police cited increased internet connectivity as they published figures showing fraud rising in areas where it was previously low or almost unknown.

While the total number is low, in line with smaller populations, the percentage rise in fraud across the islands reached more than 700 per cent year on year. ]

Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles recorded just one case each of fraud between April and September last year.

But 2018 saw eight cases in both the Western Isles and Orkney, while Shetland recorded nine in total.

Police in Orkney said money lost to fraud on the island in the first ten months of this year totalled £350,000.

In Inverclyde, 65 cases of fraud were recorded, a rise of 124 per cent compared with the same time last year. In the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and Argyll and Bute, cases increased by more than 25 per cent. Only five council areas out of 32 — Aberdeen city, East Lothian, Highland, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire — had a drop in fraud cases, while Moray had the same number as last year: 30.

Across Scotland, fraud cases increased by almost a quarter to 5,007 crimes.

Police claimed austerity had contributed to the increase, saying the economic climate is “ripe for fraud”.

But the rise of internet banking, online shopping and broadband in rural areas has also given criminal gangs access to people living there for the first time.

Gareth Shaw, money expert at consumer organisation Which?, said: “Nowhere in the country is out of reach of criminals using increasingly sophisticated techniques to scam their victims.

“In the digital age, people are falling victim and losing life-changing sums of money to scams on their computers, phones and other devices.”

Detective Inspector Gordon Burns, of Police Scotland’s economic crime and financial investigations unit, said that several factors had contributed to the increase.

“These include austerity in the last few years,” he said. “There are also many aspects of fraud that have become more sophisticated. It’s much easier to commit fraud because you can use the internet and phones.

“The tried and tested methods of the conman appearing at the door are still there and evident, but over the years fraud has become much more sophisticated and that has led to £193 billion being lost to the economy last year.”

The fastest rising fraud method is vishing, where scammers con people into parting with money or obtain key information such as website passwords over the phone. Criminals see such scams as relatively low risk with only about one in three cases being solved.

Across the country, 32.5 per cent of cases were cleared up by police, according to the latest figures, ranging from just over 20 per cent in East Renfrewshire and Shetland to 63 per cent in Moray.

Detective Inspector Burns added: “We are working towards better outcomes and it’s fair to say that nobody is going to be happy at a one-in-three clear-up rate.

“We are aware of what needs to be done and are ensuring that we not only train our staff but we put a wider message out to the public.”

He said there was an “element of common sense” that had to be asked of people when it came to avoiding being duped out of money.

“If it’s too good to be true, then think about it,” he said. “If people take five or ten seconds to consider what they’re doing and how they’re transferring money and who they’re transferring money to — that would help. Be vigilant and consider what you’re doing.”