Robotic falcon maker loses £100,000 to cyber criminals

Entrepreneur John Donald sells robotic falcons worldwide but still can't believe he fell victim to cybercrime during the pandemic.

The tech-savvy grandfather said he was targeted by fraudsters when his family business was struggling to cope with a 95% fall in its turnover.

The 72-year-old was deeply suspicious but eventually caved into their demands and transferred nearly £100,000 to a fake bank account.

He told BBC Scotland: "When my wife came through the door just at the end of this process, she thought I was having a nervous breakdown.

"It was very, very stressful. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

New figures released by Police Scotland show there has been a 68% increase in fraud since 2018, with 17,000 cases recorded last year - the vast majority online.

Mr Donald's company Robop, now based in Arisaig, makes robot peregrine falcons for bird pest control.

The firm sold its products in 17 countries but was hit hard by Covid.

At 16:30 one Friday afternoon in December 2020, Mr Donald was agonising over the company's future when he received a call.

It set in motion one of the worst experiences of his life.

Speaking in a well-to-do Edinburgh accent, the caller said they were from a joint banking task force and had discovered fraud in his account.

"I was under a lot of stress at the time and the way it was done was very, very sophisticated," said Mr Donald.

His gut instinct told him something was badly wrong.

But when he asked questions, it became clear that the caller knew a great deal about him and his business. Mr Donald felt their answers were plausible.

Using another phone, he tried to call his bank but couldn't get through.

The caller then ramped up the pressure.

"They basically said we've got this time window because there's a gap between what we see on our system and what you see on yours, so we need to get this wrapped up as quickly as possible," said Mr Donald.

"They asked me to transfer money out of an account into another account in my name.

"This wasn't a five minute affair. This went on for an hour.

"I felt incredibly stupid afterwards but at the time it seemed like the only option that I had."

A friend put Mr Donald in touch with the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland and six weeks later, his bank refunded the missing money.

The centre's chief executive Jude McCorry said others had not been so fortunate.

She added: "We've seen a recent fraud where there was £700,000 transferred on a property deal that went to the wrong account.

"That involved an individual rather than a company. It was huge and the investigation is still going on.

"Instead of always reacting to these crimes, we need to look at how we prevent it."

Senior officers at Police Scotland believe cyber-crime is massively under-reported and the latest figures represent the tip of the iceberg.

It has become such a challenge that the detection rate for fraud has halved in recent years and now stands at roughly 16% of cases.