BUSINESSES are being offered the chance to protect themselves from international scammers who are cashing in on an illicit industry worth billions of pounds.
Hubspoke Media, Resilient Business Systems and Darlington Workspace have joined forces to offer their expert advice at a free workshop.
The cyber security session and networking event will be staged on Friday, July 26, from 9.30am to 11am, at Business Central, 2 Union Street, Darlington.
Since the pandemic, incidents of low level internet fraud have risen 4,000 per cent and, according to the Crime Survey of England and Wales, 3.7 million individuals have reported frauds, with businesses and individuals suffering losses totalling £2.46 billion.
More shocking still are official estimates that 86 per cent of incidents go unreported, highlighting a silent epidemic of crime.
Investors are facing a deluge of fake personal and company identifications, fraudulent online profiles and websites, fake proof of funds on bank letterheads and even meetings in banks with corrupt staff.
They also have to endure financial websites claiming to ‘prove’ creditworthiness, fake accounts and phony corporate glossy brochures and sophisticated web bot software creating hundreds of cloned company websites.
Hubspoke Media managing director Adam Walker works nationally providing photography, videography, digital marketing and written content services.
Resilient Business Systems owner Andy Read founded the IT company in 2016 and works as a trusted partner for firms nationally, sharing a wealth of experience across a range of sectors.
They work together on a weekly podcast covering a variety of technical and business issues.
Darlington Workspace is supporting their latest venture by providing a room and refreshments.
“We will be diving into all things cybersecurity,” said Adam, who is based in Darlington. “We are on a mission to help people online.”
Andy, also based in Darlington, added: “We will highlight some of the current scams people are seeing online, offer guidance on how to spot them and encourage everyone to take a healthy but questioning outlook when it comes to online security.”
Darlington Workspace centre manager Daniel Sanderson said: “We are very happy to support local businesses in the fight against global scammers. Internet security affects us all and the session might just prove to be the impetus needed to stop anyone locally being scammed.”
Anyone interested can book a free place at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tech-a-break-for-cyber-security-tickets-929308606057?aff=oddtdtcreator
