A “substantial” donation to support the Cyber and Fraud Hub’s first two years has been provided by car industry firm Arnold Clark to help more people to stay safe online.

The undisclosed funding will allow the Hub, which was launched earlier this year by the Cyber and Fraud Centre — Scotland, to continue its work for its first two years. During this, the team expects to help hundreds of people through education, victim support, and the recovery of funds.

Since launching in June 2024, the Hub has provided advice and support to 40 individuals affected by the growing threat of cyber and fraud crime, has worked on fraud cases worth £228,000, and helped recover £87,000 so far for victims.

Among the most common calls received by the Hub include those from victims of false investment frauds commonly seen on social media channels, or authorised push payment frauds (APP) where victims are tricked into sending money to a fraudsters’ bank account, often by a criminal impersonating someone from a bank security team.

Arnold Clark’s donation follows its experience of a large-scale cybersecurity attack that took place in December 2022. The impact of the incident highlighted the serious consequences cyber-attacks can have on both individuals and businesses, reinforcing initiatives like the Cyber and Fraud Hub.

“This funding from Arnold Clark represents a major step forward in collectively addressing the growing threat of cyber and fraud crime,” said Jude McCorry, the CEO of the Cyber and Fraud Centre.

“It enables the Hub to provide essential assistance to individuals facing the daunting reality of being a victim of these types of crime. The impact can be enormous both mentally and financially – this funding allows us to extend our services to those in need.”

“We are immensely grateful to Arnold Clark for their generous support of the Cyber and Fraud Hub. With this funding, we can hit the ground running and will have a huge direct impact on the support we can deliver immediately.”

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Eddie Hawthorn, CEO of Arnold Clark, also commented: “I know personally how much damage and distress cyber attacks cause and we wanted to help people going through this – the way we have chosen to do this is support the Cyber and Fraud Hub, to increase the fantastic support they can give to victims when they need it most.”