HACKERS CON PARENTS INTO ‘PAYING EXTRA’ TO SECURE PLACE AT FETTES COLLEGE
Parents who handed over “large sums” of cash in a bid to secure their child a place at an elite boarding school were victims of a cyber attack, it has emerged.
Fettes College, where Sir Tony Blair was educated, admitted it has been targeted by hackers in May which led to criminals attempting to “defraud some of our families”.
The Telegraph has been told that details of wealthy parents keen to send their children to the school from overseas were among those obtained.
They then received an email from scammers, pretending to come from the school, telling them they could secure a sought-after place for their child in return for an extra payment.
A “handful” of people are said to have fallen for the scam although “large sums” are said to have been involved.
The Edinburgh school already charges £46,980 per year in fees for boarders while at its prep school annual boarding fees are £32,670.
Fettes College declined to say how many families of prospective students had fallen victim to the scam or whether they would be reimbursed by the school.
“We have been subject to a cyber incident affecting a limited part of our IT system whereby criminals sought to defraud some of our families,” a Fettes College spokesman said.
“This occurred in May and we took immediate steps to resolve the situation as soon as we became aware of it and reported the matter to the appropriate authorities.
“We advised parents of our current and prospective students to be alert to any communication from Fettes that might seem unusual, and to contact us directly if they have any concerns or queries.
“Fettes is taking this incident very seriously and a full investigation, with the assistance of external IT experts, is underway.”
Figures from the Information Commissioner’s Office show 347 cyber incidents were reported in the education and childcare sector in 2023 - an increase of 55 per cent on 2022.
Hackers have also targeted the NHS in Scotland, with the health board in Dumfries and Galloway warning 150,000 patients last month that their details were likely to have been obtained by criminals and published online.
They were warned to be aware of possible blackmail attempts from those who had obtained medical records either in the original attack or from the dark web. They were published after the NHS refused to pay a ransom.
Police Scotland was approached for comment.
2024-07-02T21:31:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd