52 people attended our 2nd Croydon Cyber Crime Awareness Day, delivered in partnership with Croydon Neighbourhood Watch.
The focus was to raise awareness of this important issue and provide clear, practical information on how we can stay safer online and better support our communities, especially when something goes wrong.
The world used to feel simpler—not easier, but simpler in the sense that risks were often easier to spot.
Much of the advice focused on keeping accounts secure and recognising scams. Beneath that was the idea that online safety was straightforward: if you knew what to do, you would be fine, and only so-called vulnerable groups were at risk.
But the world is now far more complex.
- We all now have many more online accounts, each holding increasing amounts of personal information.
- Online tools and services are increasingly used to enable harm across all ages and groups.
- Scammers adapt their techniques to target different age groups and exploit what matters most to them.
- As AI develops, it is becoming increasingly difficult—and may soon be impossible—to tell whether we are being contacted by, or speaking with, a scammer.
Our approach therefore needs to change. Online safety is not a simple yes-or-no issue: risks exist, but we can reduce them. It is also important to know what to do when something goes wrong, so we can limit the impact.
We had a range of speakers and community tables including Report Fraud, Bromley & Croydon Women’s Aid, The Cyber Helpline, CrimeStoppers, Barclays.
And special thanks goes to Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet Members for Communities, Safety & Justice Cllr Ola Kolade and Cllr Manju Shahul-Hameed.
