In our new feature, ‘Talk of the Town: Cyber Insiders’ which we first teased last week, we spoke to Conservatory Florist – a flower shop in Ripley, Derbyshire – who became victims of an audacious cybercrime. Read their case study here…

In this new feature, we speak to small businesses - usually situated on the high street or in town centres - who have fallen victim to cybercrime. Most businesses are aware that cybercrime exists, but they might think that because they’re a small business, it won’t ever affect them. This feature lifts the lid on the murky world of cybercrime and tells how it very much does impact small businesses in the form of case studies.

Take Conservatory Florist, a small, pretty flower shop in Ripley, Derbyshire. They have been trading for 12 years, and there’s been a flower shop in that spot for over 66 years.

Serving the local townsfolk with their floral needs – and also delivering to the surrounding areas with online orders – they would have never expected to be on the receiving end of a plot to steal a substantial amount of money from them.

EMCRC Comms Lead Phil Viles went along to speak to the business owner, Ian Woodcock (pictured above), about their online ordeal...

So tell us what happened…

But all was not well… 

So clever!

So where the police involved?

Has it made you, as a business, more aware of how cybercrime can impact a small business? And if you had a message to a similar-sized business, what would it be?

So you have a security checklist almost?

So, when did you realise you had been the victim of fraud? 

We’d like to thank Ian for his time and for sharing his story. By publishing case studies such as this, it's hoped that more similar-sized businesses read it and take note and understand that you don’t have to be one of the big players to be on the wrong end of cybercrime.

In fact, more than 40% of small businesses fell victim to a cyberattack last year, and a lot of those businesses don't have a big IT team or a financial cushion to deal with an attack, and these attacks are on the rise.

We offer advice and guidance via information packs and a community membership for small businesses which is free to download via our website. It’s hoped that with the information we can provide, businesses can better protect themselves against the prevalent risks and threats. Don’t ever think you’re too small: size doesn’t matter to criminals.

You can order flowers from Conservatory Florist via their website, and check out their Facebook page, their Instagram account and their X account.

Picture gallery

Reporting

Report all Fraud and Cybercrime to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. Report SMS scams by forwarding the original message to 7726 (spells SPAM on the keypad).