A SUSPECT has been arrested in Scotland by police investigating the hacking of a Runcorn health charity.

At around 5am on Monday, officers from Cheshire Police’s cyber crime unit executed a warrant at an address in Carron, Falkirk.

This came after detectives from Cheshire launched an investigation into the illegal hacking of a charity based in Runcorn.

The charity was not named by police, but it supports people with health-related matters, and it has suffered months of cyber attacks on its social media accounts, emails and finance systems.

A 45-year-old man was arrested at the address in Scotland on suspicion of computer misuse offences and fraud.

He was subsequently brought back to Cheshire to be questioned by officers and has since been released under investigation.

(Image: Police)

A number of items were also recovered from the property, including computers, mobile devices and hard drives.

Following the warrant specialist cyber investigator DC Hannah Clement said: “This warrant follows a complex investigation in relation to the illegal hacking of a charity based in Runcorn.

“Over the past four months, the charity, which provides valuable support for hundreds of people across the UK, has come under a relentless attack.

“During this time, several of the charity’s systems have been hacked, including its social media accounts, emails and finance systems.

“Not only has this caused a huge inconvenience to the charity, but the scale and impact of the attacks has been so large that it has now become a threat to its very existence.”

If you think you might have been a victim of cyber crime, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit actionfraud.police.uk