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Professor David Wilson investigates investment frauds - sophisticated financial scams promising high returns that turn out to be too good to be true. It’s a type of crime that is increasingly driven by technology, including cryptocurrency. To find out how 21st-century scammers are ripping off unsuspecting victims, David meets Jen McAdam, who invested in the One Coin crypto scam run by ‘Crypto Queen’ Ruja Ignatova. Along with many other investors, Jen was convinced that Ignatova was legit and put money into her cryptocurrency, which turned out to be worthless. Jen explains how the scam worked, how convincing its marketing and hype were, and her shock as she came to realise it wasn’t what it claimed to be.

David also interviews technology expert and government advisor Arianna Trozze to find out exactly how cryptocurrency works and how the technology underpinning it, blockchain, should in theory make it safe. He also explores the wider context of cyberfraud with Jude McCorry, CEO of the Cyber and Fraud Centre in Scotland. Jude works at the front line of online fraud prevention, and she reveals how it is now an international problem that presents huge challenges to the police. Scammers operate across borders and use advanced and ever-changing tech to evade the law. Jude offers some tips on how we can all be vigilant and avoid being scammed.