Fife group’s online meeting abandoned after hackers unleash torrent of vile abuse

The Falkland Society believes it was targeted after the link was shared on special media.

The long-established group described the abuse as appalling, and said the intruders had “no intention other than to disrupt and ruin our meeting.”

The Zoom event featured a presentation from architect Ben Tindall on his career, and his work at Jupiter Artland outside Edinburgh.

The disruption began some 17 minutes into his presentation with young North American voices being heard.

The language became increasingly offensive, music started to play and they took over the main screen to flash up a series of screen grabs before obliterating the event with a wall of noise.

A screengrab to the free chat site Omegle briefly flashed up along with random social media apps from a phone screen.

The society was left with no option but to pull the plug on the event.

Peter Burman, chairman, said: “We put the link on social media, and it seems there are people who trawl it and then invade the events.

“We tried to stop the vulgar singing and shouting, but it was not possible.

“We were completely taken aback by it - it was completely unexpected.

“Afterwards we did have some interesting emails from members who said they had experienced this several times - but we have held Zoom meetings for the past two years without any problems.”

The society - which was set up to promote knowledge and understanding of the archaeological, architectural, historic and artistic heritage of Falkland - is now looking at how it proceeds from here to avoid any repetition.

But it does not want to lose the connection it has with its members and guests.

“There is a social element before the meeting starts where people chat and catch up which is so important after two years living in isolation.

“Being able to meet, even on screen has been so heartwarming.

“We will take time to review the options to prevent this from happening again.”

The society ha a number of talks planned across March, April and May.

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