As I have discussed in previous blogs (see http://insights.brabners.com/post/102ee4s/the-fundraising-regulators-levy-small-charities-coalition-response), the Fundraising Regulator's initial attempts to collect levy payments, despite being genuine, bore the appearance of being a scam.
Unfortunately, the someone has sought to capitalise on this and, as reported in the article below, a number of charities have been sent fraudulent invoices purporting to be from the Regulator.
Fraud is an increasing problem in the charity sector. If you have received an invoice from the Fundraising Regulator it is advisable to closely scrutinise it and give the Regulator a call to ensure that it is legitimate.
“A number of charities have been invoiced fraudulently, although we do not believe that any have paid. We have alerted Action Fraud to this phishing attempt and we are currently raising it with sector bodies including the Charity Commission, Institute of Fundraising and NCVO. “The Fundraising Regulator will never issue an invoice for the Fundraising Preference Service, since it is funded by our levy.” The spokesman also called on any charities which “know or believe” they have received a fraudulent email to contact the regulator.
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/fundraising-regulator-publishes-fps-invoice-scam-alert.html
