Charity regulator warns about fraudulent letters sent on its behalf
Charity Commission warns charities about fraudulent messages recently sent to charities and trustees.
The messages typically request action to be taken such as removing a trustee or chief executive from their position, releasing funds as part of a grant or supplying documents such as a passport or utility bill. They may be signed as coming from聽鈥榯he Commission,鈥� Chief Executive Officer and/or its Directors.聽聽
We have reported the incidents to Action Fraud and will continue to monitor the situation.聽聽
It鈥檚 not always easy to tell if correspondence is real or fake, however please note we:
- will only send you a letter just by post only if we do not have your current email address. Check and update your details
- rarely address letters generically, for example 鈥榯o whom it may concern鈥�
- do not write letters or emails of certification on behalf of UK charities regarding tax exemption or any other matters
- do not issue requests to authenticate an account online by supplying personal identity documents
- will not ask you to provide banking information
In the rare circumstance where we might send you a letter by post 聽it will:
- be franked 鈥� not stamped
- normally have a case number or reference on it聽
- be unlikely to be marked as 鈥楽trictly Private and Confidential鈥櫬�
- come from the Charity Commission for 鈥楨ngland and Wales鈥�, not the 鈥楿K鈥� or 鈥楨ngland鈥�
It is unlikely that any serious allegations against individuals would be detailed in a letter, or that we would name individuals before there was clear evidence of wrongdoing.聽
Matters to do with casework or investigation would normally come from a caseworker or a team at the Commission聽.聽
If you are in any doubt, contact us to check.