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1. What is fraud聽

Fraud can affect any charity and is one of the most common types of abuse within the sector. As trustees you have a duty to manage your charity鈥檚 resources responsibly so it鈥檚 important to:聽

• identify the risks of fraud at your charity聽
• take actions to protect your charity聽
• check that your actions are working聽

In charities, fraud is commonly where someone deceives a charity to get money, information or data. It can take many forms, such as fraud connected with:聽

• 蹿耻苍诲谤补颈蝉颈苍驳听
• 产补苍办颈苍驳听
• cyber crime聽
• tax and Gift Aid聽
• property and investments聽
• charities鈥� identities聽

Fraud can come from internal and external sources. For example, from employees and volunteers, or from fake requests for funding.

2. If you discover fraud or attempted fraud

It鈥檚 important to report fraud and attempted fraud to . They will make sure you get the advice you need.聽聽

Reporting fraud and attempted fraud helps you get essential advice to get your charity back on track. It also helps build a clearer picture of the scale of fraud affecting the wider sector.聽

It is also important you review how the fraud happened and your charity鈥檚 financial controls. This will help you identify possible changes you may need to make to help avoid similar fraud happening again.聽聽

3. Protect your charity聽

As charity trustees you must manage your charity鈥檚 resources responsibly.聽Make sure you:聽

• know your responsibilities聽
• have strong financial management and governance at your charity聽
• understand the risks your charity faces and how it can manage them聽
• understand your charity鈥檚 financial systems and what 鈥榥ormal鈥� looks like聽
• promote a culture of fraud awareness at your charity聽
• take the right actions if you discover fraud

Your charity should have suitable financial controls in place to guard against fraud. The types of controls you need will depend on factors like your charity鈥檚 size, how it operates and the types of funds it has. 聽For example, you will need appropriate controls if you use online banking. 聽

Regularly review your charity鈥檚 internal financial controls to check that they continue to be the right measures for your charity. Update them if needed.聽聽

Here are some actions you can take to help you:聽聽

• adopt an anti-fraud policy and promote it, so that everyone at the charity knows the policy聽
• review your charity鈥檚 fraud risks once a year, or after a fraud or attempted fraud聽
• run checks to satisfy yourselves that your financial controls are being followed聽聽
• know if your volunteers, employees or trustees do not understand your fraud prevention measures and act on this. For example, do they need training?聽
• understand the risks of cyber fraud and cyber crime聽
• complete pre-employment checks on staff聽
• have a fraud response plan so that everyone knows what to do if they discover fraud聽
• discuss risks of fraud with organisations that your charity works with or funds聽
• report risks and how they are managed in your trustees鈥� Annual Report. Some charities must do this聽

Your charity should promote an anti-fraud culture where:聽

• you promote fraud awareness messages聽聽
• you encourage people to improve their knowledge about fraud. For example, cyber fraud聽
• you encourage people to voice concerns聽
• everyone knows how to raise concerns