By Laura Hough, Fraud Advisory Panel
Charity Fraud Awareness week is now in its 8th year. We continue to run this campaign to support charities, as fraud is still having a far-reaching impact across the sector and the risks of fraud are constantly evolving, as fraudsters take advantage of crises as they arise, as well as exploiting developments in technology. In recent times we have seen fraudsters exploit the Covid-19 pandemic and this has been swiftly followed by the cost-of-living crisis. In addition to evolving areas of risk, many of the core areas of vulnerability still remain, as charities continue to suffer from procurement fraud, payment diversion fraud, expenses fraud and also donation and grant fraud.
This year saw the publication of the Government’s Fraud Strategy. The Strategy states that fraud now accounts for over 40% of crime and that many more victims are being manipulated into lowering their defences. With fraud such a widespread crime, it is crucial that charities are prepared and are equipped to protect themselves.
An area that remains of key concern to charities, and an area that is evolving at a rapid pace, is that of cyber-enabled fraud. Maintaining a safe online presence is critical to protecting our charities from these types of fraud. While prevention of cyber-enabled should be our goal, it is also important to be prepared to respond in the event that the worst should happen.
Through this campaign we have the opportunity to share our experiences and learn from the experience of others. By listening to these, we can take forward their learnings without having to suffer through the same incidents ourselves.
This campaign remains important, as we are all at different stages on the learning curve of improving our defences to protect ourselves from fraud. There are always new aspects to consider whether in response to developments such as AI or suggestions for improvements to investigation practice. From my point of view, an area where we can always do more, is in the arena of organisational culture. Ensuring that your senior leaders and trustees are setting the right tone from the top, that they are modelling behaviours that embody the values of your charity are key elements of building an anti-fraud culture. Coupled with an internal culture of speaking up that encourages employees to raise any concerns that they have and supported by policies and procedures designed to prevent and detect fraud, as well as a continual programme of fraud awareness raising activities.
Raising awareness of the risks charities face and how to strengthen defences against fraud, will help to protect charities from these risks. We also hope that by continuing to run this campaign we will reach a wider pool of charities and continue to spread awareness of the risks they face and how best to protect themselves from fraud.
We are stronger if we work together and together we can stop charity fraud.