Gift Aid forms used in theft from charities

Posted by AccountingWEB PM | on Thu, 24/02/2005 - 13:18 2360 1 comment

Charities risk having their bank accounts emptied in a clever but nasty new scam, the Charity Commission has warned.

Fraudsters have obtained charities' bank account details from Gift Aid forms and used them to set up standing orders to steal funds from the charities.

The Commission urged charities to check bank statements thoroughly for "rogue" payments and to consider deposit-only accounts for charitable donations.

Continued...

Standing Order Fraud

Anonymous | Thu, 24/02/2005 - 13:46 | Permalink

I thought that Standing Order forms (like Direct Debit authorities) had to be signed by an authorised signatory ?

Don't the banks check signatures ?

Hopefully those who tried to benefit from the fraud can be traced from where the money was sent to ?

I'd like to see a report of a prosecution of those involved, but guess that it may be a case of one of many frauds that are not investigated as far as prosecution due to lack of police resources ?