Fraud is on the rise in the UK, with a 25% increase from pre-pandemic levels in the year to March 2022, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). During the pandemic, fraudsters seized the opportunity to take advantage of widespread behavioural changes, such as accelerated growth in online shopping. For instance, ONS data reported a 900% rise in advance-fee fraud—where victims paid upfront for goods or services that later failed to appear.
More recently, fraudsters have been adapting their tactics to exploit the rising cost of living. For instance, in the two weeks to 5th August 2022, more than 1,500 scam emails were reported to the suspicious emails reporting service (SERS) related to fraudulent energy rebate offerings.
Helping your beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and trustees identify and avoid such scams/attacks will help you protect them individually and your charity if you are using your organisationβs equipment or accounts from potential fraud or cyber-attacks.
Smartdesc - charity IT specialists speaking toCivil Society Media Ltd and at Charity Finance Group, stated that charities are particularly susceptible to cyber attacks due to the sensitivity of the data collected and stored by charities.
To find out how Access Insurance can cost effectively help safeguard your organostion please contact us at buy@cscbg.org.uk