Gift card fraud is on the rise

Charity staff should be vigilant this year as Christmas gift card fraud is becoming more convincing, the Charity Commission has warned.

A number of instances have been reported of bogus senior staff members asking for gift cards to be bought as Christmas presents for staff.

Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre, first highlighted the issue.

It warns that charity staff are being approached by fraudsters who impersonate their chief executive or another senior member of staff and ask for gift cards to be bought.

Fraudsters ask for copies of the cards and codes that enabling them to be used. Staff are usually approached via emails that may be very similar to that used by the staff member they are impersonating.

A number of large charities operate gift card schemes to help fundraise and are particularly popular this time of year.

The fraudsters don’t need the physical card to redeem the value and once they have the code then sell the details on.

The commission is urging charities to make sure they have processes to corroborate requests requiring payments, to challenge anything that seems suspicious and to shred confidential documents.