The purpose of this alert is to provide knowledge and prevention advice to independent schools and parents of students, in order to prevent them from falling victim to payment diversion fraud – a fraud that involves falsely creating or diverting payments. Information is based on reports made during the past month to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting centre.

What to look out for

Fraudsters are placing themselves in the middle of transactions between parents and schools. The fraudster contacts the parents outlining details and payment instructions for the latest school fees. Initial contact appears to primarily be made via email and often from the school’s own compromised email system.

However, the National Fraud Investigation Bureau (NFIB) has also seen instances where the email address used is similar to that of the school, for example using ‘nn’ instead of an ‘m’.

The victim then makes the required payment into the bank account, which is in the control of the fraudster. By the time the fraud has been identified, the funds have already disappeared.

In several instances there has been a strong element of manipulation to the scam, with fraudsters building trust with victims through contact by phone, email or other direct messaging. Often, the fraudulent email promises a discount for early fee payments.

Schools

• ensure all administration staff are aware of this fraud

• ensure staff are aware of cyber-protection protocols and understand NOT to open links or attachments from unexpected or suspicious emails. Doing so may compromise the school’s email system

• review password protocols and ensure those that are used are strong, as long as possible and contain a combination of letters as well as numbers and symbols

• review internal policies and procedures for managing fee payments and ensure these are communicated clearly to parents

• consider using a ‘payment gateway’ for the receipt of funds from parents

• ensure computer systems are secure and that antivirus software is up to date

• to help combat ‘typo squatting’, consider registering similar domain names

Parents

• always verify an email payment change request directly with the school, via the official, established contact details you have on file. Be alert to unexpected or notably increased fee requests

• be vigilant and always scrutinise requests to amend payment procedures. Check for inconsistencies and grammatical errors in external emails, such as a misspelt school name or a slightly different email address; these can be warning signs of fraud

• don’t be afraid to question and to verify details if being asked to make fee payments into a new bank account

If you or your school have fallen victim to payment diversion fraud, you should report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting the Action Fraud website.

If you are a charity, you should also report this to the Charity Commission as a serious incident, using the dedicated reporting facility: rsi@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk

Serious incident reporting helps the Commission to assess the volume and impact of incidents within charities and to understand the risks facing the sector as a whole; where appropriate, the Commission can also provide timely advice and guidance to a charity.

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission, said:

We are urging all charitable schools and parents to be alert to this. If they suspect they’ve fallen victim to payment diversion fraud, they should report this immediately to Action Fraud, and to the Commission, under its serious incident reporting regime.

By working together we will ensure these fraudsters do not prey on charities, parents and pupils in this way. Such scams not only divert precious funds away from the pupils and schools that need them, but harm public trust and confidence in the charity and education sectors more widely.

Julie Robinson, General Secretary of The Independent Schools Council, added:

Schools and fee-paying parents have been targeted by fraudsters posing as school accounts departments seeking alternative payment arrangements. We are supporting the Charity Commission in raising awareness among schools and parents, and we urge institutions to alert their stakeholders to this unlawful activity.

Ends.

Malcolm George Holmes, who was acting on behalf of the landowner, was given four weeks to clear the illegal waste at Sheepfolds Road after it was abandoned by the tenant.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns will visit innovative projects at the heart of the Swansea Bay Region City Deal technology revolution later today (11 January).

The Welsh Secretary will hear about the future of steel and how digital manufacturing can increase competition and create globally networked systems at Swansea University’s Bay Campus.

Swansea University, in partnership with Neath Port Talbot, Tata and other commercial partners is working to catalyse the ambition of the Fabian Way Innovation corridor and show Swansea Bay residents the regeneration opportunities presented by the City Deal, by grouping three world-leading projects together, including the UK National Steel Innovation Centre and Astute Factory of the Future.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

Swansea University is leading the charge in delivering exciting City Deal projects which will transform the region, delivering high-quality employment and world-leading technologies.

The UK Government is working hard to encourage the City Deal region to capitalise on its reputation as leaders in the fields of innovation, research and development and energy. With this existing strength, it is crucial that the area is empowered to take the reins and make decisions to support economic growth, boost employment and attract investment right across the region.

The Secretary of State will also visit the Harbourside site in Port Talbot, which aims to boost employment in the research and development field.

The former disused steel and tin-plate works in the docks area of Port Talbot is home to the Harbourside Business Park, occupied by TWI, TATA Steel and Thyssen Krupp. It is hoped that Neath Port Talbot College will develop a £28m campus on the site in 2019.

The Welsh Secretary will also visit the Baglan Bay Innovation Centre, which focuses on developing businesses in the energy, innovation and technology fields.

The Centre is home to the Project SPECIFIC, an academic and industrial consortium led by Swansea University with strategic industrial partners Tata Steel, BASF and NSG Pilkington, developing functional coatings that will transform the roofs and walls of buildings into surfaces that generate, store and release energy.

Swansea University’s SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre was recently awarded £800,000 of UK Government investment to develop the UK’s first energy-positive office.

Alun Cairns will see the proposed site for the Swansea Bay Technology Centre at Baglan Energy Park, aimed to support and encourage the growth of start-ups and indigenous businesses, with a focus on the innovation and research and development sectors in particular the growing energy sector.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns added:

The Swansea and Neath Port Talbot areas have much to look forward to – not just because of the exciting City Deal projects transforming the region. The Harbourside and Innovation Centre are fantastic examples of investments that will deliver sustainable employment, regenerating the entire area and supporting the growth of new businesses, which will take the region in an exciting new technology-led direction.

ENDS

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson travelled to Brussels today (11th January) for high-level meetings focused on the Iran nuclear deal. He was joined in his discussions by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.

Speaking ahead of the meetings, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

The UK has always been clear: the Iran nuclear deal is a crucial agreement that makes the world safer. It is vital that we continue to work with our European partners to preserve the Iran deal, and with it the security and prosperity it is bringing to the people of Iran and the world. It is those shared interests which will drive our discussions in Brussels.

Of course there are areas where we disagree with Iran, not least on its destabilising regional activity and its ballistic missile programme. This will be an important part of our conversation.

I will be making it clear to Foreign Minister Zarif, on the subject of the recent protests in Iran, that the right to peaceful demonstration within the law is central to any truly thriving society. I will also raise all of our Iranian dual-national consular cases.

Further information

What do the reports show?

A wealth of important information about contractual performance is contained in each ‘Provider Activity Report’ (PAR). Some examples include:

• Defence Solicitor Call Centre acceptance rates
• rejects for claims submitted
• reconciliation statistics for standard and variable monthly payments

Why are you doing this now?

Your PAR is important to how we manage your contract and we want to be transparent about the information we hold.

The idea is to give providers the opportunity to review and monitor changes in performance using the same information that we hold.

You should already be familiar with the content of these reports through discussions with your contract manager.

We have been piloting the reports with providers in Bristol and London for the last few months and have listened to feedback. This has allowed us to refine the reports and our approach to sharing them.

Outcome of pilot

PARs were sent successfully to around 800 providers during August and September.

Feedback focused on making the reports as easy to use as possible e.g. increasing font size, removing excess pages, and using blanks rather than 0s for example.

We have also worked to:

• improve the guidance that sits alongside PAR
• make sure contract managers are equipped to answer more detailed questions or address concerns at annual visits

Timescales and next steps

All providers will be start receiving quarterly PARs by from January 2018.

Who will you contact?

We plan to email the designated primary contact email address we hold for your office in Contracted Work and Administration (CWA).

How can I check you have the right email address?

You can check the designated primary contact email address we hold for you by going into the CWA system.

There is a user guide on GOV.UK which sets out how to check and amend this information – see below.

Further information

CWA detailed user guides – download ‘CWA user guide admin’ and see page 7 ‘Primary Contacts’