Schools lose £145k to fraudsters, figures show

Fraudsters posing as headteachers have conned schools across the country out of tens of thousands of pounds since last September.

As reported by Schools Week, figures from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau show that since last September, 48 schools have reported the scam, most of them in December and January.

Of those, 12 schools lost out on £145,124 between them.

The average loss across the 12 schools was just over £3,000, with one school losing out on £19,150 in one go.

The scam involves a fraudster creating an email address that’s similar to a particular headteacher’s and using it to contact members of staff with responsibility for authorising financial transfers.

While pretending to be the headteacher, the fraudster asks for an urgent one-off bank transfer.

The requested amounts range between £8,000 and £10,000.

Action Fraud is now urging schools to be on their guard against the scam, including challenging any requests that seem suspicious and to make sure there are robust systems in place to verify and corroborate financial requests.