Cyber fraudsters targeting parents of children at private schools

PARENTS with children at private schools are at risk of losing tens of thousands of pounds to email fraudsters who convince them to pay their fees into scam accounts, the Charity Commission has warned.

The cyber criminals, posing as a member of school staff, tend to make their initial contact by email, explaining that a change in the payment procedure has taken place or promising a discount for early-fee payments.

Doctored invoices are then sent over via email with the school’s bank details replaced with the criminals’. Once the funds have been transferred, by the time the ruse is uncovered the money is usually gone.

The Charity Commission said that in a number of cases the fraudsters had been able to manipulate parents over the phone as well as email. High fees, which can be more than £10,000 a term, and insecure computer systems have made private schools the latest target for cyber criminals, as reported by The Daily Telegraph last month.

The fraudsters are able to gain access to the schools’ contact lists through a “phishing” attack. Emails can then be sent to parents from the school’s compromised system.

Fraudsters can also impersonate the school using modified email addresses. These can look almost identical to the genuine address and be difficult to spot. For example, the National Fraud Investigation Bureau said it had seen cases where the spoofed email address used “nn” instead of “m”.

One parent, a senior City executive, reportedly lost more than £65,000 in an email scam at the end of last year.

The parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, received an email that appeared to come from the private school in Guildford, Surrey, attended by his three children and offered him an “early bird” discount on school fees. He exchanged several emails with the fraudster before transferring the money to the criminal’s bank account.

He is currently pursuing the bank involved for the return of his funds, but banks are not obliged to refund victims of transfer fraud.

Parents who receive an email requesting payment into an alternative account are advised to call the school’s finance department to check instead of emailing. A small sum, such as £1, could initially be paid before telephoning for confirmation that it has gone into the right account.

The Charity Commission recommends that parents scrutinise emails regarding changes in payment procedures for inconsistencies and errors such as spelling mistakes or slightly different email addresses.