Financial Matters
With David Frederick FCCA | Marcus Bishop Associates | marcus-bishop.com
A Time for Spending, Giving & Taking
D
ecember is the month of Christmas whether you celebrate it or not. The marketing industry ensure that we all know Christmas is happening. Sometimes it begins days after the August bank holiday and other times it may be somewhat later. Irrespective of when the advertising campaign is launched, the advertising and marketing professionals ensure it is in our space whether we want it or not. Christmas is a time for spending and the Bank of England states “… in the run up to Christmas our spending habits change. We spend on average almost £740 more in December, which is 29% more than in a typical month.” This pattern was put on pause last year due to the pandemic and the alleged cancelling of Christmas. Research by Finder found, “Christmas spending last year was 10% less than the £26.9bn spent on Christmas gifts in 2019.” Christmas is also a time for giving and in particular charitable giving, be it money or our time. However, it is imperative that when giving money to charities especially at Christmas, that donors ensure that their donations are going to their intended charity. Why? Christmas is fast becoming a time for taking, by the fraudsters. Charitable givers must be alert and on their guard because fraudsters only need to be lucky once. According to Action Fraud, “£775 was the average loss per victim to online shopping fraud last Christmas.” This is a sobering statistic from Action Fraud given that 2020 saw a reduction in our Christmas spending. However, the risk of fraud should not be a deterrent to charitable giving. What is required is donors are vigilant and ensure they are giving to the legitimate charity. Three popular charity frauds that are churned out yearly are: 1) The fraudster posing as a charity collector at domestic and/or office premises for a charity they’ve made up, or they misuse the name of a genuine, often well-known, charity.
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2) The use of a fake website, where the fraudsters capture your credit or bank account details when you go to a donation page. 3) The request to call a phone number to make a donation. In such cases the telephone number is usually a premium rate number, so the donor is being hit twice; fraudulent donation and paying a premium charge for the telephone call. To help donors give with confidence to their favourite charities, the Fundraising Regulator and Charity Commission for England and Wales have issued a seven part guide: 1) Check the charity name and registration number at gov.uk/checkcharity. 2) You can also check if a charity is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and is committed to good fundraising practice at: fundraisingregulator.org.uk/directory. 3) Don’t click on the links or attachments in suspicious emails, and never respond to unsolicited messages or calls that ask for your personal or financial details. 4) Make sure the charity is genuine before giving any financial information. Look for the registered charity number on their website and beware of any online advertisements that just feature a mobile number. 5) To donate online, type in the charity website address yourself rather than clicking on a link. Ignore requests to donate through a money transfer company as this is a popular scam. 6) Contact, or find out more online, about the charity that you want to donate to or work with. 7) Be more cautious about fundraising appeals with generic wording, such as ‘to help people with COVID-19’. Ask what exactly the money would be used for and who by. However, if following the seven steps, a donor has an element of doubt, they should not hesitate to call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
