The Charity Commission is warning charities to be wary of scammers phoning them up claiming to be from the Commission and demanding payments for various services and advertisements.

Some of the bogus calls, which have been reported to the Commission by charities and passed on to the police to investigate, have demanded payments of thousands of pounds.  Callers claim to be from the Commission’s “debt collection department”.

The Commission has sought to remind charities that it does not charge for any of its services to charities and so any calls of this nature are fraudulent.  It does not get involved in debt collection either directly or via third parties.

Any such calls made to charities should be reported to the police and to the Commission.