A charity for Israeli veterans has lost £1m due to an alleged ‘sophisticated’ fraud perpetrated by an unnamed foreign exchange company.
Beit Halochem UK, which raises money for rehabilitation centres in Israel that support injured and disabled veterans, said that two other unidentified charities have fallen victim to the same fraud.
The charity reported that it had reliably used the foreign exchange company for three years.
A Beit Halochem UK spokesperson told Third Sector: “As soon as we became aware of the fraud, we reported this to the police and the Charity Commission.
“We have since been informed that this was not isolated to our charity – at least two other organisations have also been targeted by the same perpetrators.
“A formal police investigation is now underway.”
Charity installs new financial controls to avoid repeat
In a letter to their donors, the charity’s chief executive, Spencer Gelding, and its chair, Andrew Wolfson, said that the £1m stolen represented “less than 10 per cent” of the total funds raised since October 2023.
The charity’s income was around £4.1m, according to its most recently filed accounts for the year to February 2024. Almost all of this income appears to have been sourced from donations and legacies.
In the letter, Gelding and Wolfson also added that the charity has taken steps to ensure that the fraud cannot recur.
These include unspecified new financial controls and oversight measures.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that it received a report from a charity on 21 March in relation to the alleged misappropriation of its funds.
They confirmed that the investigation was “in its early stages and is being led by economic crime team officers”, and described inquiries as “ongoing”.
Beit Halochem UK and the Charity Commission have both been contacted for comment.
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