Highland Hospice loses £500k to ‘vishing and spoofing fraud’

Highlands and Islands Police are investigating a number of incidents in which fraudsters posed as bank representatives to make victims hand over financial information

A Scottish hospice has lost approximately £500,000 to a cyber crime, police have confirmed.

Highland Hospice lost the money in a “vishing and spoofing fraud”, the Highland and Islands Police Division said in a statement.

Vishing is where a fraudster makes a telephone call posing as a bank representative to persuade the victim to hand over financial information.

The police statement said the hospice was one of a number of victims in the Highlands and the fraudsters had stolen a total of £2.5m between 19 July and 30 July from businesses in the region.

The police said they were aware of other attempts to defraud hospices in recent weeks, but they had not established if these cases were linked.

Last month, Bury Hospice lost £235,000 in an “elaborate” fraud involving an online virus check, and said other charities in Greater Manchester had been targeted in a similar way.

Bolton Hospice also narrowly avoided a “sophisticated fraud” last month that involved contacting a major supplier and having the hospice’s bank’s phone number appear on the caller display.

Kenny Steele, chief executive of Highland Hospice, said: “Although this is a horrendous situation, it will not have an immediate impact on operations. There is resilience built into the hospice financial systems to cope with these types of risk to ensure that our top priority of patient and family care and wellbeing is protected.

“We have put in additional security measures and are working with the police and banking authorities to work on recovery of the funds and track the perpetrators. We also hope that releasing this information will help to protect other businesses in the area.”

Detective Inspector Iain McPhail, from the Economic Crime and Financial Investigation Unit at Police Scotland, said the force was carrying out a thorough investigation of the incident.

He said some of the money had been recovered and police were working to recover the rest of the stolen funds.

“I would again urge people to be on their guard against unsolicited calls from someone claiming to be from their bank,” he said.

“Always double-check numbers you’re given to call back to or call through the main customer care number for the organisation and ask to be put through.

“If you decide to ring back and verify the call, it is advisable to do so on a different phone line, such as another landline or your mobile. If you are still unsure, consider visiting your local branch instead of speaking to someone over the phone.”

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Movers: Martin Warhurst made chief at Martin House Hospice Care for Children

Plus: Jim Minton takes over at Toynbee Hall, Julia Margo appointed head of the Genesis Research Trust and CICRA makes Nick Posford its first chief

Martin House Hospice Care for Children has welcomed Martin Warhurst as its new chief executive. He was managing director of Cestria Community Housing.

Jim Minton, director of membership and communications at London Youth, has been appointed chief executive of the community anti-poverty charity Toynbee Hall. He will take up the role in October.

The Genesis Research Trust, which funds medical research in gynaecology, obstretrics and the care of new-borns, has appointed Julia Margo as chief executive. She has been chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust since July 2015.

CICRA, which funds research and provides support for children and young adults affected by Crohn’s and colitis, has appointed Nick Posford as its first chief executive. He joins from the same role at Kingston University’s students union.

Laura Thurlow has been promoted to chief executive of the Community Foundation for Surrey. She had been deputy chief executive of the charity since 2012 and interim chief executive since May this year.

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Merger of National Council for Palliative Care and Hospice UK to be finalised this week

Half of the NCPC’s 14 staff have moved to Hospice UK, and the merger will be completed on 1 July

The National Council for Palliative Care will be absorbed into Hospice UK when the charities finalise their merger later this week.

The merger, which will be completed on 1 July, is being carried out to help the two charities expand their work, reduce duplication of effort and build on the already close working relationship between the two organisations, a spokesman for the charities said.

Of the NCPC’s 14 staff, five took voluntary redundancy, two were made redundant and the rest have moved to Hospice UK, which has 57 staff.

The NCPC’s board will be wound up and the new charity will operate under Hospice UK’s name, the spokesman said.

The charities’ boards agreed in March to work towards a formal merger, and said Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of Hospice UK, would be acting chief executive of both organisations from 31 May while the merger was finalised.

Bleakley has today been confirmed as chief executive of the merged organisation and Claire Henry, former chief executive of the NCPC, has become director of improvement and transformation at Hospice UK.

Both charities already share a building in London, which will remain the merged charity’s headquarters, the spokesman said.

Hospice UK had an income of £5.9m in the 2016/17 financial year, while the NCPC had an income of £1.4m.

Bleakley said: “We need a bold new approach to caring for adults and children facing life-shortening conditions and confronting the taboo subjects of death and bereavement. This merger will greatly strengthen our ability to do this.

“As we join forces, we are looking at how we can open up good end-of-life care for everyone no matter who you are, where you are or what condition you have.”

Baroness Ilora Finlay, outgoing chair of NCPC and now vice-president of Hospice UK, said: “I’m delighted that our organisations are joining forces to further strengthen the voice for excellent palliative and end-of-life care for all.

“By coming together, we will continue to provide a clear vision and an even stronger voice for end-of-life care everywhere, because the most important person in end-of-life care is the person with the life-limiting condition and their family.”

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Wiltshire hospice defrauded of £130,000

Dorothy House Hospice Care says it was the victim of a ‘sophisticated financial fraud by an external party’ on 16 May

A hospice charity in south-west England has been hit by a £130,000 fraud, it has announced.

Dorothy House Hospice Care said in a statement yesterday that it had been the victim of “a sophisticated criminal financial fraud by an external party” earlier this month.

The statement said the charity, based in Wiltshire, had no evidence that there had been any staff collusion in the fraud, in which funds were stolen from the charity’s bank account on 16 May.

A spokeswoman for the charity, which operates a hospice near Bath but provides the bulk of its services in the community, said she was unable to give any further details about how the incident happened because of an ongoing police investigation.

But Dorothy House has commissioned a full analysis of the incident by a professional forensic investigation company and is expected to make the results available as soon as it can.

The charity, which had an income of £11.1m in the year to the end of March 2016, said it had alerted all the relevant authorities to the incident, including the Charity Commission.

It is unclear at this stage whether the hospice will be able to recover the funds.

John Davies, chief executive of the charity, said no patient information or care was compromised by the incident and there was no financial risk to the charity arising from it.

But he said the crime was “an affront to the amazing work and support of our community, staff and volunteers”.

He said: “The hospice is constantly vigilant of all aspects of online security and we are well protected against cyber-attacks like the recent ransomware virus that affected parts of the NHS.

“We are alerting other local hospices to help them avoid any similar fraud. Looking ahead, we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that Dorothy House and its funds are secure and we will continue to deliver the outstanding care for which we are renowned.”

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