We have heard very recently from Home Start Cymru regarding a safeguarding and volunteering concern they have experienced. They wanted to alert us to the details and we felt it important to share them.
Home Start Cymru are an organisation that sends volunteers into families’ homes to support them in difficult times and some of these families can be very vulnerable. Home Start Cymru advised that they have recently received an influx of applications through their volunteering system of people apparently from Nigeria. Home Start Cymru followed their volunteer recruitment process and upon further investigation and vetting, these individuals were found to be using fraudulent emails and fake ID in an attempt to gain access to families.
Home Start Cymru swiftly reported the incident to their head office in the UK. The police have been contacted and the fraud team are working with them. The Charity Commission has been informed and a report has been submitted.
Please share this information with your networks so groups and organisations are alerted and can take preventative action.
If anyone has any concerns about this information and/or is concerned they may have had similar contacts, please contact the Charity Commission, using the details here: https://forms.charitycommission.gov.uk/
Related information and guidance can be found here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/information-for/individuals-families
