Welcome to the Fraud Advisory Panel’s website.

This website is designed to provide you with up-to-date information about the Panel and fraud in the United Kingdom.

Pre-Employment Screening and Fraud

It is estimated that at least one in six CVs contain some form of discrepancy - most commonly dates of employment, academic and professional qualifications and undisclosed directorships. Pre-employment screening can help organisations to identify undesirable employees, who may be dishonest or susceptible to committing fraud, before they join the business.

The Fraud Advisory Panel has published a 'Fraud Facts' on pre-employment screening for organisations covering:

• The importance of pre-employment screening
• Common types of pre-employment fraud
• How to conduct pre-employment screening and verify information, and
• Taking action against fraudulent applications

The factsheet is available to download here.

Dissemination of the contents of this 'Fraud Facts' is encouraged. Organisations may include their logo on the factsheet by using the 'distributed by' box provided on the second page.

Charities and Fraud

In 2008 the Fraud Advisory Panel, with the support of Chantrey Vellacott DFK LLP, commissioned research into the nature and extent of fraud in the charitable sector. The Fraud Advisory Panel's report Breach of Trust which summarises the key findings of this research is available to download here.

In follow-up to this research the Panel is holding two practical and participative one-day workshops to provide charity professionals and advisors with an overview of the current risk environment within the charity and voluntary sector and to offer an insight into fraud detection and prevention techniques. The workshops will be held at the following venues:

• London: Thursday 21 May 2009
• Leeds: 22 September 2009

Full details of these workshops, including the booking form, are available here.

The Fraud Advisory Panel also intends to produce a series of best practice guides for charities and the general public on keeping safe from fraud. These guides will be available free from the FAP website over the coming months.

Data Protection and the Fraud Investigator

The Fraud Advisory Panel has published the fifth leaflet in its series on data protection and investigator entitled 'Complying with Data Protection Act 1998 Obligations' (May 2009). This leaflet outlines general compliance issues for investigators including registration, the data protection principles, the rights of data subjects, subject access requests, exemptions and the Information Commissioner's powers.

Titles in the series include:

• Complying with Data Protection Act 1998 Obligations
• Data Security: Keeping personal data secure
• Obtaining and Sharing Data: Issues to consider when obtaining and sharing data
• Summary of Published Guidance
• Data Controller or Data Processor: Issues to consider when determining whether investigators are data controllers or data processors.

All leaflets in the series are available to download free from here.

OFT Research on Victims of Scams

Recent research commissioned by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into the victims of mass marketed scams has found that up to 20% of the UK population could be particularly vulnerable to scams. Previous victims and those with a good knowledge of the scam offer (such as investments) may be more at risk.

The research report entitled ' The Psychology of Scams: Provoking and committing errors of judgement' also found many scams use a range of persuasive techniques to lure victims. The full report is available to download from the OFT website.