Tips for checking fraudulent communications

At the Fraud Compensation Fund, we pay compensation directly to trustees acting on behalf of the scheme, therefore we don't contact members individually about these payments. Instead, scheme trustees are responsible for contacting members.

If you're unsure whether a communication, such as an email or letter, is genuine or whether it's a potential scam, you should contact your scheme trustee.

We’ve shared some general advice on how to spot fraudulent communications and protect yourself from potential scams.

Scammers often ask for personal or financial information

Scammers may use different ways to access your personal or financial information, mislead you or encourage you to pay money. They may use letters, email, text messages or phone calls to contact you. Being aware of different types of scams can help you to protect yourself from them. Find out more about the different types of fraudulent scams.

The Fraud Compensation Fund would never request money or sensitive personal information from members.

Look out for spelling mistakes or other inconsistencies

There are some key things to look out for to help you spot fraudulent scams, these are:

spelling mistakes and inconsistencies
strange or messy design
a sense of urgency and being pressured into taking action or transferring money quickly

To protect yourself, you can:

double check that the email address or webpage is spelt correctly – sometimes scammers may change just 1 or 2 characters
report suspicious communications to the organisation by using a publicly listed number (do not call the number provided in the suspicious communication)
don’t reply to an email, click on links or attachments if the email doesn’t look right
don't give them any information until you’re satisfied that they are who they say they are