Fraud alerts

Occasionally we receive reports of fraudulent activity carried out using HI's name (either Humanity & Inclusion or Handicap International).

Some of these incidents have taken place in the UK, while others appear to be limited to other specific countries.

Below is a list of fraudulent activity that we are currently aware of. This page will be updated on an ongoing basis with any new information we receive.

If you encounter any activity in HI's name that appears to be fraudulent, please contact our UK office immediately on 0870 774 3737 or email supportercare.uk[at]hi.org to inform us of the incident.

Fake street fundraising

In recent years, there have been numerous instances of fake street collections for charities (including HI) in many European countries.

Each case is different, however the person usually presents a badly copied piece of paper with the HI logo, a reference to opening a centre for deaf people, and a sponsorship form. The culprits may target local businesses and shops, members of the public in the street, or go door-to-door. In the past some have become aggressive when their request for money is denied.

Unfortunately, we have received numerous reports of this type of incident in the last few years, in countries including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, and others. We believe that all these fake fundraising scams are being carried out by the same organised criminal gang.

Our response

These cases are not official collections for Humanity & Inclusion/Handicap International, and these people do not represent our organisation. We advise members of the public to be vigilant.

HI does not currently have street fundraisers operating in the UK. During any periods when we do run face-to-face fundraising collections, we post a notification on our website. All our fundraisers carry proper identification and wear a Humanity & Inclusion branded tabard. The fundraising team also hold an official permit from the local council.

In response to incidents of this type, HI takes steps to warn our supporters and the general public, to try and prevent more people from being affected. Following any reports of fake fundraising incidents in the UK, warnings will be posted on this website and the @HI_UK Twitter account with details of the incident and location.

HI actively cooperates with the Police to support their investigations. We are also taking action to bring this issue to the attention of the authorities across the EU that are trying to stop this sort of coordinated criminal activity.

How to report concerns

If you are suspicious about fundraising collections happening in your area, we advise you to immediately contact the local Police. Please feel free to provide our contact details to the Police and let them know that we are available to discuss the matter should they need further information.

Please also contact our UK office on 0870 774 3737 or email supportercare.uk[at]hi.org to inform us of the incident.

The only way that we can prevent these incidents from happening is with the help of the public. Thank you for your support.

Email recruitment scam

Since April 2018, some members of the public in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast have received fake recruitment emails advertising jobs with Humanity & Inclusion/Handicap International in these countries that do not exist.

It seems that information is being taken from genuine job adverts for various roles in our organisation to create fake job adverts. They have then posted these fake jobs on to legitimate job websites and sent out scam emails. They are using our name, brand, and UK Charity number along with a fake UK phone number, a fake email address, and a fake domain name to make their fraud appear more convincing.

It seems that these fake job adverts are being used to coerce people into paying for fake psychometric tests, in order to defraud them of money.

Our response

Any email or job advert that matches the description above is not a genuine email or advert from Humanity & Inclusion/Handicap International. The people involved do not represent or work for our organisation and they are fraudulently using our charity’s name to take money from people.

HI will never ask for money during the recruitment process under any circumstances, and we will never ask applicants to do paid testing of any kind.

Please do not respond, and do not send any personal details or money to this address.

HI does not work in Nigeria, Cameroon, or Ivory Coast, and we do not have any offices or operations in these countries.

We are currently in contact with the UK Police, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and UK National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre. They are investigating this fake job advert, with hopes of disrupting the criminal activity and protecting other people from losing money to these criminals.

We also have a team at our head office working on getting the false job adverts taken down from any legitimate job websites which are hosting them. Some of the adverts have already been taken down and the fraud has also been reported to the Nigerian Police.

As far as we are aware, this scam is currently limited to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast, but it is possible that it could be replicated in other countries. We advise members of the public to be vigilant.

How to report concerns

If you are suspicious about an email that you have received or a job advert that claims to be from HI, we advise you to contact the local Police in your area. Please feel free to provide our contact details to the Police and let them know that we are available to discuss the matter should they need further information.

Please also contact our UK office on 0870 774 3737 or email supportercare.uk[at]hi.org to inform us of the incident.

The only way that we can prevent these incidents from happening is with the help of the public. Thank you for your support.