Private faculty mother and father liable to fraud as scammers goal charge funds

Parents with children at private school are losing thousands to scammers in sophisticated fraud schemes that target fee payments, new research suggests. 

Every one of 100 private schools surveyed by school software firm Iris Education said they were aware of parents who had been targeted with fee payment scams over the past five years.

Scammers target parents impersonating the school in emails and asking for payment of fees. 

Schools usually send bank transfer instructions to parents via email, so the fraudsters are able to trick parents into sending cash to their account instead.

Parents who have fallen victim lose an average of £3,200 per incident, Iris said, with some having lost as much as £10,000 in a single case.

On average, school bursars said there have been at least five scams targeting parents in their school since 2020. 

Target: Private schools, Iris says, are particularly vulnerable to fraud due to the number of high value transactions being made by parents throughout the year

Simon Freeman, managing director at Iris Education, said: ‘These findings reflect the enormous challenge independent schools are facing from increasingly sophisticated fraudsters. 

‘What concerns us is how quickly scammers have evolved their tactics. They’re monitoring school communications, timing attacks around fee deadlines, and replicating official payment instructions with remarkable accuracy.’

Private schools, Iris says, are particularly vulnerable due to the number of high value transactions being made by parents throughout the year.

While 87 per cent of schools say they have procedures in place to prevent fraud, more than a third aren’t confident that their fee collection processes are secure.

These figures come as data indicates that reports of online fraud, scams and other cyber-crime have jumped by more than a third in the past five years.

Cyber security firm Bridewell said reports of internet-related fraud from the UK public have increased 37 per cent in five years, based on data obtained from Action Fraud. Reports come from individuals, as well as small and medium-sized businesses.

Businesses are suffering

In 2021, there were just 28,770 reports of cyber crime, compared with 39,504 in 2025.

While these crimes are growing rapidly, cyber security firm Bridewell says the full financial impact on businesses may be larger than the figures indicate.

Larger businesses typically report fraud to the National Cyber Security Centre.

The figures indicate that reported losses from cyber crime have fallen from £12.3million in 2021, to just £6million last year.

Despite this, Bridewell chief executive Anthony Young said: ‘What we’ve seen is that the true cost of cyber crime to the UK economy is much higher than the data from Action Fraud suggests.

‘This year has seen an unprecedented number of incidents affecting enterprise-scale organisations, costing the affected business hundreds of millions.

‘Businesses must take urgent steps to bolster their cyber security defences and prepare for the growing risk of large-scale cyber-attacks.’

Almost half of retailers in the UK are considering scaling back their operations or closing altogether as a result of fraud, according to separate data from financial technology provider Payabl.

More than a third of retailers have reported losses as a result of all types of fraud, it said, amounting to some £1.17billion in 2024.

Ugne Buraciene, chief executive of Payabl, said: ‘Our research shows that many merchants are spending more time, money and energy fighting fraud than ever before, yet still feel exposed and unsupported. 

‘Business leaders are willing to invest and take responsibility, but fraud has become too complex and too fast-moving for many to tackle alone.’

‘Without stronger coordination between banks, governments, payment providers and online platforms, fraud will continue to dent business confidence and hinder UK economic growth in 2026.’