The Government recognises the crucial importance of individual giving and charitable donations at times of humanitarian crisis such as the Pakistan floods and therefore understands and values people’s desire to give money. This underlines the importance of knowing that money sent with best intentions is not inadvertently finding its way into the wrong hands.
The normal risk based approach and customer due diligence measures must be applied by money transmitters when an individual is sending their own money to either family members or to a relief organisation in Pakistan.
If money collected by a charity or religious organisation is being sent we recommend that you do the following.
- Check the identity of the person arranging to send the money.
- Obtain the name and address of the charity or religious body.
- Check on the Charity Commission website (Opens new window) to confirm the organisation is a registered charity and obtain confirmation that the person is a genuine representative of the charity or religious organisation. Many of the charitable and religious organisations with links to Pakistan are registered with the Charity Commission.
If the organisation is not on the register you may still undertake the transaction but you should make further enquiries to satisfy yourself that the money being transmitted is not terrorist financing or the proceeds of crime.
The further enquiries could include questions about how the money was collected and enquiring about who it is being sent to. If after making further enquiries you are not satisfied that this is genuine you should consider making a suspicious activity report to the Serious Organised Crime Agency.