'Fraudster' spent £2k on Essex fire service credit card

Essex Fire and Rescue Service said the fraudster was not a member of staff

A fire service has fallen victim to a fraudster who spent more than £2,300 on one of its purchase cards.

The BBC has established that eight fraudulent transactions were logged by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service in February.

The amounts spent on what the service described as "miscellaneous expenses" ranged from £194 to £430 a time.

A spokeswoman said the fraudulent spending was by a third party and had been referred to Barclaycard.

The fire service said it did not know the identity of the fraudster, though emphasised it was a third party and not one of its employees.

Details of exactly what was bought using the card is not known because the fire service had overwritten the transactions in its own database with "fraudulent".

It is unclear whether Barclaycard has or will refer the matter to the police.

Purchase cards are used by various fire service departments to pay for items ranging from conference tickets to binoculars.

'Eligible' for refund

In February, when the service fell victim to fraudsters, the total amount spent on the various departmental cards was £23,069.

The card used by the fraudsters was the one used by the service’s purchasing and supply department.

The spokeswoman said because the fraud was committed by a third party - and not a member of fire service staff - no internal action was taken.

The BBC has not been able to establish whether either the fire service or Barclaycard know the identity of the suspected fraudster.

A spokeswoman for Barclaycard said: “As soon as a client informs us that their card has been used fraudulently, we will act swiftly to block the card to prevent any further losses, and undertake a full investigation to understand what happened.

“In the vast majority of genuine fraud cases, the customer is eligible for a full refund. We also encourage the client to report the fraud to the relevant authorities who we also work closely with to prevent and combat fraud."