Fraud warning: fake payment emails targeting Worthing Food & Drink Festival traders

We have been made aware that fraudulent emails are being sent to traders requesting payment in relation to the Worthing Food & Drink Festival.

These emails have not been sent by Worthing Town Centre BID.

If you receive a payment request you are unsure about, please do not make payment, do not reply, and do not click any links or open any attachments.

How to identify a genuine payment request

Worthing Town Centre BID will never ask you to make payment to a different or alternative bank account. All legitimate payments relating to the Worthing Food & Drink Festival are made only to the Worthing Town Centre BID bank account.

We will never contact you unexpectedly asking you to change the bank details you use to pay us.

Treat any email as suspicious if it:

• provides different or updated bank details

• asks you to redirect a payment

• creates urgency around making a payment

If you are ever unsure whether an invoice or payment request is genuine, contact us directly using contact details you already know to be genuine — not the details contained in the email itself.

What we are doing

We take this extremely seriously. The matter has been reported to the police, and we are contacting our traders and the wider community as quickly as possible to make everyone aware.

Have you received one of these emails?

If you have received a suspicious email relating to the Worthing Food & Drink Festival, or believe you may have been affected, please contact hannah@worthingtowncentre.co.uk.

If you have already made a payment following one of these fraudulent emails, contact your bank immediately and tell them you believe you may have been the victim of fraud.

Please share this warning with anyone you know who is trading at, supplying, sponsoring or otherwise involved with the Worthing Food & Drink Festival.

Worthing Town Centre BID