St Margaret's campaign hit by online scam

A FUNDRAISING campaign to try to save a leading Edinburgh private school from closure has been hit by an online scam.

Fraudsters set up a bogus bank account and e-mail address to try to trick parents into donating money to them.

Parents of pupils at St Margaret's School – which went into administration earlier this month – are trying to raise 2.5 million to keep the school up and running. They have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds so far, but the school will close its doors for good on 29 June if they cannot come up with the money needed.

Parents have hit out at the people behind the scam, while police confirmed they were investigating.

Val Devlin, spokeswoman for the St Margaret's Parents and Friends Association, said: "It's pretty disheartening that anyone would try to do this.

"We've had to work really hard to put the word out that these messages are bogus."

It is not known how much money has been donated into the bogus account, which was spotted within hours of it being promoted online on Saturday.