A local political party association’s bank account has been the victim of digital fraud.

An undisclosed amount of money was recently taken from the Hitchin and Harpenden Conservative Association bank account, but a spokesperson from the Tory group would not reveal the nature of the scam.

However, she did say it was no great sum involved: “I can confirm that the association was a victim of direct debit fraud recently. All monies have been refunded by our bank and we would like to assure our supporters that no monies have been lost nor that their bank accounts have been compromised.”

Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, Bim Afolami, would not comment because it is “an ongoing investigation”.

The association promotes the Conservative Party in the constituency, campaigns for Tory candidates in elections, fundraises, and holds social events. According to UK Finance, in a report named Fraud the Facts 2018, there were 1,874,002 UK card accounts targeted for this crime in 2017.