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Investment Scam Awareness

The Force’s Economic Crime Unit have seen an increase in occurrences of Investment scams recently where people have fallen victim to investment adverts online, or been called after searching for investment opportunities online.

Victims have been convinced to open crypto wallets in their names, hand over control of those wallets to the scammers, who promise to help them make high returns on their investments.

The victim can see the money increasing rapidly in the crypto wallets and believe they are going to receive a good return, when in fact the money being received is money from other victims of similar scams and is laundered through their accounts.

Following this, victims are usually targeted again by scammers offering to help get their original investment back, or they are used by the scammers to launder further fraudulent funds unwittingly.

Further information and advice can be found in the Little Booklet of Investment Scams. 

Remember: Lift, Lock and Remove 

Modern multi-locking and uPVC doors use a system of hooks and latches to secure the door but these only work if you lift up the handle and then remember to turn and remove the key. 

Remember to lift, lock and remove.

Free training and support for shop workers to help keep them safe

The NBCC has designed a series of training videos for those working in the retail sector to help them deal with difficult situations and customers and to provide practical steps they can take to stay safe. 

The videos cover four key areas; personal safety and de-escalation, saying no - refusing service, deterring and interacting with thieves and handling disruptive behaviour. Each video is no more than 4-minutes long and provides tactics and strategies which any retail worker can use. They can be viewed and downloaded on the NBCC website here: Shopworker Videos

Holiday Fraud Campaign

Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, has launched a holiday fraud campaign, urging the public who are searching for their next holiday deals online to look out for suspiciously enticing offers, including those on social media.

Before clicking that ‘book’ button, Action Fraud is encouraging everyone to not only look for the usual logos, like ABTA, ABTOT and ATOL, but do some extra research to make sure the holiday deal is genuine. 

They also recommend you avoid using bank transfers where possible, as this can be a sign of a fraudulent deal, and ideally pay using a credit card to benefit from the additional consumer protection this provides. Visit Action Fraud’s website for further advice.

NSPCC Trust Toolkit for a child’s first phone

If your child is about to get their first phone or a new device, then it’s a good idea to plan ahead for how they will use it safely. The NSPCC have partnered with Vodafone to create a toolkit of activities to help you feel confident about starting this journey together as a family.

The NSPCC’s toolkit will lead you through all the important aspects of trust with their handy acronym:

T – Talking about safe phone use

R – Recognising rights to safety online

U – Using online safety and wellbeing tools

S – Support when facing challenges online

T – Talking about online safety going forward

Become a Stop Domestic Abuse ambassador in your community

Whether you realise it or not, it is likely that you will know someone who is experiencing domestic abuse.  

They could be your staff member whose work performance has deteriorated, your friend who no longer returns your calls, your daughter or son who now avoids you, your client who looks and behaves differently, your colleague who is always on their phone at work, or your patient who is excusing injuries.

Domestic Abuse needs a community response and we need to be confident to spot potential signs and to be confident to talk. Visit the SDA website to book onto a free training session.