Tag Archives: Crime

Be scam alert

It’s Scams Awareness Month and Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service is warning consumers and businesses about the latest scams and offering advice to avoid becoming a victim.

Lock down scam: Warwickshire computer users have contacted Trading Standards after receiving an ‘official’ looking message on their computer screen, claiming to be from the Police. The message suggests that they have visited an inappropriate website and that their computer has been ‘locked down’. They are asked to send £100 in Ukash vouchers in order to ‘unlock it’. The scam is believed to be caused by an Internet virus.

We have money for you scam: If you receive a letter, telephone call or email claiming you are owed money, usually for payment protection insurance, a personal injury claim, a lotto win or tax refund – then beware! If you show interest you will be asked to send £100+ in Ukash vouchers in order to receive the bogus payment. One Warwickshire consumer sent £3000 worth of Ukash vouchers to people he thought had obtained for him a refund for his bank charges.

Cheque scam: Warwickshire businesses have reported receiving orders for goods and services, paid for by cheques which are for a higher amount than the real cost. One Warwickshire trader received a cheque for £2450 for a pilate class worth £35. The trader was asked to use the remaining money to pay for an air ticket for the ‘consumer’ and keep the rest! In reality, these cheques or either forged or stolen. The cheque initially clears and when the money appears in the traders account, the scammers hope that they will send money or pay for the air ticket. However, when the bank discovers that the cheque is bogus, the money is removed from the traders account and they have lost out!

Avoiding scams – 5 simple rules

  1. Never send money to anyone who says you’ve won the lottery
  2. Never give out your bank account details or other personal information to people you do not know or trust.
  3. Never feel pressured to respond immediately, however enticing the offer may seem.
  4. Never send money in response to bogus psychic mailings or email/computer messages
  5. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is!

Criminal gangs, (often operating from abroad), use the post, email, fax and telephone to send out millions of scams ever year. They are usually sent out indiscriminately, but those who respond are then added to special lists and targeted.

Trading Standards wants Warwickshire residents and businesses to forward any potential scam letters, emails or details of phone calls to them at the following FREEPOST address:

Scams Awareness Month 2012, FREEPOST CV1898 Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service, Old Budbrooke Road, WARWICK CV35 7BR

This information will be recorded and used to investigate the scale of the problem both in Warwickshire and across the country.

More information on scams is available on our website: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams

You can also report a fraud to Action Fraud on: 0300 123 2040 or visit: www.actionfraud.police.uk

The Citizens Advice consumer service provides free, confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues. Visit www.adviceguide.org.uk or call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06 or 0208 1850 710 (English language).

 

 

 

 

 

How do we know? Whodunnit

Hear and read about crime stories from the past at the ‘Whodunnit’ investigative session on Saturday 26th May at Warwickshire County Record Office.

CR2212 Photograph of Mary Ann Clifford taken from the Known Thieves Album at Warwickshire County Record office. Ms Clifford, was found guilty of pedalling bogus birth control potions in the 19th century.

The latest in Warwickshire County Council’s Heritage and Culture’s How Do We Know? series focuses on the criminal records held at the record office and online.  The session will explore the English justice system from the medieval period onwards.

The activity will appeal to those with an interest in both local and family history and participants will be able to study and search for records themselves.

How Do We Know?  is a series of discovery sessions involving lively discussions, artefacts, archives, specimens and illuminating information about Warwickshire’s past.  Held in the spacious searchroom at Warwickshire County Record Office, these regular sessions will focus on different topics across the Warwickshire Museum collections, including archaeology, geology, social history and archives.

How Do We Know … Whodunnit? takes place on Saturday 26th May at 2pm at Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, off Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS. The session costs £6 (concessions £5)..Please call 01926 738959 to book your place.

New powers will effectively ‘close’ problem alcohol retailers

Businesses that persistently sell alcoholic drinks to children could lose their license to sell alcohol in a matter of a few short weeks, thanks to new powers given to Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service.

Trading Standards Officers and Warwickshire Police can now stop businesses selling alcohol for up to two weeks where the retailer is found to have made two or more sales of alcohol to children in a three month period.

For many stores that rely wholly or predominately on the sale of alcohol for their profits, such as off-licenses, preventing a retailer from selling alcohol can often have a significant effect upon a business – effectively closing it for trade.

These new powers offer Trading Standards Services the opportunity to take quick and decisive action against problem businesses, whilst still allowing officers to take a full prosecution if a business transgressed further.

Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said: “Most retailers understand the problems caused by under-age drinking, to the health of young people and in terms of anti-social behaviour in the community. They take their responsibilities seriously and ensure that children and young people cannot buy alcohol.

“However, there remains a small minority who despite education, support and warnings, continue to sell to under 18s. This new power will help us to take quick and decisive action against them which will have an effect not only on their alcohol sales, but their entire business.”

In the latest undercover test purchase exercise, 17 alcohol retailers were visited across North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby. Businesses that were suspected of selling alcohol to children were targeted and four sales of alcohol were made to 15 year old child volunteers.

  • Nuneaton and Bedworth and North Warwickshire: 11 alcohol test purchases attempted and one sale made (in North Warwickshire).
  • Rugby: six alcohol test purchases attempted and three sales made.

Warwickshire Trading Standards uses information and intelligence gathered from local communities to target problem businesses and investigations by Warwickshire Trading Standards Service are now on-going.

  • A recent survey has revealed that 20 per cent of 13-year-olds drink alcohol at least once a week. In 2009, the Chief Medical Officer advised that under-15s should not be drinking alcohol at all.
  • Alcohol misuse is a major public health problem, placing a heavy burden on society, and affecting a large number of individuals of all ages.
  • A new national alcohol strategy was published in March 2012.
  • In Warwickshire, alcohol is key public health priority having featured in the Director of Public Health’s annual report of 2011; it is a cross-cutting priority for all four Community Safety Partnerships; and there is Warwickshire wide alcohol implementation plan supported by all key stakeholders.

Under 18?

Contact Compass Warwickshire for drug and alcohol advice, information and specialist treatment on freephone 08000 88 72 48. The service is available between the hours of 9am and 5pm. Please leave a message if your call isn’t answered – someone will get back to you.

More information from – http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/alcohol

In addition to the new powers detailed above, brought in following an amendment to the Licensing Act 2003, Trading Standards Officers also have the option to prosecute as an alternative. The offence of persistently selling alcohol to children now carries a maximum fine of £20,000 (raised from £10,000) and following conviction, a Magistrates court could suspend the retailers licence to sell alcohol for up to three months.

Easter Holiday Crackdown on the Sale of Alcohol to Children

Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service is cracking down on the sale of alcohol to children in a pre-Easter blitz.

Trading Standards Officers, supported by Warwickshire Police, carried out undercover test purchases of alcohol at 14 off-licenses and 3 pubs at locations in Rugby and South Warwickshire during March.

Three sales were made, two in South Warwickshire (one at a pub and one at an off-license) and one in Rugby (at an off-license).

Child volunteers, aged 14-16 with parental permission attempted to buy alcohol at the 17 separate on and off-license premises which included corner shops, small supermarkets, garages, national off-license chains and pubs.

Where sales were made, Police issued the seller with an £80 fixed penalty notice and Trading Standards Officers are now investigating the matter further.

Warwickshire Trading Standards has a number of options it can take ranging from advice to prosecution. Businesses could also face having additional conditions placed on their license to sell alcohol, or face losing it altogether.

Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection said: “The Trading Standards Service works hard to educate shop owners and staff on the measures they can take to stop the sale of alcohol to children.”

“I would like to thank the majority of retailers who have consistently shown that they take their responsibilities seriously and do not sell alcohol to those aged under 18.”

“Under age drinking is a major cause of anti-social behaviour in our communities and can damage the health of young people.”

“We will continue our undercover work and take action against those businesses that are allowing children to buy alcohol.”

Get shed-ucated

As people prepare to spruce up their gardens this spring, Warwickshire County Council’s Community Safety Team is reminding residents to keep expensive equipment safely locked up in sheds and garages.

Opportunist thieves are on the prowl this time of year looking to steal precious garden tools such as lawn mowers, strimmers and hedge cutters. They are also looking for power tools and bicycles, in fact anything that can easily be sold on with little effort.

To avoid becoming a victim of this crime, the team have put together some helpful advice.

Sheds

  • Make sure you actually lock up the shed, many are left unlocked and do not have security.
  • Make sure your shed is in good condition, the door and frame are in good order and the glass is not broken, better still have windows laminated or plastic ones installed.
  • Fit the appropriate security locks, you only get what you pay for, so using a £5 cheap lock is not ideal for hundreds of pounds worth of stuff.
  • Use metal rings and chains fixed to the shed frame with security screws or bolts to link all your electrical items and tools.
  • Consider a shed alarm, battery powered, to make that unexpected noise in the dead of night to frighten them off.
  • Research the internet for further tips and products.

Garages

Garages tend to be an extension to home living and have fridge’s, freezers, washing machines, dryers, exercise equipment as well as car accessories and leisure equipment. Consider the value of what is in there and upgrade your security accordingly.

  • If you have a household alarm fitted consider extending the system into the garage.
  • You could purchase a separate alarm just to cover the inside of the garage.
  • Fit a garage door blocker on the outside of the door, it bolts permanently to the floor and has a large ‘T’ shaped restrictor.
  • Consider fitting a pair of garage door locks that fit either vertically or horizontally and lock from either inside or outside.
  • Replace the existing poor quality locks to give better security
  • Use the same type of fixing rings and chains as for a shed to secure items together and to the floor or walls.

For more community safety advice, go to www.warwickshire.gov.uk/communitysafety or follow the visit the team’s blog at www.safeinwarwickshire.wordpress.com. Keep up to date with the service on Twitter, follow #SafeinWarks.

Beware – Trading Standards warns of bogus Olympic lottery

A bogus Olympic lottery letter which has been sent to householders across Warwickshire is the first of many Olympic related scams that Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards Service is expecting in this Olympic year.

The scam lotto letter, which illegally uses the London 2012 and Olympic rings logos claims that the recipient has won a prize of £205,000. All the recipient has to do is return by fax a payment processing form with their personal details to receive the money!

In reality, these lotto letters are being sent by criminal gangs operating abroad.

They will use any information they obtain to carry out identification theft or ask the recipients to send money first, before they can claim their non-existent prize.

Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said: “This bogus Olympic lottery letter is the first Olympic related scam we in Warwickshire have seen – but there are others circulating – so it is unlikely to be the last.”

“Consumers should never respond to letters like these, they can only lose out.”

“Our advice is to bin them straight away!”

The letter uses bogus names and addresses, (usually largeLondonofficer blocks) and a 0207 telephone and fax number. 0207 numbers can be ‘virtual’ numbers, purchased by businesses to give the impression they are based inLondon. However, in reality, the person at the end of the phone could be anywhere in the world!

How to spot a scam Olympic lottery letter/offer:

1)     It is unlikely that London 2012 will be asking individuals to pay for goods or services, whether directly to it or through agents, other than ticket sales and official London 2012 merchandise. Therefore such lotto letters are almost certainly going to be bogus

2)     Bogus Olympic information will typically use poor quality reproductions of the Olympic logos

3)     If you haven’t entered a lottery then you can’t have won it

4)     We don’t know of any official lottery operators who ask for fees to collect winnings.  Any request for a fee payment is a good indication that someone is trying to defraud you

5)     Never respond to these lottery letters – you will only be targeted further

More help and information

  • If you are in any doubt about a London 2012 offer, please contact the Olympic organisers, visit: www.london2012.com The website also has an updated list of the latest London 2012 scams/frauds
  • You can report a scam to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040
  • For more information on scams visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams

The Olympic Symbol etc (Protection) Act 1995 and The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 – both enforced by Trading Standards Officers – make it a criminal offence to use the symbol without the permission of the official Olympics Association.