The Police Borough Commander noted at the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategic Group in March that “work continued on the investigation launched following the public disorder on 8^thAugust 2011.  91 people had now been convicted and 29 had been convicted and sentenced. “

The following information has been issued by Bromley Police.

In the news recently it was stated that card fraud has fallen to its lowest level in 11 years. This is positive news. However, we want to highlight the need to be ever vigilant to new and existing card fraud scams such as the one detailed below.

How does this scam work?

You receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be from your bank. He or she will say their systems have spotted a fraudulent payment on your card or that your card is due to expire and needs replacing. You may be asked to ring back using the telephone number on the back of your card – which further convinces you that the call is genuine. However, the caller keeps the line open at their end so, when you make the call, you are unknowingly connected straight back to the fraudster.

Then, by seeming to offer assistance, the fraudster tries to gain your trust. In most cases you are asked to ‘cancel’ your existing card or ‘activate’ or ‘authorise’ a  replacement card by keying your PIN into the handset of your phone.

The fraudster then poses as a bank representative who agrees to collect your card from your home, sometimes offering you a replacement card, which is a fake.

In some cases a genuine courier company is hired to pick up the card from your  home address. The victim will have been asked to place the card into an envelope ready for collection. Once they have your card and PIN the fraudster uses them to spend your money.

A variation of the scam involves the fraudster ringing a prospective victim and claiming to be from the police – again with the aim of going to the
victim’s home to collect the card and PIN.

What can I do to avoid being a victim of this scam?

• Neither your bank nor the police would ever ring you and state that they are coming to your home to pick up your card, so never hand it over to anyone who comes to collect it.
• Your bank will NEVER ask you to authorise anything by entering your PIN into the telephone handset.
• NEVER share your PIN with anyone – the only times you should use your PIN is at a cash machine or when you use a chip and PIN machine in a shop / restaurant.

I think I might have been a victim of this scam – what should I do?

If the criminals are nearby ring the Police immediately on 999, otherwise report the crime to your local Police via 101. If you think you have been the victim of a fraud or scam of this nature you should also call your bank or card company immediately.

Check out the Spring Newsletter below.

Safer Bromley News Spring 2012

Check out the Bromley Police Borough Commander’s February Newsletter.

Newsletter

Police are aware that an email entitled ‘Population Census: a message to everyone – act now’ is being circulated, allegedly in the name of National Statistician, Jil Matheson. This email demands individuals provide further personal information, supposedly for the Census and threatens fines for non-compliance.

This email is a scam and a hoax. It has no connection whatsoever with the National Statistician, the 2011 Census or the Office for National Statistics.

It is believed the links in the email could download malware to any computer where the user clicks on the links. This could put your personal data, including financial information, at risk.

Anyone receiving this, or similar emails, should delete them, not open any links and certainly not provide any information.

Bromley Police are reissuing their warning about a scam in which fraudsters are obtaining people’s bank cards, after numerous attempts to perpetrate this scam across the borough in the last month.

The scam works by the victim initially receiving a phone call, or number of phone calls, from someone claiming to be from their bank or credit card supplier. The caller obtains personal details from the victim before advising them that they need a new card and telling them that a courier will visit them shortly to collect their old card. A person, dressed to look like a courier, then arrives at the door to take the card.

A spokesman for Bromley Police said: “Never-ever disclose your bank details to anyone cold calling, banks will never call you asking for personal or account information as they already have these details, and neither will the Police. If there is a problem with your card and it needs to be replaced the bank will write to you advising you to cut the card up. They will never arrange for it to be collected by a courier. You should never give out bank details or other personal information over the phone, whatever the reason behind the request”.

Trading Standards Institute is urging consumers to be aware of rogue telephone cold callers offering energy saving devices after trading standards up and down the country reported hundreds of complaints.

Trading standards are currently dealing with more than 200 complaints about people claiming to be their energy supplier or working in partnership with them, offering a plug in device which they say can save them 40 per cent off their energy bills. Trading standards have had a number of the items tested which not only failed to satisfy electrical safety standards but do not deliver any tangible energy savings.

Ron Gainsford from the Trading Standards Institute said: “Consumers are warned not to use the product as they pose a risk of fire and electrocution and a safety recall has been issued for the items traced so far.

“Unscrupulous criminals are using the rising energy prices as an opportunity to lure in cash strapped consumers – elderly people seem to have been deliberately targeted.

“The number of complaints we are currently dealing with is bound to be only the tip of the iceberg.”

Westminster trading standards have been investigating the scam as the caller gives a London W1 Oxford Street address for the company.

Sue Jones from Westminster trading standards said: “The address they give is that of a virtual office provider, the companies involved in these scams are not actually situated there – we believe the call centre they use is based abroad and the appliances appear to be distributed by a number of individuals in the UK.

“We know that these fraudsters have been duping consumers across the country into paying £99 for the energy saving device and have been told the caller always appears to be very credible by already knowing the consumers’ details, their energy supplier and sometimes some or all of the digits of their credit/debit card.

“Often consumers do not realise that they have been defrauded until they receive the dodgy looking device with instructions in broken English and the accompanying invoice which names an unknown supplier and often gives an American address.”

So far four different suppliers have been named, 1 Stop Marketing Solutions, ITC Development Corp, Power Saver and Athico Ltd. but the fraudsters could be operating under other names too. Some of these names could be very similar to genuine companies – for example Power Saver Ltd, based in Tonbridge, Kent is not involved in this fraud.

The director of Athico Ltd appears to have been a victim of the scam himself. He fully cooperated with trading standards and the company has now ceased trading.

Advice to consumers

If consumers have responded to one of these cold calls they should report the matter to Action Fraud on http://www.actionfraud.org.uk 0300 123 2040 or Consumer Direct on 08454040506 . They should also contact their bank to stop their debit/ credit card. If a device has been received they should not use it and dispose of it carefully.

Consumers should be cautious about giving out any personal or financial information. They should independently verify a caller’s identity before agreeing to purchase any goods or services.

As you are probably aware, across the borough we are still experiencing high demand for purse bells. In order for us to get them out to the broadest audience possible we will be delivering 200 purse bells to every charity shop in the borough. Some have already been delivered, others will be delivered in the next day or two.

The idea of the purse bell is for one to be attached to a purse, wallet or hand bag and it will draw attention should anyone try to interfere with it. We particularly try to encourage vulnerable shoppers who may be targeted by pick pockets (without alarming them).

We are asking for your cooperation with letting your colleagues, panels, local groups, day centres, NHW contacts and residents know that these purse bells will be available at the till point in every charity shop that accepts them from Saturday (if not already). From previous experience, not all shops accept them, but we try and get as many as possible on board. We find that by using charity shops to distribute them we can get them to some new faces in our target group, and by requesting a small donation towards that charity shop for each purse bell, we avoid people taking 10 at a time!

There is a press release going out – hopefully in today’s News Shopper – which will also be letting residents know.

If your ward does not have a charity shop please get in touch with your respective Safer Neighbourhood Officer and we should be able agree an alternative venue to take them to.

Thanks

Amanda

Amanda Davis
Safer Neighbourhood Development Officer
London Borough of Bromley