Crime: 31 January 2014 

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy New Year)
 
As we enter the year of the Horse this Chinese New Year on 31 January, please stay safe when using lanterns or fireworks.
 
Businesses are reminded that they can only supply fireworks three days before Chinese New Year. If fireworks are sold to anyone under 18, there could be a maximum penalty of £5000 and / or 6 months imprisonment. Fireworks should not be used after 1am on Chinese New Year.
 
ANOTHER CASE OF COURIER FRAUD (details below in Dedworth).  THE MESSAGE HAS NOT YET BEEN SPREAD FAR AND WIDE ENOUGH PLEASE !
 
30/1  Thursday 1.15 p.m.  Buckland Crescent, Windsor.  COURIER FRAUD – The aggrieved received a call from a man who called himself PC Mead.  He explained that her bank cards had been used fraudulently and £600 had been removed from her account.  He said she should phone her bank immediately to cancel the cards.  She did this and spoke to the man’s accomplice.  He asked her for her card details and then asked her to key in her PIN number on the phone.  He confirmed £600 had been removed from her account. He said she needed to cut up her cards and place them in an envelope, and he would send a courier around to collect them in 10 minutes.  When the courier arrived, she handed over her cards.  She then became suspicious and phoned her bank, who confirmed the scam.  Her cards were cancelled and they confirmed that nothing had so far been removed from her account.  A man was subsequently arrested for Fraud. The police still have ongoing enquiries into this fraud and request the public continue to be vigilant and to report any suspicious calls to us.  If you receive a call from anyone purporting to be a police officer who mentions fraudulent use of credit cards, please hang up for at least 2 minutes, before phoning your bank to verify everything is in order, cancelling cards if necessary – then phone the police
This Aggrieved was very lucky – but this has now been going on since November 2013 – and we obviously haven’t got this message out far and wide enough.
 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
NO CRIME TO REPORT
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
30/1  Thursday 2.30 p.m. / 4.50 p.m.  Islet Road.  Attempted Burglary.  Attempt to force front and rear patio window.  No entry gained and nothing stolen.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
30/1  12.30 p.m.  Waltham St. Lawrence Cricket Club, the Street, Shurlock Row.  Side window removed and club searched – nothing taken.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
30/1  Thursday 10.20 p.m. – 10.50 p.m.  Cannon Court Road.  Car entered and searched – loose change, purse, portable DVD player and DVDs stolen.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
29/1  Wednesday  11.15 p.m.  Grenfell Road.  Graffiti sprayed on walkway and road.
29/1  Wednesday 11 p.m.  Unit, Boyn Valley Industrial Estate. Front of building sprayed with graffiti tags.
28/1 – 29/1  Tuesday 5 p.m. / Wednesday 7 a.m.  High Town Road.  A small amount of copper from the infrastructure stolen.  Parts of a steel scaffolding tower also stolen.
29/1  Wednesday 1 p.m. / 9.40 p.m.  Lambourne Drive, Cox Green.  Burglary  The owners went out and upon their return, found the French doors had been forced open.  The conservatory door had also been forced.  Tidy search.  Laptops X 2, jewellery box and contents, a watch, a Sony camera together with a briefcase and contents stolen.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT
 
 
MEMBERS’ ADVICE:
 
FIRST SEVERAL SCAM EMAILS THAT ARE NEW TO ME:
 
First from Chris:
Hi jeff,
 
I have had a notice to attend email in from the Court apparently in Scotland !
 
It says that I must appear before the Court in London on a certain date, please bring all documents and witnesses.  A copy of the court notice is attached to this letter. Please read it thoroughly.
 
If you don’t attend, a judge may hear the case in your absence.
 
Clerk to the Court
 
Chris.
 
What a way to get someone to open an attachment !  You need to keep your wits about you.
 
NEXT – A GOOD OUTCOME BY NEXT !
 
Hi Jeff

Yesterday, I received a letter from ‘Next Home Delivery service’, addressed to my property, but to an unknown and unusually named addressee.
It offered the addressee , a Mrs E.But, a discount on their next Next,home order.
With increased misuse of peoples personal details, I decided take the precaution of contacting the Next organization.  I registered this as a complaint on their website, detailing it as either incorrect, or deliberately false information.  I also requested that my address should be removed from their database.
Full marks to Next, they phoned me today and told me that they have placed a block on the addressees account, until she contacts them with correct details.  They also apologized for the inconvenience.
Regards
Martin
 
Well done NEXT.  It is really nice to be able to highlight a fast easy solution, dealt with courteously.  Things like this do need urgent action, in case, it is probably a case of someone trying to set up a credit history at your address, under their name.
 
Good on Next for taking such rapid action, but they will be the ultimate victim !
 
AFTER THAT I HAVE A REALLY STRANGE ONE FROM JACQUELINE:
Dear Jeff,
 
I received the email below and thought I should forward it on to you as it looks very suspicious (I haven't opened any of the links).
 
Jacqueline
It is an email from ‘Kids Live Safe Family Protection Services’ and is headed up URGENT Pedophile Alert (spelt incorrectly)
It says:
You are receiving this email because we have detected Sex Offender activity in your area.........if you want to know who they are and how you can protect your family...CLICK HERE !
 
Many thanks Jacqueline,
Another way to get you to open the attachment.  You must never open these attachments.  The senders will set their computers to send millions of these email to randomly computer generated emails, working through every letter and combination of the alphabet.  The minute you open the attachment, they receive a message to say, they have a live address.  Live / active addresses are worth a lot of money to other scammers !
 
 
Fans warned of Fake Ticket Sites:
With the announcement of British Summer Time 2014 and McBusted topping the bill at this event in Hyde park, music fans are being warned not to fall victim to fake ticketing sites this summer.  Trading Standards would like to extend this warning to more local concerts as well - Boyzone are performing in Epsom, and Tom Jones and Wet Wet Wet are scheduled at Sandown Park to name a couple.
 
Every year thousands of people pay for event tickets from scam websites and never receive them.
 
Research from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reveals that one in 12 ticket buyers has been caught out by scam ticket websites, with victims losing an average of £80 each.
 
Scammers often promote their websites on social networking sites, creating a user group with a link to their site, and posting positive feedback.
 
If you are buying tickets online please beware of sites selling tickets to events that haven’t gone on sale, to put website names into a search engine like Google to see what people are saying about the sites, and to use www.safeconcerts.com to find out more about the seller.
 
Ticket fraud happens when you buy tickets from an official looking website, but the tickets fail to arrive or turn out to be completely fake.  It is easy for fraudsters to set up a legitimate looking websites and even use similar URL’s to dupe you.  It is important to remember that if you use unofficial ticket outlet websites, ticket re-sale outlets or touts, you take the risk of being scammed.
 
Protect yourself against ticket fraud
 Always check with the event organiser for official ticket distribution lists.
 Pay for tickets by credit card – the card issuer is jointly liable for a failure for goods or services to be provided as long as the price of a single ticket is over than £100.
 Only make purchase from sites encrypted for payment. Look for the closed padlock and the web address in the browser should begin “https”.
 If you are unsure about a website, run a quick online search and check ticketing forums to find feedback from others.
 Look out for telephone numbers starting 070 or 004470. These can be set-up on the Internet and answered anywhere in the world.
 Check sellers’ privacy policy and returns policy.
 
Trading Standards