Crime: 4 April 2014 

Community Officer of the Year 2014
Do you know an outstanding Police Officer, PCSO, Special Constable, Volunteer, Diversity Champion or team ?

The Annual Community Officer of the Year Competition to recognise members of staff, who have done remarkable work in their Neighbourhoods, is now underway.

Please nominate staff if you feel the work they have done in their community, is exceptional. The more nominations candidates receive, the more likely they are to be short-listed.

The competition gives everyone an opportunity to nominate those who work for Thames Valley Police, who they think deserves recognition, for their excellent work in the community.

Nominations close on Friday 15 May.

How does the competition work?
A winner will be chosen for each category, for each County – Bucks, Berks & Oxon. The ‘Diversity Award’ will only be nominated internally. Any team, or individual, can be nominated for the diversity award, if they have carried out work which ‘Champions Diversity’ or helped effective policing and crime reduction for diverse groups.

Who judges the nominations and what are the judges looking for ?

Nominees will be judged on the relationships they have built with local communities and the initiatives they have introduced, to reduce crime and disorder.

The winners and finalists will be presented with their awards from the Chief Constable Sarah Thornton at a ceremony on 15 July.
 
This is a way the public can say thank you, to the various police officers and police staff that have kept them safe in the last year.  It is only a few clicks of a mouse ?

To nominate someone - CLICK HERE

To nominate an individual or team who have championed diversity in their communities or helped effective policing and crime reduction for diverse groups, please fill out the Diversity form.

To nominate someone - CLICK HERE
 
 
NEXT: a note from Joachim about an article in PC Pro a very useful online IT magazine:
 
Hi Jeff
Not sure if you have seen this, but finally one of the Windows support scammers you highlight each week has been caught and prosecuted, but I wouldn’t say that a 4 month suspended sentence was a big deterrent for the misery they inflict.  I think higher compensation is needed to break these guys
 
For the article in PC Pro - CLICK HERE
 
Joachim
 

Windows support scam ringleader convicted

The National Trading Standards ‘eCrime Team’ has successfully prosecuted the ringleader of a Microsoft technical support scam company called "Smart Support Guys".

Mohammed Khalid Jamil, was handed a four-month suspended sentence for masterminding the scam, and was also ordered to pay a £5,000 fine, £13,929 in court costs and £5,665 in compensation to his victims.

The now familiar scam saw cold callers promise to fix imaginary problems on Windows PCs. Jami hired workers in Indian call centers to convince victims they had a computer infection that Jamil's team could resolve.

Although such scams are now commonplace, Trading Standards said the court case would serve as a warning to other perpetrators.

The victims in this case were charged between £35 and £150, and many were elderly.

"This is a landmark case, as we believe it may be the first ever successful prosecution of someone involved in the Microsoft scam in the UK," said Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board. "It’s an important turning point for UK consumers, who have been plagued by this scam - or variants of it, for several years.
"Now that one of the many individuals who’ve been operating this scam has been brought to justice, it’s a stark warning to anyone else still doing it, that they can be caught and will be prosecuted."

Warning ignored

According to the prosecution, Jamil warranted the court action and sentence, because Trading Standards had previously warned Jamil over his running of another company - Online PC Masters - which had operated in a similar fashion in 2010.

The scam, involved Indian call centre workers persuading victims, to give them access to their computers.

Once they had access, they could remove security protection and fabricate potential threats before charging to remove the bogus malware.

"They then charge the consumer for installing anti-malware software that Microsoft makes available for free," Trading Standards said. "The victims in this case were charged between £35 and £150, and many were elderly."

There is also an interesting item on the Crypto Virus scam !!

The latest Crypto ransomware scam – ‘CryptoDefense’ – leaves victims with a key, to unlock their own PC, according to security researchers.

The aggressive CryptoLocker ransomware appeared last year, locking files on victims' computers and only offering a decryption key, in return for payment of a ransom.
The success of the scam – it had infected an estimated 250,000 PCs between September and December last year – has encouraged copycats, with ‘CryptoDefense’ appearing in February and demanding $500 for a key to unlock files.

According to security firm Symantec, the latest iteration is earning its creators $34,000 a month, but while previous versions have been un-crackable without payment, ‘CryptoDefense’ includes flaws that could allow victims to escape with payment.

The decryption key the attackers are holding for ransom, actually still remains on the infected computer, after transmission to the attackers server.

"The malware author’s poor implementation of the cryptographic functionality, has left their hostages with the key to their own escape," said Symantec in a blog.
"With CryptoLocker, the private key was only ever found on servers controlled by the attacker, meaning the attackers always maintained control over the encryption/decryption keys," Symantec said. "With CryptoDefense, the attackers had overlooked one important detail: where the private key was stored."

The company said the RSA-2048 encryption was done using Microsoft’s cryptographic infrastructure and Windows APIs to perform the key generation, before sending it back in plain text to the attacker’s server.

"This method means that the decryption key the attackers are holding for ransom actually still remains on the infected computer after transmission to the attackers server," Symantec said.

If you do get this particular form of the virus, mention this to the person helping you de-crypt your computer.
 
 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
2/4 – 3/4 Wednesday 9.15 p.m. / Thursday 9.20 a.m.  Bell Street.  Car badly dented and damaged.
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
26/3 – 2/4  Park Corner, Lee Lane, Pinkney’s Green.  Garage break – Locks have been forced.  A pair of Monitor speakers, chain saw, cordless drill, sander and a very valuable racing bike stolen – a gents, blue and black, Pinarello Dogma carbon fibre racing bike.  It has a computer on the handlebars ‘M Possoni’ and an Italian flag on the frame.  The saddle with white and light blue.  It was coded and marked and we have the frame number.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
2/4  Wednesday 8.30 a.m. / 6 p.m.  Braywick Road Car Park, Braywick.  Car badly keyed on both sides.