Licensing Officers were joined by the Convener of the Licensing Board @CllrNormanWork visiting licensed premises in Clermiston & South Queensferry to promote Police Scotland’s #DontAskForIt campaign yesterday.
It is a criminal offence to buy alcohol for someone under 18. You could receive a £5000 fine or upto 3 months in prison.
Police Scotland’s ongoing work with local communities to tackle housebreaking in Edinburgh is having some success. Earlier this week police reported that seven people have been arrested and charged for over 30 housebreaking-related offences offences and said over one hundred local residents attended a domestic security information event in Davidson’s Mains.
On February 25 an 18-year-old man was arrested in connection with 11 housebreakings to businesses and a vehicle theft in Edinburgh. He appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.
A 15-year-old Edinurgh youth was charged with over 10 offences following the recovery of a Ford Ka, stolen on January 29, which contained various items linked to recent housebreakings. A report has been submitted to the Children’s Panel.
On February 12, SART and the Domestic Violence Reduction Unit (DVRU) officers executed two search warrants in the Moredun area of Edinburgh where they recovered a large quantity of stolen bicycles, some of which were taken from housebreakings.
A 39-year-old woman and three men aged 52, 35 and 28 were arrested and charged in connection with seven offences and £5500 worth of stolen property was recovered. All bikes were identified and returned to their rightful owners.
A 16-year-old Edinburgh man was found to be in possession of a stolen vehicle at 9pm on February 24. The vehicle was searched and various electronic items stolen through housebreakings were recovered, and the vehicle seized. An address was searched in connection with these thefts the following day and further stolen items were recovered. The male was arrested and charged and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Chief Inspector Stevie Dolan said: “Through comprehensive and dedicated investigations we have managed to recover thousands of pounds worth of property and report various prolific offenders to the procurator fiscal.
“Enquiries are ongoing and we have more work to do, but this is testament to Police Scotland’s dedication to pursuing offenders of housebreakings and ensuring that they are brought before the courts.”
As well as pursuing criminals, police officers have been out and about offering domestic security advice to Edinburgh residents.
Sergeant Philipa Campbell ran a Domestic Security event for members of the public at Davidson Mains Parish Church on Wednesday 24 February – over one hundred members of the local community attended and gave extremely positive feedback regarding the learning and reassurance provided by officers and council representatives. They also provided vital input into policing in their community.
The next meeting will be held at Drum Brae Hub on 18 March, 6pm – 7:30pm.
Just in case it’s escaped your attention, it’s Festival time. The annual Festivals are all about fun – and city police plan to help keep it that way
Police in Edinburgh are to launch a high-profile safety operation for the duration of the festival season. Officers will offer advice on crime prevention and personal safety to the tens of thousands of visitors who come to Edinburgh during August, and advertising trailers highlighting the 101 non-emergency police number will also feature prominently on city centre streets.
This will be the first time the operation will be undertaken by the national Police Scotland force, which came into operation on 1 April this year.
Ch Supt Mark Williams, the divisional commander for the City of Edinburgh, said: “The Festival is an exciting time for the city, with so much fantastic entertainment, sights to see and events to participate in. It’s also a busy period for police, as tens of thousands of tourists arrive and local residents take advantage of all that is going on across the city. With that in mind, it is essential that Police Scotland provides a visible presence throughout Edinburgh as part of our commitment to keeping people safe.”
Scotland’s growing legions of ‘silver surfers’ are being warned to be vigilant as cyber criminals look to prey on unsuspecting victims with increasingly cunning online scams. With the numbers of older people using the web and discovering social media channels growing daily, fears are being raised they are becoming the prime targets for internet scammers.
The fraudsters are continually concocting scams to fool unsuspecting web users with many of the cons taking place without the victim being aware, ranging from social networking and financial scams to those relating to online employment or auctions. One smartphone/web-based App set up to highlight the explosion of online scams lists more than 600 different online cons.
The latest warning comes fromthe Scottish Business Crime Centre (SBCC), as part of a new campaign it is fronting to raise awareness of various issues that can place older people at risk of financial harm.
Gary Ritchie, Assistant Director of SBCC, said: “These con men will stop at nothing to shamelessly deceive and swindle internet users out of personal details and money. While many of us have been using the internet for some time and have grown to recognise these types of scam emails, anyone can be caught out as new scams are constantly being designed to trick unwary web surfers into parting with money or personal information.
“The increase in ‘silver surfers’ using the internet as a way of communicating now means that older people are increasingly exposed to these crimes. Older people in particular are prone to falling for emails that appear legitimate because they look like official emails which appear to be from a well known bank or unsolicited mails where the scammer tells of recent disastrous events which have left them stranded, usually in a foreign country with no money and no passport. Sadly these people are frequently conned out of huge sums of money. Crimes against people who perhaps don’t have the same capabilities or support to protect themselves as others is appalling and has no place in Scotland.”
One of the most prominent online scams is ransomware; a category of malicious software which, when run, disables the functionality of a computer in some way. The ransomware program displays a pop-up message demanding payment to restore functionality.
The malware, in effect, holds the computer ransom, the pop-up advises law enforcement has locked the computer and suggests that this is a result of the user viewing indecent images or terrorist sites.
These pop-ups use the logos of recognisedUK forces, including Action Fraud so victims are easily fooled by this con. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid this pop-up and given the number of different gangs operating ransomware scams, a conservative estimate is that over £3 million a year is being extorted from victims, however, the real figure is likely to be much higher.
Chief Inspector Ronnie Megaughin at Police Scotland, also chair of the Adults at Risk from Financial Harm Group, said: “There are a number of factors which require to be present for frauds or scams to be successful and the vulnerability of the victim is at the heart of that equation. While anyone can be duped, those who are most vulnerable within our communities are faced with the greatest risk.”
He added the Keeping People Safe campaign being managed by the Adults at Risk from Financial Harm Group aims to put in place a range of prevention measures necessary to safeguard individuals and reduce criminal opportunity.
As victims are often too embarrassed to report these various internet crimes, authoritative statistics are hard to establish. However, a recent study by Age UK found almost half of the over 60’s questioned said that they had been targeted by a scam last year.
Lindsay Scott, spokesperson for Age Scotland said: “Although today’s pensioners may be mentally sharper than ever, they still make a prime target for con artists because they generally have more disposable income and because they’re usually more trusting, having grown up at a time when things were taken at face value. It’s also true that longer life expectancy has resulted in a growing generation of people in later life who perhaps live alone, are maybe a bit forgetful or simply become confused or frightened by smooth-talking scammers. This combination of not remembering correctly and in many cases, particularly involving men, being unwilling to admit there’s a problem, can make older adults especially vulnerable to this sort of crime.”
A booklet containing information and advice on a variety of scams has been created and produced by The Metropolitan Police Service’s Operation Sterling Team and is available to download for free by visiting http://www.sbcc.org.uk/media/84031/little_book_of_big_scams.pdf
Scam Detector is a smart phone and web-based app available to download for free which exposes more than 600 of the world’s most fraudulent scams.http://scam-detector.com/
The SBCC, which aims to work in partnership with various bodies to create a saferScotland, recently held a conference to establish a blueprint forScotland’s private and public sectors and voluntary organisations to collaborate consistently and effectively to protect those who may be subjected to financial abuse by others.
The SBCC is currently forming a strategic multi agency steering group to provide further advice, guidance and protection around those who are seen as vulnerable in this way through information exchange and early intervention including the development of aScotland against Scams initiative. The group will also consider how to tackle e-related scams and postal scams as part of their ongoing work.
This steering group will consist of representatives from the Scottish Government, Social Work Department, Trading Standards, police, banks, energy and utility companies as well as a variety of other interested organisations.
More information about the Scottish Business Crime Centre and how to become a member can be found atwww.sbcc.org.uk.
Police in North Edinburgh are offering free crime prevention surveys to businesses in the area.
Officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods Team at Drylaw Police Station will be delivering letters to businesses and offering security surveys to highlight additional measures that can be taken to maximise security, following a spate of night-time break-ins which have occurred since Christmas.
Five men have been arrested and charged in relation to separate alleged break-ins in the last three weeks and additional police resources have been patrolling the area during the night to check premises. Despite this, thieves have continued to target businesses and on occasions returned to several premises that have broken into previously.
In an effort to raise awareness, the police have also alerted other night-time private security staff and council workers to encourage them to immediately report any suspicious or unusual activity when they are working in the area.
Inspector Mark Rennie of Drylaw Police Station said: “It’s really important that businesses review the robustness of the security measures they have in place and ensure all equipment is working. We hope that by offering free surveys and highlighting appropriate measures to take, businesses will do everything they can to make themselves a hard target.
“We’ve informed a lot of local people of the issue but worryingly we haven’t always had calls from residents when noises have been heard emanating from premises during the night. I’d like to encourage people to phone us immediately so that we get officers there quickly.”
Anyone with any information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
