Category: Community

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) has received several reports of rental fraud whereby empty premises are being targeted and the locks are being changed for the purpose of adding legitimacy to a rental fraud.

The suspect(s) will find and enter an empty property for the purposes of changing the locks and then advertising it on online platforms, such as Gumtree, as a rental property. The suspect(s) then invite interested victims to visit the property for a viewing. Those victims which are interested in renting the property are then requested to pay a deposit and/or rent upfront in cash.

In some instances the victims have moved into the property only to be evicted by the real property owner, or have found that the locks have been changed, once they have received the keys. There are several instances where this fraud has left victims homeless.

Property Owners:

• If you or someone you know currently has an empty property, encourage them to visit the property regularly to make sure that the locks have not been changed and no damage has occurred.

Prevention Advice:

• Avoid communication with only email or mobile phone, request to see the property owner and ask for valid ID. You can also check ownership of the property using the Land Registry.
• The landlord will carry out their own due diligence and should request all of your details, references and proof that you will be able to afford to rent the property. Make sure that these checks are completed prior to paying a deposit / rent.
• Always view the property and the tenancy agreement before paying any upfront costs.

If you, or anyone you know, have been affected by this fraud or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk

Seasonal rental fraud is an emerging trend with students looking for suitable accommodation around August, before the start of the new term.

Fraudsters use a variety of websites to advertise available properties to rent. often at attractive rates and convenient locations. Adverts will seem genuine, accompanied by a number of photos and contact information to discuss your interest.

Due to demand, students will often agree to pay upfront fees to secure the property quickly, without viewing the property, only to discover that the fraudster posing as the landlord does not have ownership of the property, or often there are already tenants living there.

Protect Yourself

• Only use reputable letting companies.
• Do some online research such as using Google maps to check the property does exist.
• Make an appointment to view the property in person.
• Always view the property prior to paying any advance fees.
• Look out for warning signs, such as landlords requesting a ‘holding deposit’ due to the property being in high demand.
• A landlord will usually conduct some due diligence on any successful applicant. Be wary of handing over cash without the landlord requesting employment or character references.

Theft of tack and equipment – 31st July 2015

It is with regret, I am informing you all of a burglary to premises in Beacon Hill/Lytchett area of Poole in the very early hours of this morning.

Items stolen include tack, clippers, propane gas cylinders and other items of value.

Although this type of crime is rare, can we please remind all horse owners that your equipment is valuable and of interest to thieves.

Please have a look at how much you have spent on your equine friends and work out how much it would all cost to replace. I can bet it won’t be cheap!
Check your yards security measures. Are there lightbulbs that need replacing? Do you lock up properly every evening (or when you go out for 5 minutes in the afternoon)? Is there any more you can be doing to prevent yourself becoming a victim?
Have you got your tack marked so if we can get it back, we can link it to your crime?
Please, please, please DON’T be an easy target.
For any help or assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us or have a look on the North Dorset Horsewatch facebook page for more information on how to keep yourselves and your equipment safe.

Many thanks,
Kate Hann
PCSO 6268
Sturminster Newton Rural
North Dorset Horsewatch

Theft from a vehicle – 30th July 2015

we have had a report of theft from a believed secure motor vehicle which has occurred sometime 29th July 2015 1230 hours and 30th July 2015 1030 hours in the Bozley Hill area of Cann Shaftesbury  the offenders gained entry unknown and stolen a Dewalt Impact Driver and  a Dewalt combi drill
If you have any information please contact Dorset Police 101 or crime stoppers 0800 555 111 the crime occurrence number 55150058479
Please do not leave valuables in your vehicles

Action Fraud, together with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and the City of London Police, are working in partnership with Rugby World Cup 2015 organisers to disrupt those entities seeking to sell Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets without permission from the official provider.

We would like rugby fans and the general public to be aware that they should only purchase tickets from official sources and avoid being scammed.

Purchase tickets from an official source and avoid losing your money.

• England Rugby 2015 Limited (“ER2015”) is the organising committee of Rugby World Cup 2015, due to take place in England and Cardiff from 18 September 2015 until 31 October 2015. Rugby World Cup Limited (“RWCL”) is the Tournament owner of Rugby World Cup 2015.
• RWCL/ER2015 wants to ensure that the public is not misled, by unauthorised ticket sellers, into believing they have purchased genuine Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets.

Where can you buy official match tickets? 

• Tickets for the general public may only be purchased from ER2015 via official website at: https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com

Where can you buy Official ticket-inclusive hospitality packages?

• These can only be purchased through the official hospitality programme, operated by Rugby Travel & Hospitality Ltd (“RTH”) at www.rugbyworldcup.com/hospitality.

Where can you buy Official ticket-inclusive Supporter Tours (i.e. travel packages)?

• RTH has appointed a number of Official Travel Agents (“OTAs”) from across the globe to provide official Rugby World Cup ticket-inclusive supporter tours and a list of such OTAs is available at: http://supportertours.rugbyworldcup.com/travel_agents_list.aspx).

How do you ensure that you are buying Rugby World Cup 2015 match tickets, supporter tours or hospitality packages from an official channel?

• To check whether a company or a certain website is an official Rugby World Cup 2015 channel, use the ‘Official Checker’ tool which is located at www.rugbyworldcup/buyofficial.

Can you buy official Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets, supporter tours or hospitality packages elsewhere, other than as outlined above?

• There is no guarantee that Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets (and/or ticket inclusive packages) purchased from any source other than RWCL, ER2015, RTH  (or those listed above) are genuine tickets (and/or ticket-inclusive packages).
• Fans who purchase tickets and/or ticket-inclusive packages from unauthorised sellers run the risk of paying over the odds for a non-existent ticket, ending up disappointed by not getting to see the match they paid to see, and risk having their personal and credit card details stolen for use in other crimes.

Points to note about unauthorised activity:

• It has been shown from the 2012 Olympics and other major events in the UK that ticket touts are often linked with other forms of criminality.
• The unauthorised sale, or offer for sale, of Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets (and/or ticket-inclusive packages) may constitute an infringement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 or Fraud.
• All official Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets are subject to ER2015’s ticket terms and conditions, located at: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/ticketing/t-c
• Tickets are STRICTLY NON-TRANSFERABLE and MUST NOT BE SOLD OR OFFERED, EXPOSED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR SALE, OR TRANSFERRED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED. ER2015 reserves the right to cancel without refund any tickets which ER2015 reasonably believes have been or are intended to be resold, offered, exposed or made available for sale, or transferred or otherwise disposed in breach of the ticketing terms and conditions.
• Any person attempting to use Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets which have been resold in breach of the ticket terms and conditions risks being refused entry to or ejected from the relevant match venue.

How do I report unauthorised use of Rugby World Cup assets?

• To report the sale of unauthorised general public tickets, please contact ER2015 at legal@england2015.com.
• To report the sale of counterfeit Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets or the unauthorised sale of ticket-inclusive supporter tour/hospitality packages, please contact rwcrightsprotection@img.com

TICKETS PURCHASED OR OBTAINED FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE SHALL BE VOID AND MAY BE SEIZED OR CANCELLED WITHOUT REFUND OR COMPENSATION.

Action Fraud will be replicating this alert on a regular basis, leading up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup to prevent members of the community being affected by this type/similar fraud. Please bear with us until September 2015.

A Theft has occurred in the Fifehead Neville Area on the 24th July whereby the following items have been taken
a Yamaha grizzly 350cc quad Bike Registration WK61 DSZ
a ride on lawn mower and trailer  these were secure and the padlocks and chains cut off
the crime number 55150055296
any information please contact Dorset Police 101 or Crime Stoppers 0800 555 111

Good morning
Overnight we have suffered two breaks to commercial premises in Blandford Town
the first is One Stop where offenders have entered and taken Cigarettes Alcohol and lotto scratch cards  crime reference number 55150053775
The 2 nd was attempt theft of lead from a roof on Langton Road. the offenders left empty handed but had the lead rolled up waiting to go. crime reference number 55150053770
If you have any information please contact Dorset Police 101 or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

Dorset Police receives, on average, 1300 non-emergency calls every day. Between July 2014 and March 2015, this totalled 306,298 calls, 65 percent of which were answered within 30 seconds.

With the high volume of daily calls the non-emergency 101 line receives, there will inevitably be occasions where callers are subject to a delay with their enquiry.

To help tackle these delays, after the initial contact where the call is prioritised by the call handler, callers are given the option to leave a message, request a call back or send the Force an email at enquiries@dorset.pnn.police.uk. Each of these options generates a quick response as calls and emails are closely monitored by officers in the Force Command Centre (FCC) which means that the public do not have to wait on the line.

With such a high demand it is important that the public only call the 101 non-emergency line for a matter that requires a non-urgent police response. These will include, but are not limited to:

• Your car or motorcycle has been stolen
• Your property has been damaged
• You want to give information about crime in your area

Examples of matters that will require a response from other authorities such as the local council and not the police are:

• Dog fouling
• Abandoned or badly parked vehicles
• Dumping or fly tipping

As with every public service line, the 101 line is subject to misdirected, unnecessary or even nuisance calls. During this month alone, the following are real examples of calls the police have received:

• A caller found a basket of kittens and a mother cat and wanted to know what to do
• A caller reported they had dropped their phone out of the car window
• Callers have asked for:
  • A taxi
  • Opening times of the bank
  • The phone number for Bournemouth Crown Court
  • Cones for moving house
  • School administration

Superintendent Caroline Naughton, Head of Contact Management, said: “There are three key messages to the public.

“Firstly, policing is complex and therefore some calls will take longer to deal with, such as the reporting of crimes as we need to ensure all details are correct, provide support to the victim and ensure safeguarding is in place. Calls of this nature may take over 30 minutes to deal with and therefore the availability of call handers to answer calls is reduced.

“Secondly, if the matter isn’t urgent then please leave a message or email us on enquiries@dorset.pnn.police.uk. We have dedicated staff managing emails and responding to voicemails and we will reply to you promptly.

“Finally, it is very important that the public use the 101 service appropriately. We continue to receive inappropriate calls which put more demand on our system and potentially reduce availability of call handlers.”

Remember, if your call is an emergency, i.e. a threat to life, or if a crime is in progress, always call 999. For all non- emergency calls that require a police response, call 101 and if your call isn’t urgent, you can leave a message or use our email address enquiries@dorset.pnn.police.uk and we will respond to you as soon as we are able to.

We are advising to be aware of a Silver Ssangyong 4×4 which has been venturing down farm tracks in the rural areas. The occupants of this vehicle have been seen acting suspiciously.

If you live in the rural areas of Dorset and see this vehicle venturing down farm tracks or it doesn’t appear to belong in that area please contact us on 101.

Dorset Police as part of its CyberSafe campaign is encouraging parents – or relatives, teachers and other adults responsible for safeguarding children, to ensure they stay safe online.

When computers first came in to our homes their use was easier to monitor as they were static and often kept in an open area of the home.

Now, of course, in the age of smartphones and tablets – effectively mini-computers that can be used anywhere – adults can find it a real challenge to not only educate children in doing the right thing, but monitor and control their online behaviour.

None of us – of whatever age – is immune from encountering problems online. Our children are certainly more vulnerable and naturally more trusting than adults. Some of these potential issues are as follows:

• Inappropriate contact: From people, who may wish to abuse, exploit or bully them.
• Inappropriate conduct: because of their own and others’ online behaviour, such as the personal information they make public, for example on social networking sites. Unfortunately, children can also become cyberbullies, especially when encouraged by others.
• Inappropriate content: being able to access or being sexually explicit, racist, violent, extremist or other harmful material, either through choice or in error.

Here is a simple checklist from the Dorset Safe Schools and Communities Team to help you keep your children safe online. 

1. Talk, talk, talk. The most important thing for parents and carers is to have lots of conversations with their children and young people about what they are using, how these website/apps work, why they enjoy them, who else is using them etc. In this way they may be able to identify any risky content, inappropriate contact or conduct at an early stage.
2. Allow access to the internet from devices within the family space. We do not recommend children and young people having computers or games consoles etc in their rooms.
3. Check virus protection. Ensure that mobile devices and laptops have the relevant software to protect from viruses and other malware. There are several free brands that update regularly and provide good protection or there is other commercially available software.
4. Subscribe to their Internet Service Provider’s family filtering service. All major providers now have this service free of charge – the account holder simply goes to their account online and ticks the relevant boxes. This will prevent different types of content from being available via the router in a particular location. Note this does not have any effect on devices that are not accessing the internet via the router eg 3G/4G phone signal.
5. Use Safe Searching. Most search engines such as Google and YouTube have a safe search facility under the settings menu. Parents and carers of young children particularly may wish to use this to stop them coming across inappropriate material.
6. Tighten privacy settings on websites and apps. Parents and carers should try to ensure that any social media accounts or apps are set to the highest privacy settings to prevent unknown or inappropriate people from viewing or contacting children and young people – this can be found under Settings in most websites/apps. Often the default setting for these types of account is public meaning that everyone can see content including pictures and videos.
7. Consider using Parental Controls on devices. Parents and carers may wish to use Parental controls on laptops, mobile devices or games consoles. These controls can limit the times the device can be used, whether apps/games can be downloaded and whether the internet can be accessed. iPads, Windows and new Android (4.3 or higher operating system) have built in parental controls: for older Android devices, apps may need to be downloaded to provide parental controls.

More advice can be found on the Dorset Police CyberSafe website. cybersafe.dorset.police.uk   – Please log on for further advice and details.