Action Fraud has seen an increase in the number of small to medium sized businesses being contacted by fake bailiffs requesting payments for a phantom debt.

The scam involves the business being cold called from someone purporting they are bailiffs working on behalf of a court, attempting to recover funds for a non-existent debt. The caller will then request payment by means of bank transfer and if this is refused, will threaten to visit the premises to recover the debt that is owed.

A range of different businesses are being targeted; including Nurseries, Manufacturers, Hotels and Taxi Services.

Protect Yourself

• Confirm what the debt is regarding; bailiffs are only used to recover certain debts such as council tax, child support and compensation orders. Bailiffs are not used to recover debts relating to private advertisement; these would be collected by debt collectors. Debt collectors do not have the same legal powers as bailiffs and will not have special court authorisation to act. For more details regarding this, please look at the Citizens Advice website.
• Double check with the Court or originating company to confirm whether the suspects are legitimate; if you use a landline make sure you hear the dialling tone prior to dialling as the suspects could still be on the line.
• Request details of the debt in writing to access its legitimacy.
• Do not feel rushed or intimidated to make a decision based on a phone call.

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

Fraudsters often target ‘goods for sale’ adverts on popular online auctions sites, so watch out whenever you’re selling anything online.

How does the fraudster operate?

The fraudster will contact the seller to say that they want to buy the advertised item.
The seller then receives what looks like a genuine PayPal email, to confirm that the money has been paid by the buyer into their account.

With confirmation of payment, the seller will then send the item to the buyer’s address. The seller will later find that the PayPal email is fake and that the money has not been paid. The seller ends up losing out twice as not only do they not have the money, but they no longer have the item to sell.

Protect yourself:

• Check your PayPal account to ensure that the money has been paid in and has cleared into your bank account before you send the item to the buyer.
• Do not be bullied or rushed into sending items before you know that the payment has cleared – a genuine purchaser will not mind waiting a day or two for you to send them their item.
• If you are selling a vehicle, think carefully when selling to overseas purchasers – especially if they tell you they will send an extra payment for shipping – check that the funds have cleared before arranging this.

People nationwide are receiving cold calls and are being persuaded to invest in ‘Fine Art’.

Concerns around this include:
• How the commodity is being offered, such as how the cold callers persuade victims to part with their money.
• Hidden costs charged to the victims to view the product, shipping costs or additional fees to store the item.

How to protect yourself:

•  If the investment sounds too good to be true it probably is.
•  Hang-up on investment cold calls. Legitimate companies will not ring-up and offer you an investment out of the blue.
•  Do not give out personal financial information to cold callers
• Check whether the art dealer is a member of a trade association, such as The Society of London Art Dealers (SLAD), The Association of Art and Antique Dealers (LAPADA), The British Art Dealers Association (BADA) or Confederation of International Dealers in Art Work (CINOA).
•  Request copies of old receipts, invoices and question the history of the previous owner of the art investment, to check if the product is genuine before investing.

We’re proud to announce that the Shaftesbury and Gillingham Home Watch association are now on line.

We’d like to ask anyone who has a home or business in these areas to get online and check them out. They are a great source of security information and practical advice for keeping yourself and your property secure.

www.sgwha.org.uk

North Dorset Officers have been investigating a theft of a Landrover discovery car, taken sometime between 2200hrs yesterday 14052015 and 0500hrs today 15052015
This vehicle has been taken from the Silton area of Gillingham.

This does follow on from another Landrover theft from Todber, Sturminster Newton during the day on Tuesday 12052015.

Both vehicles have been the older style Landrovers.

Although these don’t appear to be linked crimes at this time, the safer neighbourhood teams would like to encourage owners of older vehicles to check the security of their vehicles and to consider purchasing after market security features such as steering wheel locks or other devices that are widely available.