Enabling good citizenship and stronger communities, Registered Charity 1194477
Author: Johanna Kaschke
19 – 25 July 2021, making Tower Hamlets a safe place for all our residents.
All week police teams, THEOs go through different areas, searching for hidden weapons and drugs and talking to residents, business owners asking how the area can be made safer. We are trying to recruit Neighbouhood Watch members. A list of events is on our calendar.
What a SCORCHER!
Please take care of your canine companions in this weather.
The majority of them are pretty wearing a parka jacket with all that fur wrapped around them. Can YOU imagine wearing one today?
Don’t even get us started on leaving the dog in the car… ‘not for long’ is ALWAYS too long! 
Here’s a couple of reminders on how to keep your dog safe. Please share it, it could save a dog’s life.
We now run monthly drop-ins.
17. July2021
21. August 2021
18. September 2021
16. October 2021
20. November 2021
18. December 2021
17:00 – 18:00, The Glasshouse, 161 Old Ford Road, London E2 9QB, Map.
For all meeting dates please see the THNWA calendar, which also shows other events like the Knife prevention courses for parents, run by One Housing or Fraud and Cyber crime courses.
Following on from our Alert last week relating to yet another online scam to look out for, I am delighted to invite you to join us in July for a month of weekly online webinars to expose the truths behind scams.
The webinars are FREE to attend and are open to anyone who would like to know more about scams, the psychology behind scams, prevention and how a fraud case is investigated.
The webinars bring together experts in their field relating to online fraud, a topic which we are all too familiar with and can affect anyone and everyone, as our lives are played out more digitally.
The dates of the webinars and their topics are as follows:
6th July, 5pm
Exploring the psychology behind scams and how scammers are so effective at their crimes
Paul Maskell, Fraud & Cyber Crime Prevention Manager, Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)
14th July, 5pm
Insights into how a fraud case is investigated and how not to be the next victim
Ben Hobbs, Detective Sergeant; and Catriona Still, Head of Fraud Prevention & Training, Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)
23rd July 5pm
Scams awareness training from the Friends Against Scams initiative
The National Trading Standards Scams Team (NTSST)
30th July, 5pm
Don’t get hooked by scammers! What you need to know about flubot and phishing scams
Christopher Budd, Senior Global Threat Communications Manager, Avast
How to book your place
You can click on the links within this message on each of the webinars topics to register your place or you can go to www.ourwatch.org.uk/webinars and click on the webinar that you wish to attend, you can attend all of them if you wish and so make sure that you complete the registration page for each of them.
Scam emails have been sent impersonating the NHS, regarding applying for a Covid vaccine passport. One had the email subject “We are happy to introduce Digital Coronavirus Passports” the contents is as follows;
Clicking on the “Get Digital Passport” link takes you to a convincing but fake NHS website that asks for personal and payment details. (For a “process fee”)
The website has since been taken down, but to reiterate your vaccination status is obtained FREE through the NHS App, NHS website or via phoning the NHS on 119.
There are different ways to get your COVID-19 vaccination status:
You can get a digital version using the NHS App or NHS website. You will need to set up an NHS login to do this.
Digital versions can be downloaded as a pdf or sent to you in an email.
You can get a digital version by:
You can get a paper version by:
More information can be found on the gov.uk website;
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/demonstrating-your-covid-19-vaccination-status-when-travelling-abroad
Criminals are targeting WhatsApp users, taking over accounts and trying to defraud or hack their friends too.
The criminals abuse the legitimate process of transferring a WhatsApp account from one phone to another. They use an already compromised account to message the account owner’s contacts. The criminals impersonate the owner of the hacked account and usually claim that they are having problems receiving a six-digit code, and asking if they can send it to the friend instead (or that they have sent it to them by accident) they then request the friend tell them the code or forward it on to them. The code is the WhatsApp verification code for the new victim—by sending it to their friend they are really sending it to the criminal who is then able to transfer the new victims WhatsApp account to the criminal’s phone.
What follows next is normally the criminal impersonating the victim and requesting money from their contacts (usually for an emergency but always on the promise of being repaid) or the criminal will use the compromised account in the same manner as before to hack more and more accounts.
No matter the claim, you should never share your WhatsApp SMS verification code with others, not even friends or family. Sharing codes can cause you to lose your account.
Learn more here: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/account-and-profile/stolen-accounts/
If you’re unfortunately tricked into sharing your code and lose access to your WhatsApp account, read the instructions below on how to recover your account.
Please note, WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted and messages are stored on your device, so someone accessing your account on another device can’t read your past conversations. But they will be able to read and reply to any new messages you receive and post in any groups you are a member of.
How to protect yourself
How to recover your account;
Sign into WhatsApp with your phone number and verify your phone number by entering the 6-digit code you receive via SMS..
Once you enter the 6-digit SMS code, the individual using your account is automatically logged out.
You might also be asked to provide a two-step verification code. If you don’t know this code, the individual using your account might have enabled two-step verification.
You must wait 7 days before you can sign in without the two-step verification code. Regardless of whether you know this verification code, the other individual was logged out of your account once you entered the 6-digit SMS code.
More information can be found here; https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/account-and-profile/stolen-accounts/
How to update WhatsApp
You should keep WhatsApp (and any other apps on your smartphone) up to date.
Download software updates as soon as they are available, these are normally security updates which are fixing potential vulnerabilities in the apps software.
Android
Visit the play store, click on menu and choose ‘My apps and games’. Tap update next to the WhatsApp messenger.
iPhone
Visit the app store, click updates and refresh. Tap update next to the WhatsApp messenger
Windows Phone 8.1
Visit the store and select menu. Click on ‘My apps’ and select WhatsApp to update.
Windows Phone 10
Visit the Microsoft store and click on ‘Menu’. Select ‘My Library’ and tap ‘Update’ next to WhatsApp.
Neighbourhood Watch Week 2021 is an opportunity for us to develop the neighbourly relationships built throughout the pandemic.
Neighbourhood Watch Week – the perfect opportunity to engage with your community safely with a variety of LISTEN. TALK. DO! Activities from podcasts, to litter picks. Find what suits you-> https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/nwweek @n_watch
We are so excited to launch this podcast for Neighbourhood Watch Week in which the The Community Safety Podcast interviews John Hayward-Cripps on bringing Neighbourhood Watch Network into the 21st Century https://share.transistor.fm/s/92617d20
This Friday at 10am we will be supporting Neighbourhoodwatch with their Neighbourhood Watch Week-5th to 11th June! Take a listen to my interview with CEO John Hayward-Cripps! We look at how NHW is evolving in the 21st Century! #NeighborhoodWatch#community#volunteers
Neighbourhood Watch Week is here! This year let’s LISTEN. TALK. DO! with our neighbours. Life might be a little different at the moment, but this year there are more reasons than ever to get together for community, friendship and fun.
Why now kick off the week by taking party in The Big Lunch. Join in online, on your doorstep, or over the fence. #LetsStayConnected Visit https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/nwweek
The PROTECT YOUR POOCH campaign encourages people to keep their pets SECURE, IN SIGHT and SEARCHABLE, and to HELP MAKE PET THEFT A SPECIFIC CRIMINAL OFFENCE. The Met Police and Crimestoppers are backing our SECURE, IN SIGHT and SEARCHABLE message. More information on the campaign can be found on www.ourwatch.org.uk/protectyourpooch.
You can support the campaign by acting on our advice and sharing our messages in the following ways:
About guest speaker Katy Bourne, PCC for Sussex
Katy Bourne is in her third term as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex. She was first elected in 2012, re-elected in 2016 and again in 2021. The PCC’s role is to hold the Chief Constable to account for the performance of the Force; effectively making the police answerable to the communities they serve.
Katy is responsible for setting the strategic direction and priorities for Sussex Police through the Police & Crime Plan. This includes setting the police budget and local police precept – the amount residents pay for policing in their council tax. She also has a statutory duty to deliver community safety initiatives including Restorative Justice and crime reduction grants, along with commissioning support services for victims of crime.
Her genuine passion and commitment to making a difference has won her praise from successive Home Secretaries and Prime Ministers and in June 2019 she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Dog owners are increasingly concerned about dog theft.
To help keep your dog safe Neighbourhood Watch Network have launched a PROTECT YOUR POOCH campaign highlighting simple and memorable things you can do to reduce your chance of becoming a victim of dog theft. www.ourwatch.org.uk/protectyourpooch
Neighbourhood Watch is encouraging dog owners to keep their dog SECURE, IN SIGHT AND SEARCHABLE, and help make dog theft a SPECIFIC criminal offence. #protectyourpooch
Attached is a printable poster for your communal areas
We’ve seen a rise in “Royal Mail” delivery scams over the last week.
Victims are receiving texts or emails purporting to be from Royal Mail claiming a package requires a small payment to be delivered. (along with other similar narratives)
Clicking on the link and providing your details leads to your money and/or identity being stolen.
There are some good examples of (some quite convincing) scam messages on the Royal Mail website.
I encourage everyone to have a look. https://www.royalmail.com/help/scam-examples
Here are a few:
Please remember the same rules apply;
Criminals spend hours piecing together information about you until they have enough to apply for credit cards, loans or documents such as driving licences and passports in your name.
#TakeFive before discarding old bank statements, clicking on links from phishing emails or sharing your personal information online, as it could be used by criminals to steal your identity.
to keep your identity protected:
