Protect Yourself and Others from Organised Crime

The Little Book Of Big Scams

The South West Organised Crime Unit are offering free advice, presentations to groups (via zoom at present) and a free download guide called 'The Little Book of Big Scams'. The download is available for free by clicking on the icon under the picture

This information is available to any group that has contact with people who may be vulnerable to scams and other crimes.

The following was received from Ashley Jones, Regional Fraud Protect Advisor employed by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) that being a Home Office funded, Law Enforcement body serving all the police force areas of the South West of England.

For more information on the SWROCU, visit our website here

The aim of the unit is, through improving awareness and promoting preventative measures with individuals and organisations, to enable them to better protect themselves from economic crime.

FRAUD
Fraud makes up approximately a third of all reported crime and between 2020 around 4.4 million frauds were reported in the UK, with a loss to individuals of around £7-billion in total. Frauds against individuals are frequently targeted at elderly and vulnerable citizens, for whom the consequences of victimisation can be devastating, both psychologically, as well as financially. However, as much as 80% of fraud is preventable with relatively simple safety measures that can employed to protect us from the scammers that we may encounter on a daily basis.

OFFER OF PRESENTATIONS
As part of my mission to help protect people from fraud, I am able to join the meetings of your organisation, or any larger gatherings to give an official fraud prevention presentation to your members -- the presentation seeks to raise awareness of the dangers of economic crime, highlight typical case studies of previous offences and offer advice and tips to help keep the audience members safe, as well as signposting people to resources that will help keep them safe in the future.

These sessions can be tailored in length, but typically take 45-mins and additional time for questions and answers -- the presentations can be delivered in-person, or via Zoom/MS Teams/Skype/etc.

OFFER OF TRAINING

In addition to the provision of standard fraud protection sessions, I am also able to offer training that has been customised for individuals/groups that have frequent contact with potentially vulnerable community members and may benefit from specialised training, to help identify the signs and symptoms of financial exploitation and what steps they should take to ameliorate the situation.

These sessions are particularly valuable for individuals or teams who frequently encounter and interact with the groups of citizens most likely to be targeted by frauds, such as; the elderly, disabled, those with some form of cognitive impairment, or those impacted by other socio-economic circumstances, such as loneliness and isolation.

I will attend team meetings, etc. with all the required presentation equipment (or virtually via Zoom/Skype/Teams/etc. for the period of the pandemic), I can be available for meetings in both the daytime and evening as required -- there is no charge whatever for these presentations, as this is delivered as part of a public service.

LITTLE BOOK OF BIG SCAMS

Please find attached to this email a copy of the Little Book of Big Scams -- this excellent fraud prevention resource has been created to help raise awareness of the dangers of fraud and offer preventative measures to help keep everyone safe from the insidious creep we are seeing in financial crimes in recent years.

I would urge you to share this publication as widely as possible. Please feel free to upload a copy of the book onto your own website, as an ongoing resource to help protect your citizens.

I can be contacted either by this email, or on the telephone number below for bookings.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the above, or to speak to me directly about my offer of presentations, please feel free to call at any time.

Best regards,

Ash

Ashley Jones MBE

Regional Fraud Protect Advisor

South West Regional Organised Crime Unit

Contact Phone No: 07889660015

ashley.jones@avonandsomerset.police.uk

SW ROCU, PO Box 37, Valley Road, Portishead, Bristol BS20 8QJ

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Working to make the communities of Avon and Somerset feel safe and be safe