Inner & Outer North West Leeds areas

I have worked for West Yorkshire Police for 19 years doing various roles but my current role is a Crime Reduction Officer for Inner North West and Outer North West Leeds. My new role now involves me preventing crimes and being involved in innovative projects and operations to reduce any further crimes occurring. This will involve many victims of many ages and backgrounds within the community and from all walks of life. I will try my best to keep you updated in local crime in your area consisting of burglary, doorstep crimes, fraud, scams and thefts and provide support to vulnerable or repeat victims by ways of crime prevention advice. This advice can be given about your property or personal safety and good quality products can be recommended to target harden your property or personal items.

I will hopefully be meeting with you during my role and assisting you in preventing you being a target for any of the above offences listed. Please feel free to contact me on the details provided overleaf if you have any worries about your own safety, the security of your property or if you require any help or further information on the above crimes mentioned.

Crime Reduction

news A welcome message from Jo

You can telephone me for advice on my mobile 07765 897 193 or email

joanne.rostron@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

Jo Rostron

Crime Reduction Officer

There have been some recent thefts from motor vehicles in the Leeds area.

Theft from motor vehicles are very easy and cheap to prevent by simply removing items from your vehicle when you leave it unoccupied. It only takes a minute! ■ Make sure that you remove valuable items from your vehicle when you get out ie. Sat Navs, Mobile phones, laptops, handbags and other portable items are all easy to steal.

■ If you have a sat nav that sticks to your window make sure that you have wiped the sucker marks from your window. Most people leave sat navs in their glove compartment so leave this open and take the sat nav with you.

■ Always check you have locked your vehicle by trying the door handle. How many of us click the lock button and don’t actually check if it has locked.

■ Don’t even leave your car unlocked when you nip into the shop or to pay for petrol.

■ Vehicles used for business purposes, such as vans, are often targeted. Tools, machinery and other equipment should be removed when the vehicle is left. The loss of commercial equipment could have a devastating effect on your business and livelihood.

■ Unless you can park your vehicle in a garage or on your drive, park in a well lit area that is visible to other people or covered by CCTV. Thieves are less likely to break in if they can be seen.

■ At home don’t leave vehicle keys next to a door or window thieves may sometimes break into houses to steal your keys just to get your car.

■ Registration plates might also be attractive to an offender, consider having tamper proof plates or screws fitted.

■ When you are parking your vehicle in a public place try to look for a car park that has ‘Park Mark’ accreditation. These car parks offer higher levels of security for your vehicle.

For any further advice, please contact your local Crime Reduction Officer Claire

Leech on 101 or email Claire.leech@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

Finally, consider the above advice, it only takes a minute for a thief,

but it only takes seconds for you to secure your vehicle.

www.westyorkshire.police.uk

We have received several reports from victims who have had their Facebook account hacked by cybercriminals who have then sent messages to their friends asking for a favour relating to PayPal.

How does this fraud work?

Fraudsters are hacking victims Facebook accounts through unknown means and then changing their password and phone number.

The fraudsters then message the hacked victims’ friends to ask them to receive payments through PayPal for various reasons. They then ask for their phone number so they can communicate through WhatsApp.

The fraudsters then convince the victim to receive funds into their PayPal account and transfer them into a bank account of the scammers choice.

A chargeback is then initiated through PayPal, leaving the PayPal account holder out of pocket as they have already sent the money to the fraudster’s bank account.

PayPal say on their website: “A chargeback happens when a buyer asks their credit card

issuer to reverse a transaction that has already cleared. This can mean that a payment you’ve received in your PayPal account could be reversed, even if you’ve already posted the goods – which can of course be frustrating”. PayPal will help you as much as possible if you wish to dispute a chargeback, but the final decision lies with the credit card company. However you can also get protection with PayPal's Seller Protection policy”.

One victim lost £3,800

In one report, an initial message sent through Facebook read: "Hey I know it sounds random but do you have a PayPal account? I sold something on Ebay".

After the victim replied, the fraudster said: "Can I send you my bank details on Whatsapp I have changed my phone so send me your Whatsapp number and I will message you there".

Another victim reported receiving £3,800 into her PayPal account and then transferred it into a bank account of the fraudster’s choice.

How to protect yourself and what to do if your Facebook account has been hacked

If you receive a suspicious message from a friend on Facebook, contact them via other means to check the message is genuine.

Create a strong password. Use three words which mean something to you but are random to others - this creates a password that is strong and more memorable. You should change passwords often and never use the same one twice. Consider enabling "Login Approvals" to defend your Facebook account from hackers by following this step by step guide.

If your Facebook account has been hacked and you no longer have control, follow these guidelines on how to recover it.

ActionFraud is the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre. Find our more at www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Facebook, PayPal and WhatsApp Fraud

To report a fraud and receive a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud

on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.

Burglaries often increase during the Autumn and Winter months, when burglars take advantage of the

longer nights.

However, there are some simple steps that everyone can take to improve their home security : -

■ Always lock your doors and windows even when you’re at home

■ Always take the key out of the lock and keep it in a safe place - do not leave keys in reach of the letterbox, a cat flap or on view through a window.

■ Make sure items such as car keys, laptops, tablets, phones and cash cannot be seen through a window.

■ Do not leave power cables or charger units for laptops and tablets plugged in and on show.

■ If you are out, try to make your home look occupied by using a timer switch to control lights.

■ Make sure Euro cylinder locks have achieved - TS 007 (3 star rating) or Sold Secure Diamond Standard for lock cylinders (SS312).

■ If you have a burglar alarm always remember to switch it on when you leave the house or when you go to bed.

■ Why not start a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in your area?

Helpful crime prevention tips and more information about the campaign can

be found at www.westyorkshire.police.uk/burglary

Immobilise is a free property register enabling users to create a secure record of personal possessions such as laptops, mobile phones, cameras and

various other items.

Protecting personal property is extremely important and registering it on Immobilise can assist in reuniting you with your possessions if stolen or in deterring an offender from stealing them in the first place. Benefits of property registration on Immobilise include:

■ It’s free of charge and very easy to create your personal portfolio on-line.

■ Almost any item of property can be registered within minutes.

■ You can add specific details relating to items of property – i.e. serial numbers, photographs or individual features.

■ If an item of your registered property is stolen you simply inform the Police and then log on to your account on Immobilise and update the status of the item.

■ The system is linked to the National Mobile Property Register, which enables the Police to enter serial numbers of stolen items that they have recovered against the property registered. This can then result in items of stolen property being returned to their rightful owner and offenders being brought to justice for their crimes.

Using Immobilise and awareness stickers to inform people that your property has been registered on the system can assist in preventing and reducing crime, increasing an offenders chance of being caught and protecting your property and the sentimental or important documents that are sometimes stored on electronic items.

Once you have opened a free account on Immobilise, it is important to keep it up to date, either in notifying the system that an item has been lost or stolen or in registering new items that you have purchased.