People with home computers in Kenilworth, Warwickshire are being targeted by cyber criminals Warwickshire Police have warned this afternoon (Friday 5 February 2016). Earlier this morning a resident was subjected to an attempt to raid their bank account and despite a lengthy conversation by telephone the resident thankfully did not give out their bank details.

Householders with computers need to be vigilant when receiving any telephone calls purporting to be from internet providers such as “Talk Talk” “Virgin” or “BT”.

These calls are a SCAM and residents not heeding warnings or advice run a serious risk of losing the contents of their bank account and running up any pre authorised overdraft limits on their account.

The caller will typically ask the householder to turn their computer on and then will appear to go through a number of processes to rid the householders computers of any errors or bugs in the system. Once this part of the scam is completed they then move on to say they are sorry the system was affected and they would like to compensate the householder for the inconvenience.

They will typically say they wish to award the householder a sum of between £200 and £300. Then they ask for the householders bank account and sort code details so they can make a payment to your account. Don’t believe it, it’s a con.

Any householder that provides these details will have their bank account cleared out. 

Note: Where a bank account holder freely provides the details of their account to a third party the bank will NOT reimburse the account holder for any theft from the account that takes place as a consequence.

These people can and often do sound very plausible. They are practised in all the tricks to fool a person into thinking they are genuine. DON’T FALL FOR IT AND GET CLEANED OUT.

A second and similar scam has also been experienced by some Kenilworth residents. Again the scam takes place with a telephone call, this time an individual pretends to be from the computer software giant “Microsoft”. They tell the householder that there is a problem with their computer and they are ringing to fix it.

Similar to scam mentioned earlier the caller pretends to carry out a number of actions to “repair the computer”. Once they say that is finished they ask for payment. They may ask for bank account details such as account number and sort code or debit card details. Once the householder provides them the bank account will be cleared out within minutes.

Crown Watch would like to provide some key points to always remember about these type of events:

• Computer companies and Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) NEVER ring up asking for bank account details.
• Microsoft DO NOT call customers at home to “repair computers” or “resolve problems”.
• NEVER provide your bank details to anyone unless you are seeking a service or you know the company.
• DO NOT provide your date of birth details to anyone you do not know, despite who they say they are.
• Be aware that if you are not careful and vigilant about these type of events it could cost you dearly. A theft of your money will not be reimbursed back to your account by a bank if you freely provided the account details to third party.
• If you live next to an older person who may be vulnerable then take some time out with them to check they know these things but do so without alarming them.
• If you get one if these calls them terminate it immediately and check when you pick up the receiver the next time that you have got a dialling tone. If you haven’t got a dialling tone it means the scammers have kept your line open and can still hear you when the receiver is lifted. Replace the receiver several times to try and clear the call. In the unlikely event that doesn’t work use a neighbours phone or a mobile and call your telephone provider and ask them to test and clear the line.

If you receive one of these calls then please inform the Police on 101 or Crimestoppers  on 0800 555 1111. Alternatively you can call Warwickshire Trading Standards on 01926 410410.

KENILWORTH HOUSEHOLDERS are being warned to keep a sharp lookout and report anything, or anyone they see as suspicious as crime has reappeared across the town in the New Year. Three properties have been targeted over the last few days. One was broken into, car keys taken and a vehicle stolen. Two other properties were the subject of Attempted Burglaries.

Crown Watch are advising residents to keep a keen lookout for persons acting suspiciously, loitering around properties, climbing over fences, or trying side gates, etc. The Watch are saying ‘if it doesn’t look right then it probably isn’t’ and if that is the case they are appealing directly to householders to not ‘parcel it away’ in their head but to get on the telephone and report what they are seeing.

The details of the latest burglaries are:

Butler Close, Kenilworth

During the night of 6 into 7 January, offenders drilled the lock out of the side door of a home in Butler Close, Kenilworth and entered the kitchen.  The offenders then stole the keys to two vehicles parked in the driveway and used one set to take an Audi vehicle.

Reference: Incident 51 of 7 January 2016.

Nason Grove, Kenilworth

Between 9 and 14 January, offenders attempted to force open the rear patio door of a home in Nason Grove, Kenilworth, using a crowbar type instrument.  Damage was caused to the door but the offenders failed to get inside the house, and nothing was stolen.

Reference: Incident 238 of 14 January 2016.

Woodland Road, Kenilworth

At around 6 pm on 14 January, offenders smashed the rear door of a home in Woodland Road, Kenilworth in an attempt to get inside the house.  The offenders had forced open the rear garden gate to get access to the door. The offenders did not manage to get inside the house, and nothing was stolen.

Reference: Incident 255 of 14 January 2016.

Please contact Warwickshire Police on 101 if you saw anything suspicious or have any information that may be useful regarding these crimes. If you wish to contact the police anonymously, then you can do so by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 111 555.

If you see anything suspicious taking place at or near a property, then call the police using the 999 service.

Kenilworth residents are warned to remain vigilant in the run up to Christmas as thieves have been about stealing bicycles from homes in the town.

Between 9am on 14 December and 8am on 15 December, offenders entered the rear garden of a home in Windy Arbour, Kenilworth and stole 5 insecure pedal cycles.

This is Incident 88 of 16 December 2015. If you have information that you believe may be connected to this incident, please contact Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 111 555

Crown Watch, one of the longest running Neighbourhood Watch groups in Kenilworth and Warwickshire, are pleased to confirm that just over 300 people have now signed up to the free crime alerts that Crown Watch issue to the town. Crown Watch specifically looks after homes in the northern section of Windy Arbour, all of Tulip Tree Avenue and the eastern section of Whitemoor Road.

However, since 2011 Crown Watch has extended it’s activities to provide a wider service of Neighbourhood Watch elements across Kenilworth. Working in conjunction with Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team Crown Watch published a “Kenilworth Update” Neighbourhood Watch newsletter every month but this ceased in April 2013.

Simply technology overtook the Newsletter and as a consequence Crown Watch have concentrated their efforts on using their website http://www.kenilworthnwatch.wordpress.com and Twitter to get crime alerts out across the town’s community.

Crown Watch are celebrating reaching over 300 residents with its free ‘crime alert’ service but its aim is to get every home in Kenilworth signed up so everyone can get up to date alerts which enables residents to be informed as quickly as possible of what is going on in the area, take any action if needed whilst it provides the best chance of someone remembering something they may have seen which could turn out to be useful information to the police with their investigations.

Warwickshire Police issue Neighbourhood Watch alerts to Crown Watch and usually within minutes these are uploaded by Crown Watch onto their website. Once the alert is published on Crown Watch’s website a email is automatically sent to those residents who have subscribed to the free email alerts. They receive these emails within seconds on their computers, smartphones and tablets (basically any device that they can receive their personal email on).

In addition the Alert is automatically Tweeted with a link to the new alert allowing people following Crown Watch on Twitter to access the latest alert. If you would like to receive automatic Crime Alerts for Kenilworth then simply go to the subscribe section towards the top of this page on the right and provide your email details.

We cannot access your email details as these are automatically entered into the automatic email processor and we DO NOT provide your email details to anyone else or any third parties. We only send out emails when we need to which is usually only when we have received a Crime Alert.

Crown Watch looks forward to more residents signing up to the free alert service and by doing so helping get much greater coverage across our town so we can look out for ourselves better and also look out for others in our community too.

As the nights draw in at this time of year Crown Watch is advising Kenilworth residents to stop and consider what measures they could take to help PREVENT themselves becoming a victim of burglary. Over the last couple of months there have been several burglaries that have taken place across the town and each victim probably never gave crime much of a thought before they were personally affected.

Most of us think “It will never happen to me/us”. The problem is that it can and often does unless you take some time to consider what things you can do to put criminals off. Crown Watch recommends that householders consider credible deterrents which are known to put criminals off.

Smartwater 

Is a product endorsed by Warwickshire Police and it enables householders to mark all valuables indelibly. If any items are stolen and are subsequently recovered they can be identified by using an Ultra Violet light. A small sample of the mark is taken away and the unique chemical DNA associated with the householders individual Smartwater is confirmed. This not only proves who the rightful property owner is but also places the person in possession of such an item at the scene of the crime or at the very least in receipt of stolen goods arising from it.

Most criminals realise this and therefore if they see the Smartwater sign at a property they often give the property a miss and try elsewhere. They simply don’t want to get caught or stolen items sold on tracing back to them. Smart water is available through Crown Watch and Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team at a significantly reduced discount. Just email crownwatch@me.com and request more information.

Burglar Alarm

Have come a long way from the days when it was only the very wealthy that could afford them and they were very limited in how they operated. Today several companies offer what are called “monitored burglar alarm” services. For a modest fee of around 85p a day you can have a pet friendly (this means pets can move around and come and go without the alarm being activated) alarm installed and operating. You can either receive any alarm alerts yourself and other nominated persons or pay a higher monthly fee and the alerts go direct to the police. Many people elect to use the lower cost service with alerts going to themselves and their nominated persons.

The deterrent is that burglars recognise the burglar alarm box and crucially they know what companies operate a monitored service. For burglars, who are opportunists, that’s enough. They are likely to avoid the premises because the risk of being caught entering a home that has a monitored alarm is much higher. Typical installation costs are a one off of between £200 to £250 and then a monthly fee to pay for the 24 hour monitoring that works out at around 85p a day.

If you go away pretty regularly we strongly recommend you look into monitored burglar alarm to put that deterrent out there to protect your home, particularly when you are away.

Neighbourhood Watch

Some streets and areas have Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating. These are not formal associations and they do not need lots of meetings and work. Crown Watch is one of the longest Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating in Kenilworth and indeed in Warwickshire. It has 5 co-ordinators that look after three streets in Kenilworth. If you do not have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your area why not see if you and a few like minded neighbours want to set one up. There’s not a great deal of work but it does provide reassurance to local residents.

Crown Watch can help and advise you set a Neighbourhood Watch scheme up if you would like. We are volunteers so there is no charge. We also can let you know what help and resources you can get to launch your scheme and communicate with your residents. If you wish to know more then please email us at: crownwatch@me.com

Alternatively, Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), which is part of Warwickshire Police, can help you with setting up Neighbourhood Watch. Kenilworth’s SNT can be contacted by email at; Kenilworth.snt@warwickshire.police.uk or by telephone on 01926 684404

We hope the foregoing advice has been helpful, if we all review what we each are doing to protect our homes and property and if needed each do a little more by applying credible deterrents then it will make a BIG difference. The aim must be to create a town and community where it becomes obvious to a criminal that it’s not worth it because there is just too much chance of being caught.