Kenilworth residents are advised to remain vigilant following an event that took place at approximately 01.00hrs on 17 February, the resident of a home in Denewood Way, Kenilworth was woken by a noise and, upon investigation, discovered burglars in her house. The offenders had ripped out the front door of the house and quickly made off when they were discovered. Nothing appears to have been stolen.

If you have information that you believe may be connected to this incident, please contact Warwickshire  Police on 101, quoting incident number 12 of 17 February 2016.

Crown Watch is warning all Kenilworth residents not to fall for a scam that has started earlier today. It will suggest there is a receipt attached and suggests you click on it to open. DON’T!

The email looks very plausible and appears to be from The Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA – formerly known as DVLA)

If you open the attachment, your computer will be revealed to third parties for an attack.  This often means all your contacts will be accessed enabling cyber criminals to send emails, purporting to be from you to your contacts to fool them into doing the same.

Your computer, once open to third party access can be used by others as a Trojan, infected with an operating virus or other details may be learned.

The advice is easy – DON’T open attachments in emails from anyone that you don’t know or from organisations that do not normally email you.

If in doubt, don’t open the attachment. Send it to the trash and empty the trash.

Here is the official notification issued by the DVSA earlier today.

 

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