Chinese Community Talk: Being Aware of Scams

Dear resident,

PC's Aston and Dawson of St James's Safer Neighbourhoods visited the London Chinese Community Centre in Leicester Square recently and gave a talk about scams and fraud.

Covering telephone, text, email, door-to-door and other methods, advice was given on how to spot common scams, what to say and do to protect yourself, and importantly how to report the multitude of scams we see today. Residents gave their own examples and shared stories of falling victim or seeing friends and loved ones get scammed. Talking about our own experiences of scams is great for increasing awareness and we encourage this ongoing dialogue within the community, particularly among our older friends and neighbours. Thank you to Beverley and the London Chinese Community Centre for hosting!

To help protect yourself, please bare these golden rules in mind:

1. Be suspicious of ‘too good to be true’ offers and deals.

2. Do not agree to anything immediately or under pressure.

3. Do not hand over money or sign anything until you have had time to think, seek advice and make enquiries.

4. Never send money to anyone using methods you are not familiar with or comfortable with.

5. Never give out personal or banking details to people you don’t know.

6. Always log into a website directly rather than clicking links.

7. Don’t rely on testimonials provided by the seller. Do some research.

8. Get advice for things that involves you giving money. Friends, legal advice, police, family.

9. If you spot a scam or have been a victim, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or actionfraud.police.uk. If the suspect is still present call the police.

10. Do not be embarrassed to report scams and fraud. The scammers may be caught and others may be helped by you speaking up.

We will be out giving more awareness talks in the coming weeks and months. Keep an eye on Met Engage for updates.

We hope you've had a great autumn so far and we look forward to seeing you out and about. Do get in touch if you have any crime or anti-social behaviour issues you'd like to discuss.