Fraud Protection Information
By way of an initial introduction, my name is Ashley Jones and I am the 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, you may wish to visit our website here:
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.
My role is to undertake activity that reduces economic crime (fraud), 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 FREE FRAUD SAFETY PRESENTATIONS (Virtual or In-person)
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 35 -45 minutes with additional time for questions and answers – the presentations can be delivered in-person, or via Zoom/MS Teams/Skype/etc.
NARRATED FRAUD SAFETY PRESENTATION VIA YOUTUBE
If an in-person, or Zoom fraud safety presentation is not suitable for the specific needs of your community, I have filmed a narrated version presentation, which can be viewed via the YouTube video sharing platform. This means that it can be viewed by anyone who has this link: https://youtu.be/Oyc3ITOxvsY on any device and at their leisure and is an alternative way for residents to receive the fraud safety input.
You may consider adding this link to your community newsletter, or email reports. Additionally this may be a useful safety resource to include on your Parish/Town council website for future reference. Whilst not as effective as a 'live' presentation, due to the lack of interactivity between the presenter and the audience, it may offer valuable safety advice for those seeking protection from frauds and scams.
OFFER OF FREE 'SPOTTING FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION' 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 would be obliged if you would be able to pass along my offer of free training and support to anyone who may benefit – I will attend team meetings, etc. with all the required presentation equipment (or virtually via Zoom/Skype/Teams/etc. I can be available for meetings in both the daytime and evening as required – there is no charge whatever for these presentations, as they is delivered as part of a public service.
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