1 July 2018 

Heath, Woods and Park Fire worry and other information

Thanks to Dana Wiffen, Chair of Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch for the following compendium of neighbourhood watch news :

CALLING ALL HOUNDWATCH MEMBERS/DOG WALKERS & WALKERS
Please be on the lookout while walking your dogs, with this period of lovely weather there is a worry of fires on heathland, woods, and in parks. If you see anyone starting fires or one already alight please ring 999 straight away as this weather quick action will be needed to prevent fires spreading. Please also remember to report any other instances of crime, such as drug taking/dealing , fly tipping or any other suspicious activity. 
(Dana Wiffen)

BOROUGH-WIDE NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH NEWS-for your information

CAR & VEHICLE CRIME ON THE INCREASE
While it was really good to only report 3 domestic burglaries across Bexley last week, we have noticed the continued rise in crime around vehicles which are falling into the following areas. 1) Theft from motor vehicles - Please don't leave anything in sight in your vehicles. 2) Theft of motor vehicles - This happens often from a break-in when keys are stolen and vehicles are taken from driveways. Please ensure your keys are put away. 3) Theft of motor bikes - often taken by bike gang members- again leave out of sight and chain up to a secure point . 4) Car vandalism - This is a difficult one as this crime is everywhere and in many cases just by passing morons. Having CCTV cameras on your drive or on your parked vehicle could help catch these criminals, but this is a hard one to police and is really upsetting to owners.
(Dana Wiffen) 

LFB UPDATE *NEW*
It has been a busy week for fire crews in Bexley who have dealt with a number of incidents including a major fire in Welling High St on Thursday afternoon (21st June). The cause of this fire is not yet known but thankfully there were no serious injuries reported. ---- To help tackle loneliness within our elderly, Bexley crews now carry our 'Borough Contacts' flyer on the appliances which signposts residents to voluntary organisations that can help with social, financial and health issues. They are also available at any one of our three fire stations so feel free to knock on the station door and ask for one. ---- Do you have a working smoke alarm? If not, drop into any one of our fire stations and one of our friendly Firefighters will book in a Home Fire Safety Visit where we will give advice on best practice in the home to stay safe and will fit smoke alarms free of charge where needed. ---- Finally, as my retirement looms I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that I have worked with and met in the Borough over the past 2 ½ years and welcome Peter Curtin as my successor and wish him all the best in his new role.
(Graham Coles, Borough Commander for Bexley, London Fire Brigade)

COLD CALLING
The Kipling Road Coordinator reports that he has received a telephone call from a company cold calling trying to sell burglary alarms. BBNWA would like to advise you to be very cautious when dealing with unknown companies. Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch does not endorse any company, so if they tell you otherwise, you know that it is untrue.
( Neighbourhood Watch Member in Kipling Road)

TAX SCAM
Trading Standards would like to share with you a call they took from a Bexley resident:

I received a phone call at approximately 10:20am from a man who reported he was from the Tax Office. He told me he had an arrest warrant for me, he knew my name address and date of birth. He told me I owed £900.00 and 2 letters had been sent to my address but have been returned to the Tax Office. The man told me the arrest warrant will become active unless I pay £900.00 now over the phone, if I don't pay he is going to send a Police Car over with a warrant for my arrest in half an hour. I told the man I am not going to pay you any money, so the man said you can pay now or fight the case in court. I said I will fight the case in court and the man put down the phone. The caller said officers would come from Bexleyheath Police Station.

BBNWA say that the HMRC will never telephone you. NEVER give your bank details over the phone or by email. An arrest warrant would never be issued.. 
(Trading Standards)

EMAIL SCAM
The blackmail type message below was sent to two of our Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators:

'This is a scam, delete the message immediately: Yo~'u don't know me and you are most likely thinking why yo"-u're getting this email, right? Let me tell you, I installed à malwäre on the adult video clips (p?rnography) web-site and guess what, you visited this site to experience fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching video-`s, your web browser started out functioning as ã RDP (Remote co"-ntro-'l Desktop) having a key logger which provided me with âccess to yo"-ur display screen and web camerã. Just after thàt, my software program gathered every o-ne ?f yo-'ur contâcts from messenger, social netwo(rks, as well as email. Whát did I do? I created a double-screen video. 1st pârt shows the video. you were viewing (you hãve ã fine taste hähà), and next part displays the recording of your cam. What sho~'uld y?u do? Well, in my opinion, $300 is a reaso(nable price for our little secret. Y?u'll make the pâyment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, seàrch h?w to"- buy bitcoin, it's extremely easy). My bitcoin áddress is: 1G1MnBr5iPJSRwZwQwmYGEKkJk5Rq1jcit. Important: You no-w have just one dáy in order to mâke the payment. (I have ã speciàl pixel in this e-mail, and at this mo"-ment I know that yo-`u häve read this e mail). If I d?n't get the BitCoins, I definitely will send out your video~' t? all of your co"-ntacts including members o~'f yo"-ur family, coworkers, and many others. However, if I receive the páyment, I will destroy the video immidiately. If you wánt proof, reply with Yes! and I definitely will send o(ut your video~' to your 6 contacts.'

(from 2 co-ordinators , Neighbourhood Watch Member) 

CRAY MEADOWS DOG SHOW A GREAT SUCCESS
Last Saturday's Dog show at Cray Meadows was a really good event and really well attended. Claire and Dave NW-Volunteers were there all day on our stand and new gazebo and recruited 40 new Houndwatch members & 4 new Coordinators. A great day for us and well done to them both for covering for the day.