Reporting crime at the time it happens is something I mention regularly in this column and when speaking in our community.
I place importance on it as when we have crime spikes such as overnight vehicle crime, a series of incidents are linked together. As with dominoes falling, if we were made aware and had been able to apprehend offenders early, the subsequent crime could have been prevented. On the topic of car crime we are still seeing utes being targeted. Please continue to be vigilant around locking vehicles, parking them securely and in well-lit areas and removing any valuable items. If you do not have an alarm or immobiliser, use a steering wheel lock.
Deb Hann – Senior Constable at the Cambridge Farmers’ Market. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
In the past week we have had more fraud by scammers. In the latest incident, a victim was contacted via text, alerting them to alleged suspicious activity on their account. Upon called the number provided in the text, it was answered as Westpac Fraud Division. The victim was taken through some security steps which gained personal banking information from them. They immediately noticed unauthorised activity on their account commence and contacted the real Westpac Fraud division. Fortunately this quick action minimised access, however a few transactions had already occurred. In another example, a member of the public received an email referring to Pegasus spyware having been installed on their computer and advising that their email account had been hacked. The email demanded a bitcoin payment to avoid further exploitation. This was also a scam. It is nevertheless wise to regularly change passwords, avoid easy to guess or repeat passwords and to not engage in any way with links or phone numbers provided in such scam communications.
In other news, we have had a few found property items handed in over the front counter including wallets, car keys, passports and even a misdelivered birthday present. If you find something that appears to have been lost, you have a responsibility to attempt to try to return it to the owner. You cannot just keep it.
Handing it to Police often enables us to make contact with the owner quickly from information already held in our system.
If a finder relies on social media posts to find an item’s lawful owner, there can be risks around the owner not seeing the post and ensuring the correct person claims the item.
If you lose an item and after concerted effort, you cannot find, reporting it to Police also means we can more quickly identify property we receive and ensure its return.
