Crime: 29 October 2014

Stolen paintings:
Thames Valley Police is appealing for information to locate three paintings which were stolen from a house in Datchet.
The three antique paintings, were taken from the house, at some point between March and June this year.
That was when the owner’s, noticed that the stolen paintings had been replaced with other paintings, which had been hung in their place.
If anyone has been offered these paintings for sale, or has seen them since March, please contact PC Jason Twine from Windsor police station via the Thames Valley Police 101 number.
If you don't want to speak directly to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers (opens new window)  anonymously on 0800 555 111. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
I have attached the photos for your attention.
 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
15/9 / 27/10  Hines Meadow Car Park.  Fence panels stolen from unsafe area of the car park in St. Clouds Way.
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
27/10  Monday 5.45 p.m. / 7.20 p.m.  The Street, Waltham St. Lawrence.  Possible Attempted Burglary.  The owner went out.  On their return, the lock on the bottom of the rear door had been opened.  An offender may possibly have reached this through the cat flap.  A toilet window had also been opened.  A boot rack had also been moved.  No entry gained and nothing stolen.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Hi Jeff,
 
I understand from Andy, the Senior Community Warden at the Borough, that you are willing to mention the Shifford Community Day, in your Alert message. A write up about the event is below.  Thank you in advance for your support.
____________________________________________________
 
A Community Day is going to be held on Friday 31^st October 2014 at 12 noon-3pm on the Green in Shifford Crescent, Maidenhead.
Residents of the area will have the opportunity to receive FREE ADVICE and information from agencies such as:- the RBWM Community Safety team, Early Help Teams, Thames Valley Police and the Fire Service.
 
Younger residents, will also have the opportunity to participate in a number of fun activities including; face painting, apple bobbing and a bouncy castle.
 
The idea of the event is to help promote positive community engagement by bringing essential services into the community so that residents have the opportunity to speak to us face to face about life in the area and help us gain a better understanding of what support we can give in order to improve the quality of life of our residents.
 
If you are in the area please pop by, as it is sure to be a fun and informative afternoon.
 
Hannah Hughes
Hannah Hughes
Anti-social Behaviour Officer
Website:
http://www.rbwmsafety4all.org.uk/
29/10  Wednesday 3.50 a.m. / 7 a.m.  Cordwallis Road.  Burglary.  Entry via a forced UVPC front door – tool marks found near the lock.  Tidy search – Handbag and contents including purse, credit / bank cards and a Slazenger cricket bag stolen.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
26/10 – 27/10  Sunday 10.30 p.m. / Monday 6 a.m.  Fane Way.  Burglary – possibly through front door – LEFT INSECURE.  The owner came down in the morning and noticed her and her sisters handbags were missing.  2 laptops had also been taken.  Later the owner was approached by a dog walker who pointed out 2 discarded handbags nearby, using keys from one of the handbags, a car on the driveway had been searched.  Two laptops and contents including bank / credit cards, cash and keys, jewellery, hairdressing equipment, mobile phones X 2, Tiffany sunglasses a SAT NAV and loose change left in the car, stolen.  Some items of clothing removed from the house, recovered nearby.
26/10 – 27/10  Sunday 5.30 p.m. / Monday 8.50 a.m.  Badger Close.  Car driver’s door lock damaged – no entry gained and nothing stolen.
26/10 – 27/10  Sunday 4.30 p.m. / Monday 11 a.m.  Clare Road. Car entered and searched on a driveway – documentation stolen from the glove box.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
26/10 – 27/10  Sunday 10.50 p.m. / Monday 4.50 a.m.  Larchfield Road.  Car LEFT INSECURE – searched – handbag and contents stolen from under the passenger seat.  It had been discarded in a park nearby.  Items from the Fane Way burglary, were also recovered from there !
26/10 – 27/10  Sunday 5 p.m. / Monday 2 p.m.  Car entered via forced rear passenger side door.  Desborough Crescent.  Loose change and SAT NAV were stolen which had been left on view.
 
FROM THE FIRE SERVICE:
 
Hi Jeff,
 
Once again, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) would like to ask for your assistance, in helping us to spread our safety messages.
 
As you may be aware, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has announced that further strike action will take place:
 
For 96 hours consecutively from 6pm on Friday 31 October until 6pm on Tuesday 4 November 
 
Over the weekend, your members are more likely to be at home, perhaps entertaining or visiting friends, enjoying Bonfire Night or other celebrations with candles and fireworks.
 
On the Monday or Tuesday morning, you may be busy preparing breakfast for the family, travelling to work and/or preparing for the school run after the half term break
 
Whatever you are doing during this extended period we would like to remind you to Take Extra Care.
 
Although RBFRS has contingency plans in place, during any period of industrial action we will have significantly fewer resources. We will therefore be prioritising ‘life critical’ incidents, such as house fires and road traffic collisions where people are trapped.
 
RBFRS will still be responding to 999 calls but we are asking members of the public to take extra care to reduce the risk of fire and road traffic collisions. 
 
We would be grateful if you could distribute the attached documents among your colleagues, clients and other community contacts and mention that advice can be found on our website www.rbfrs.co.uk.
 
Many thanks
 
The Prevention Team
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Newsham Court
Pincents Kiln
Calcot
Reading
RG31 7SD
 
Website: www.rbfrs.co.uk
 
Follow us on
 
Twitter: @RBFRSofficial
 
The fire Service sent me 3 documents containing advice, which I have attached.
 
MEMBERS’ COMMENTS:
 
I WILL ONLY INCLUDE ONE SCAM TODAY – BECAUSE IT IS LONG
 
BUT, IT DOES SHOW HOW PROLONGED, DETAILED, PREMEDITATED AND COMPLICATED, THESE SCAMS ARE – THEY ‘GROOM’ THEIR VICTIMS
 
Hello Jeff
 
I thought it worthwhile, to alert you to a new scam.
 
My mother was almost duped today - despite my having trained her well to be suspicious of everything and everyone.  The scam starts with an email from TalkTalk that looks to be a usual monthly bill with a link to click to login and view.
 
My mother received this yesterday and opened the attachment to view the bill.  She was asked for her account number, as well as the password, which she usually doesn't have to enter.
 
The bill displayed, was for a slightly wrong amount, but also had a warning strapline that "You may be experiencing slower than usual internet due to a widespread worm virus affecting TalkTalk customers. Update your antivirus".
 
Today, she received a call from a lady purporting to be from ‘TalkTalk’, saying that her computer was infected with a ‘worm virus’.  Would she please allow them to access / proxy her computer to clear it for her.
 
My mother, then became suspicious and asked them to prove who they were.  They then read out my mother's account number, telephone number, address and amount of the last bill.  At that point, my mother concluded that they were, who they said they were.
 
They then got her to download the remote access software and tried to backup up my her data (which failed).  They then started running some kind of fake virus scan.  They brought up details of a piece of software that "the license had expired" and told my mother to log in to her bank, to pay £90 to renew the licence, as this would ensure her computer was protected.
 
They pulled up a web page that had links to all the main high street banks, to help her log in to her account.
 
My mother doesn't do internet banking, so they directed her to go to the post office and make a transfer to an account in India.  
 
My mother initially refused, so they said they could send a courier to collect the payment by cash or by card transaction, at that point my mother said she would go to the post office to make the transfer.
 
They told her to leave her computer on, while she was at the post office, so they could "clear the virus away".  Thankfully at that point, she hung up and called me from her mobile, whilst heading to the post office.  I told her to unplug the computer immediately, and not go to the post office.
 
My mother is 72, fairly strong willed and took some talking to, before she accepted this was a scam - the "TalkTalk" lady was so nice and convincing, my mother was more concerned that she may have sent me an infected email and this, was why she called me !
 
It took some work to convince her she was in the process of being duped.
 
She then called TalkTalk (checking for a dial tone first), who confirmed they were not behind the email bill, or the call to fix a virus.
 
An hour later "TalkTalk" called back to ask if the money had been sent.  They became abusive when my mother told them she knew they were scammers and that she had reported them to the police.

We have spoken to Talk Talk, who have confirmed:-
a) They never put warnings of viruses on monthly bills and
b) They never call customers or take control of their computer remotely.
 
We have reported this to 101 and to ActionFraud.
 
Unfortunately, my mother thinks they transferred a lot of her personal files from her computer, so she has had to change her bank account numbers, and cancel all her cards, as she doesn't know what they have copied.  We also suspect they have put an encryption virus on her files - but until I can get over there on Friday, her computer is firmly SWITCHED OFF!
 
This is probably, the most well prepared scam I've come across - the fact they set up the scam by sending a bill with a scam internet address to capture the target's account number, whereupon they have logged in to my mother's account to view all the personal information she challenged them to, before she would trust that they actually were ‘Talk Talk’ - when of course they were not.
 
Sorry it's a long description, but I think it’s worth letting people know that this is the level the scammers are going to, in order to present themselves as ISPs, Telephone Providers, Banks etc.
 
My mother is not naive and is now very cross, she allowed herself to be duped - despite receiving regular warnings from me about how many scams are currently on the go.
 
Please feel free to include aspects, or all of this in your weekly roundup.