Hello everyone, I hope you're all enjoying the new freedoms that the relaxation of coronavirus rules have brought, confident in the protection provided to you by the vaccine.
It's summer holiday time so I do hope you get to enjoy a trip away or fun days out. It is well deserved after all that confinement and all your scams prevention efforts!
This newsletter issue marks a year since we introduced our monthly news in this format. I hope you've been enjoying reading it over the last twelve months but we always welcome your suggestions and feedback at against-scams@cambridgeshire.gov.uk .
Thank you, Charlotte.
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 Are you bamboozled by all the different terms we use when talking about CAPASP and scams prevention?
Not only do we have a tongue-twister of an acronym but the different ways you can be involved in our partnership may cause some confusion.
Here we guide you through the key terms to help you get the most out of our partnership:
Partner: An organisation that has committed to the partnership charter to work together around the four themes: communications; prevention and training tools; reporting and referral pathways and supporting victims. You can see a list of partners on our website. Representives from our partner organisations meet as an executive board.
Supporter: An organisation, community group or keen individual who commits to sharing the partnership's scams awareness communications as far and wide as possible across their community and networks. This includes our newsletters, scam alerts and other prevention resources found on our resources webpage.
Advisor: Somebody who has suffered the devastation and indignity of being a victim of scammers and who wishes to work with and advise our partnership board on how to help others to avoid suffering the same fate.
We welcome new partners, supporters and advisors to join us at any time, we value each and every one. Please contact us if you would like to discuss getting involved.
This month the spotlight is on Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s new Cybercrime and Fraud Prevention Team which was set up in April 2021 in response to an increase in both cybercrime and in-person crimes such as rogue trading and traditional con-artist scams.
Here Inspector Matt Snow tells us more about the team, their role in preventing and tackling scams and their work with CAPASP.
“The Cybercrime and Fraud Prevention Team is part of the Partnerships and Prevention department at Cambridgeshire Constabulary and consists of four officers who have moved from other areas within the Constabulary. As such they bring a huge amount of knowledge and experience. Kate Thwaites and Rachel Carr joined in April and we’ve recently been joined by Rachel Elding and David York.
The team’s aims are to promote and raise awareness of the risks of cybercrime and fraud, in order to reduce the number of people who may fall victim to scams and, really importantly, to reduce repeat victimisation. The team are proud to be active partners of CAPASP and are already working closely with partners such as the Community Protection Team, Trading Standards and Adult Social Care.
Sharing appropriate security advice and information with victims and key stakeholders is a core objective; promoting the message that we all have a part to play in preventing cybercrime and online fraud. In addition, de-mystifying online security to show that taking a few simple steps such as using anti-virus software, having strong passwords, and keeping personal details private, will prevent a large percentage of online fraud and cybercrime incidents.
Many of the team’s referrals come via Action Fraud, but they can also come directly from Police officers or via partners and other organisations, such as economic crime units, or the Multi-Agency referral team.
Since the team’s inception, officers have visited and contacted numerous victims of online scams and fraud, as well as those targeted by more traditional means. The effect of a scam on an individual can vary greatly from someone who has been bothered by a phone scam such as a fake HMRC call or parcel delivery text (with no financial loss) to someone who has lost thousands of pounds to a romance fraud, or investment scam, often resulting in life changing consequences such as losing their property, debt and issues with depression and feeling alone”.
Contact the Cybercrime and Fraud Prevention Team at fraud&cyberprevent@cambs.pnn.police.uk
 The consumer organisation Which? has recently published some useful advice about appropriate action after a scam.
In particular they recommend reporting the fraudulent activity to your bank as soon as possible to start the process of trying to get your money back. They also remind victims to stay vigilant to 'recovery fraud' - contact by the same fraudster or their associates after the initial scam, offering to get your money back for a fee.
Read more here to make sure you know how to act after a scam and tell others too. Let's all stay safe together.
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