 Image by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash
Across West Sussex, Dating & Romance Fraud continues to be the 2nd highest scam, with £569,160 being lost between July – September ‘24. The Fraud Prevention Working Group (a partnership made up of professionals representing local government, police, charity organisations, and more) have collectively decided to focus on this fraud over the next quarter.
One service we wanted to spotlight in this eNewsletter is from Victim Support.
For individuals affected by this fraud, are over 18, and live in Sussex; they’re offering a free, specialist service supporting victims of relationship fraud. Their service can be delivered both in person and online and may include one-to-one support sessions, peer support and group work.
 Image by Thomas Park on Unsplash
Grooming is a process when an offender builds a relationship with a child, young person or an adult, so they can abuse them and manipulate them into doing things.
The abuse is usually sexual or financial, but it can also include other illegal acts. Groomers often befriend a child by appearing to have the similar hobbies, using fake accounts and photos, they may also appear to be the same age as the child.
The NSPCC have released new statistics about the impact online grooming has on our young people:
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7000 online grooming offences in 2023/2024
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48% of offences occurred on Snapchat
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81% of cases were against girls
To read more about this new data, plus learn how to keep your children safe online, visit:
 Image by Rupixen on Unsplash
Deepfake technology is enabling scammers to fraudulently use celebrities in fake advertisements across social media. Typically, these scams focus on crypto-currency and investment scams.
Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is planning on introducing facial recognition software to help crackdown on this issue. ‘Meta said "early testing" of the system had shown "promising results"’.
Of course, this is still in progress; in the meantime we encourage social media users to be aware of these types of scams and report any advertisements that they deem suspicious.
We are excited to share that Claudia Wilson from our team undertook some personal development learning and recently passed a course in Cyber Security.
Throughout the course, she gained a strong understanding of essential concepts such as network security, encryption and cyber threat management. This achievement is another great qualification that can be added to our Team’s skill base.
Well done, Claudia!
Online platforms and the digital space are increasingly being used to perpetrate domestic abuse, with abusive partners or ex partners using technology to control, harass or intimidate victim survivors.
Join the us and our colleagues in the Southeast Reginal Crime Unit on the 9th of December as we raise awareness of tech abuse; by empowering women and girls to understand what it is, and what steps to take to secure their digital devices and platforms against potential abuse from a partner or ex-partner.
We are offering free advice sessions to anyone who wants to stop themselves falling victim to different types of scams.
The next dates available in December are:
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Crawley Library: Wednesday December 11th, 10am – 11.30am
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Broadfield Library: Wednesday December 11th, 1pm – 2.30pm
Whether you're looking to improve your own digital skills or gain the knowledge needed to assist others in the community, this fully funded and completely FREE training is a great opportunity to build your expertise in navigating the digital world.
This training will help you to develop online skills that can benefit your personal and professional life; and build online confidence to protect yourself from fraud and scams in the digital world.
Interested, but can’t make that date? In the New Year we will be visiting Horsham, keep an eye out on future eNewsletters for further information.
 We've been reading and watching lots of things about the online world to make sure we keep you up-to-date on all the ways you and your family can stay safe when using the internet. Below are some of the key stories we think you'll be interested in:
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