Every year burglary tends to increase during the autumn months as the afternoons get darker,
making it easier to identify unoccupied homes, which are often left unlit. Residents can make
their homes more secure by following some basic crime prevention advice such as:
 Use timer switches on a lamp, radio or TV set so that they turn on as it gets dark in the
afternoons.
 Make a habit of checking that ground floor windows and doors are closed and locked when
you leave the house or go to bed. Upstairs windows should be locked when the house is
unoccupied.
 PVC doors must be locked by lifting the handle and turning the key to ensure all the
security features are in place.
 Car and house keys should be kept out of sight in a safe place. Don’t leave them on display
on window sills, in porches, hallways or kitchens.
Secure your rear garden by shutting and locking any gates. Burglars can use garden tools, like
ladders to break in, so make sure you securely lock away any tools after use.

The banking industry and the UK Government are joining forces this week to launch the next phase of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign. The campaign – which is run jointly by the Home Office and Financial Fraud Action UK, part of UK Finance, with support from the banking industry – shows the public how to recognise scams and confidently challenge any requests for personal or financial details using the simple phrase ‘My money? My info? I don’t think so’.

This comes as criminals increasingly use sophisticated impersonation scams to trick customers into giving away their personal or financial information. In these scams fraudsters contact customers by phone, email or text pretending to represent a trusted organisation, such as a bank, and request further information such as a full password or PIN. This information is then used by criminals to access customer accounts, withdraw money or make card payments. Fraudsters also scam customers into transferring money directly into a safe account or into the account of a supposed trusted organisation.

The Take Five campaign highlights these scams to help the public recognise them; and encourages everyone to question uninvited approaches and never give out personal or financial details.

Katy Worobec, Head of Fraud and Financial Crime Prevention, Cyber and Data Sharing at UK Finance, said: “Tackling fraud is a top priority for the entire industry. Our Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign in partnership with the Home Office will make sure customers know what to do to stay safe from the latest scams. Through the campaign we want to encourage all customers to remember to Take Five by saying ‘My money? My info? I don’t think so’.”

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: “Fraud remains a widespread problem and there is more to be done to prevent criminals from ruthlessly targeting people and businesses for their hard-earned money. The Joint Fraud Taskforce sees Government, law enforcement and industry working together to tackle some of the toughest fraud issues in order to protect the public. The national Take Five campaign will raise further awareness of how people can take simple steps to protect themselves against scams.”

How to stay safe from fraud

Take Five urges customers to help stay safe from fraud by following this simple advice:

• A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you asking for your PIN, full password or to move money to a safe account.
• Never give out personal or financial information. Always contact the company directly using a known email or phone number.
• Don’t be tricked into giving a fraudster access to your details. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.
• Always question uninvited approaches, in case it’s a scam.

You can find out more about the campaign, and get advice on how to beat the fraudsters by visiting the Take Five website(opens in a new window), and following Take Five on Facebook(opens in a new window) and Twitter(opens in a new window), and don’t forget to share the posts.