By Tracy Moore, Neighbourhood Watch and Bill Cunningham, Scamwatch
Neighbourhood Watch – Catalytic Converter Thefts
By Tracy Moore
We continue to see catalytic converter theft across Shepperton with another 4 in May being stolen,: Halliford Road, (Honda Accord); Charlton Lane, (Honda Jazz); Bruce Avenue, (Honda Jazz); Hetherington Road, (Honda CR-V) Catalytic converters are targeted because of the precious metals that they are made with, namely rhodium, platinum and palladium. Thieves simply cut the catalytic converter from the exhaust pipe of a parked car and sell them on to scrap metal dealers. Taller vehicles are more vulnerable as the catalytic converters are easier to access. To reduce the risk of having your catalytic converter stolen you could: 1. Purchase anti-theft products such as Catloc – a Sold Secure approved product (https://www.securedbydesign.com/about-us/news/catloc-achieves-police-preferred-specification) 2. Park to restrict access to the underneath of the car 3.Ask your dealer to weld the catalytic converter to the car 4. Fit a tilt alarm 5. Register your converter and mark it with a forensic marker, which will make it harder for thieves to dispose of For more information on catalytic converter theft, have a look at the BBC One Inside Out Cata-lytic Converter Theft video from March 2020. If you witness the crime in progress do NOT confront offenders. Report suspicious incidents immediately as a 999 crime in progress with as much detail as possible about the suspects and vehicle/s involved.
SCAM WATCH – Up, up and away
by Bill Cunningham
Taking the plunge in the UK this summer is probably going to be easier on the pocket and mind than travelling beyond our boundaries. Getting a booking at home is increasingly a challenge of course! Caution is needed no matter where we intend to bed down, for the bad guys have spotted the opportunity to fleece us in our time of uncertainty and desperation to be on hols. Fake websites, ads, flights to accommodation that doesn’t exist. So first we do some detective work on the accommodation, flight, cruise, package holi-day. To ensure that the attraction that is pri-vately advertised is real. Talking to the owner will give us a sense for that. And if gut feel tells us it’s too good to be true or there is a doubt somehow about authenticity then we pull out. If reviews on say TripAdvisor tell us it’s 100% wall to wall outstanding, with largely similar wording and dates, then maybe, just maybe all is not genuine. We should never pay by bank transfer for once it’s gone from our account that’s it. If we pay by credit card then we may get a re-fund if all goes badly. If we book a package then we need to spot ABTA or ATOL in the wording. Even if they claim we are being covered by that type of insurance we should seek their names on the websites of the Associations. If anyone is asking for an out of the ordinary high deposit then we beware. If the holiday is way cheaper than most others then why so? What are the terms we are sign-ing up to? Any guarantees? Calls, texts or emails to us out of the blue let’s assume to be out of the red. If anything is in high demand then the seller will not need to be spending time cold calling us to offload the bargain. And as always, let’s hesitate before divulging our bank details online. We’d not do so readi-ly to a stranger we bumped into in the High Street.