A survey has been launched for victim-survivors of crimes such as domestic abuse, stalking, and intimate image abuse (revenge porn). It provides an opportunity for these victim-survivors to provide anonymous feedback about their support needs, and views on existing support services. To complete this survey, you do NOT need to have reported your crime to the police.

Police and Crime Commissioner of West Mercia, John Campion, is committed to ensuring this feedback is used to shape and inform future support in West Mercia.

This survey provides an opportunity for victim-survivors of crimes such as DA, stalking, and intimate image abuse (revenge porn) to provide anonymous feedback about their support needs, and views on existing support services.

The survey is designed for those who:

-Are aged 18 or over.

-Are a victim-survivor of domestic abuse, stalking, intimate image abuse (or revenge porn), and/or upskirting.

-Either live in West Mercia police area**, and/or are a victim-survivor of the above crime types that has been reported to West Mercia police. (**West Mercia police area covers Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin)

You do NOT need to have reported your crime to the police.

The survey should take around 10 minutes to complete and closes on Thursday 24th July 2025. To access this survey, please click on this link: https://online1.snapsurveys.com/VAWG_Survey

The “A-Levels” and students, and parents have the anxious wait for results next month. The hopefully many will find places at University, College or other places of Further Education. Whilst these are exciting times for all involved, there can be areas where new, and existing students may be vulnerable to Scammers and Fraudsters. In fact, many existing student may already be searching for the next term’s accommodation.

Rental Fraud.
Rental fraud happens when would-be tenants are tricked into paying an upfront fee to rent a property. In reality, the property does not exist, has already been rented out, or has been rented to multiple victims at the same time. The victim loses the upfront fee they have paid and is not able to rent the property they thought they had secured with the payment. Rental fraudsters often target students looking for university accommodation.

Protect yourself.

Do not send money to anyone advertising rental properties online until you are certain the advertiser is genuine.

If you need to secure accommodation in the UK from overseas, seek the help of the employer or university you are going to, or get a friend, contact or relative to check the property exists and is available.
Do not pay any money until you, or a reliable contact, has visited the property with an agent or the landlord.
Ask for copies of tenancy agreements and any safety certificates such as Gas, Electricity or HMO Licence.
Do not be pressurised into transferring large sums of money. Transfer funds to a bank account having obtained the details by contacting the landlord or agent directly after the above steps have been followed. Be sceptical if you’re asked to transfer any money via a money transfer service like Western Union.
Other current scams existing and potential students need to be aware include:

HMRC Scams
In previous years Students taking part time jobs have been at increasing risk from fake messages claiming to be from HMRC, often offering tax refunds.

Basically, these are phishing messages to glean personal and financial details off the victim.

HMRC will only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post. They do not use telephone calls, emails or external companies in these circumstances. Anyone who receives an email claiming to be from HMRC should send it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting it permanently.

Student Loans
There have also been phishing scams claiming to come from the Student Loans Company. They often target first year students and dupes them into handing over personal information to steal their identity and defraud them.

They often tell the victim their details are out of date or incomplete, and provide a link to a fake website where they can harvest their details.

If in doubt, contact the Loans Company direct using a listed number

Money Mules. Be very cautious of unsolicited job offers or opportunities to make easy money. These Fraudsters will pretend to offer legitimate jobs or get rich quick schemes via emails and target vulnerable groups, such as Students, who may think this is an easy way to make money.
Basically the Fraudster recruits innocent people to transfer stolen money overseas using the victim’s bank account, who will then be asked to transfer the money onwards, perhaps also being allowed to keep some money for themselves.

PARKING SCAMS

There have been recent reports, both locally and nationally, of residents receiving texts and emails claiming you have unpaid parking fines. Some of these even claim to come from DVSA but usually they fail to identify a vehicle or location for the alleged parking offence.

So always check the website address which may appear to mimic an official website address with small changes. Never click on any links in unexpected text messages or emails or follow the instructions to log into any accounts.

Any suspicious website can be reported to National Cyber Security Centre

via https://ncsc.gov.uk

Many Pay Machines in public car parks also have QR codes to scan on the side of the machine to set up payments. These can be tampered with, or covered over, with fake QR codes so always check if there are any signs that the QR label has been replaced.

Please feel free to share these messages with any vulnerable friends, relatives, or neighbours, especially anyone of pensionable age.