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Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.
There are crimes that seem marginal in comparison as to whether it is illegal or not - for example, the difference between consensual sexual intercourse and rape; being a bailiff or a burglar (both go into people's homes and take belongings); sending someone to prison and false imprisonment; the death penalty and murder etc. They are identical, but main difference is that one is perfectly legal while the other one is not.
Back in 2005 someone had taken my money from me in the street after the person said that she was working as someone - they accosted me in the street and I knew that I was a victim. I went to the local police station and the person at the desk said that no crime had been committed and told me to contact Trading Standards. I suppose it is how I told it, and it did sound as if the person was illegitimate when they were not, but it is worrying when even police staff cannot see through these acts of crime. A family member reported it again to another police station and the crime was logged as robbery. To be honest, being told to go to the Trading Standards if you have been robbed is like being told to go to the Health and Safety Executive if you have been physically assaulted.
A similar thing happened only a couple of months ago when I got cold-called by someone who said they were from BT - in a nutshell, three quarters of my bank account was taken by this man - I found out that they are from India and pretend they are from a call centre while using a British mobile number - they mentioned a non-existing visit from a BT engineer which was indeed false when I contacted BT themselves. Fortunately, I got all of my money back as I telephoned by bank's fraud department and I was protected, and when I contacted BT (because the man claimed he was from BT), they put me on the 1572 call service so I can block unwanted calls. The police visited me, and because the man used the TeamViewer app, the fraudster's details appeared on my screen, and so I wrote it down at the time, and passed it onto the police - I am sure that they could make at least one arrest with all the evidence I gave them.
Even last month I got a call from a voicemail saying it was from Ofcom and mentioning that my internet was to be terminated in 24 hours - after what happened last time, I knew it was false - I dialed 1572 to block the number, and then reported it to Ofcom (as they were implicated in the original telephone call) and Action Fraud.
Yes, it has happened to me, and sometimes it does feel like the police are not always on the victim's side.
There are crimes that seem marginal in comparison as to whether it is illegal or not - for example, the difference between consensual sexual intercourse and rape; being a bailiff or a burglar (both go into people's homes and take belongings); sending someone to prison and false imprisonment; the death penalty and murder etc. They are identical, but main difference is that one is perfectly legal while the other one is not.
Back in 2005 someone had taken my money from me in the street after the person said that she was working as someone - they accosted me in the street and I knew that I was a victim. I went to the local police station and the person at the desk said that no crime had been committed and told me to contact Trading Standards. I suppose it is how I told it, and it did sound as if the person was illegitimate when they were not, but it is worrying when even police staff cannot see through these acts of crime. A family member reported it again to another police station and the crime was logged as robbery. To be honest, being told to go to the Trading Standards if you have been robbed is like being told to go to the Health and Safety Executive if you have been physically assaulted.
A similar thing happened only a couple of months ago when I got cold-called by someone who said they were from BT - in a nutshell, three quarters of my bank account was taken by this man - I found out that they are from India and pretend they are from a call centre while using a British mobile number - they mentioned a non-existing visit from a BT engineer which was indeed false when I contacted BT themselves. Fortunately, I got all of my money back as I telephoned by bank's fraud department and I was protected, and when I contacted BT (because the man claimed he was from BT), they put me on the 1572 call service so I can block unwanted calls. The police visited me, and because the man used the TeamViewer app, the fraudster's details appeared on my screen, and so I wrote it down at the time, and passed it onto the police - I am sure that they could make at least one arrest with all the evidence I gave them.
Even last month I got a call from a voicemail saying it was from Ofcom and mentioning that my internet was to be terminated in 24 hours - after what happened last time, I knew it was false - I dialed 1572 to block the number, and then reported it to Ofcom (as they were implicated in the original telephone call) and Action Fraud.
Yes, it has happened to me, and sometimes it does feel like the police are not always on the victim's side.
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