A Crime Alert for the residents of SOUTHPORT from Merseyside Police

A Crime Alert for the residents of SOUTHPORT from Merseyside Police.

Burglaries

Between the 15^th and the 28^th May burglaries or attempted burglaries have taken place in the following locations:

Longacre, Elswick Road, Albert Road, Central Avenue.

In one incident garden tools were used to gain entry to the house. It is advisable to ensure all tools and ladders are securely locked away and out of sight.

News from your Community Policing Team 

“On 21^st May local Policing Officers responded to a report that a young boy had just had his bike stolen in a robbery in Southport. The officers subsequently arrested a 17 year old youth from Litherland and recovered the stolen bike. The youth has been charged with robbery and was kept in custody for court”

+252 problem has arrived in the North West

The Police in Sweden have received over 10,000 reports about the +252 telephone number. A similar problem has appeared in the US where it was known as the ’One Ring Scam’.

The Swedish Police suspect it is an attempt at fraud. Residents who were targeted say they received missed calls during the middle of the night and when they called back they were connected to answering machines and hold music, apparently designed to keep them on a premium rate line as long as possible. The public were warned to avoid answering calls from unknown foreign numbers and have urged scepticism if called unexpectedly from abroad after an apparent telephone scammer from Somalia targeted Swedish phones. While answering a call from abroad does not cost extra, outgoing calls to the number does.

On 2th May 2018 a resident in West Lancashire bordering the Merseyside area received a very short call on his mobile during the night. The following morning, when he found the missed call on his phone starting with +252, he put the full number into Google and it came up with a warning message advising people not to reply and giving the reasons as above.

Sweden and the US may be a long way from Merseyside but now the problem has appeared too near for us to ignore.