CRIME PREVENTION
EMAIL SCAM: Oct. 29, 2008 There is an email circulating that purports to be from the IRS. In this email it tells you that you are eligible for a "TAX REFUND". There is a link for you to click on and supply your personal information. If you receive this email you will notice that it originate from a domain of IRSUSA.COM. The IRS is not a .com domain the IRS uses a domain of IRS.GOV. Another redflag on this and other fraudulent emails is that they do not address you by name, this email does not have any type of formal greeting many of the other may just have a generic greeting and none of your information is listed. As with any suspicious email or message don't open any attachments or click on any links.
Internet Security: Over the past few years the Police Department has seen a major increase in fraud cases. Many of these cases are Identity Fraud and Internet Fraud. To protect yourself do not respond to any emails requesting that you give out your user name or passwords. Businesses will not ask you for that information, THEY ALREADY HAVE IT. With any of those types of emails DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS. You can contact that business by going directly to their web site and not through a link in the email.
Other types of Internet Fraud we have seen are "scams" involving sales, either ads or auctions, where the buyer will send an excessive overpayment to "cover" shipping and handling. They will ask that you refund the excess payment. The victim will deposit the check and mail the refund or send the money Western Union, the check will later be determined to be counterfeit and you're out the money you sent. Even Ebay warns against using Western Union.
Home If you receive a notice that you have won the lottery. Take a moment and think, DID I EVER ENTER A LOTTERY? If you haven't enterred a lottery you probably didn't win one, lotteries are set up to make money by people buying tickets. If you didn't buy a ticket how could you win?
Use caution when dealing over the internet. Get to know who you are dealing with and where they are located. Once a crime leave the country there is little we can do to help you.
HOME SECURITY: In Kaysville the majority of our crimes are "Property" crimes. What this means is that the crimes are related to a loss of property, either by theft or damage.
There are a number of ways to protect you "property". The foremost method to protect your property it to make sure it's secured. This past summer we arrested a group of young men that were responsible for over 100 crimes in the Kaysville, Fruit Heights, Mutton Hollow and Layton areas. Their method of operation was to find vehicles that were not locked and they would take anything of value. On several occasions they found keys inside the vehicles and they would take the vehicle and either abandon them or wreck them. During questioning it came out that they would not waste their time if a car was locked, so in those cases the locks kept the thieves honest, but in the cases where the car was unlocked they would take whatever they could.
One of the problems we all face is that we become complacent, crimes are other peoples problems and it doesn't happen to me. Once we have this attitude it's easy for us to think "it's inconvenient to unlock the car or house". We then progress to a point where we begin to leave our valuables in the unlocked car. Once we have gotten to that point we have inadvertently chosen to become a victim. If you make things difficult for the criminal they most likely aren't going to want to take the effort and more importantly the time to try and take your property.
Unfortunately times have changed, the area has grown and like society the criminals have become highly mobile. We may live in nice neighborhoods and we trust our neighbors, but they aren't the ones we have to worry about. We have to worry about the type of crime that occurs in other areas because these criminals will travel to nice areas to commit their crimes.
To help prevent crime we ask that everyone secure their cars and houses, don't leave anything valuable in your car. If you do have to leave valuables in your car don't leave them out were every crook can see them, don't tempt them. If you have items of value that are serial numbered, record the MAKE, MODEL and SERIAL NUMBER. On items that don't have serial numbers you can engrave a personal identifier on them (we can loan you an electric engraver pencil).
Finally if you do see something that seems out of place or suspicious report it to the Police immediately. If it's an emergency or you believe that there is a crime in progress call 911. You and your neighbors have a much better idea of what belongs in your neighborhood and what's unusual or out of place. An officer on patrol may have a general idea of what belongs but, you the residents have a detailed knowledge of what belongs there. You and your neighbors should be watching out for each other.
There are officers on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, your call is not bothering us, that's our job and we appreciate all the help we can get.. If you would like to get involved with a NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH program or start one in you area contact either: Cpl. Daron Heslop or Cpl. Ryan Wilko at 546-1131.
IDENTITY FRAUD PROTECTION: On Sept. 1, 2008 a new Utah Law went into effect that will aid in protecting your identity and credit. This law provides an avenue for individuals to take action to "freeze" their credit with the three Credit Reporting Services. What will happen is (after you have taken action to freeze your credit) that whenever there is an attempt to obtain credit there will be a 15 minute period in which your password or PIN will need to be supplied. If this is not supplied the credit will be denied.
To obtain this protection you will need to contact each of the three credit reporting services:
www.equifax.com www.experian.com www.transunion.com
These services may charge you a fee to freeze your credit profile. They will set up a password or PIN for your credit profile which you will need to supply whenever you apply for any credit.
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