Benefice Newsletter 23rd September 2022

Repair Cafe Poster – Porlock Village Hall, TA24 8QD, Saturday 1st October: 10am-12pm

Somerset Health and Wellbeing Updates Including Covid and Flu vaccinations. 

Blood pressure checks

Half of all adults with high blood pressure don’t know they have it – that’s why it’s so important to check regularly. It is a major risk factor for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and significantly increases the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, but early detection and treatment can help people live longer, healthier lives.

More than two hundred blood pressure monitor kits are available for loan from libraries in the county, including Minehead, to raise awareness of high blood pressure.

Need to seek help?

If you, or someone you know are feeling like things are too much, please know that you / they don’t have to be alone. Here are some numbers of organisations that can help:

• Samaritans – 116 123
• CALM – 0800 58 58 58
• ChildLine – 0800 1111
• Anxiety UK – 03444 775 774
• Mind – 0300 123 3393
• Somerset Domestic Abuse helpline – 0800 69 49 999

Crime / Safeguarding Action Fraud

Warning as criminals exploit cost of living crisis to target the public with energy rebate scams

Energy prices are set to increase on 1 October 2022 and in the last two weeks, more than 1,500 reports have been made to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) about scam emails purporting to be about energy rebates from Ofgem, the independent energy regulator for Great Britain. In the two weeks from Monday 22 August to Monday 5 September 2022, a total of 1,567 phishing emails related to this scam were reported via the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS).

In this instance, the reported scam emails claim that the recipient is due an energy rebate payment as part of a government scheme and provides links for the recipient to follow to apply for the rebate. The links in the emails lead to malicious websites designed to steal personal and financial information.

All the reported emails display the email subject header “Claim your bill rebate now” and the criminals behind the scam are using the Ofgem logo and colours to make the email appear authentic.

Please click here to read the full press release.

Make sure you spot courier fraud warning signs

Thousands of pounds have been lost by victims of courier fraud scams in recent weeks and ASP are urging people to make friends and family aware of the risks.

Unsuspecting victims have reported receiving calls from criminals claiming to be from the police or their bank, asking them to withdraw cash and to leave it for a courier to collect.

In one courier fraud scam, the criminal pretends to work for the victim’s bank and says they are investigating counterfeit notes at their local branch. They get the victim to go to the bank to withdraw money but order them not tell the bank they have been asked to do this. The caller says they will send someone around to the victim’s house to collect the notes so they can be taken away to see if they are counterfeit – in reality they just drive off with the victim’s money.

Please click here to read the full press release.

 

 

 

The blood pressure monitor kits include an information leaflet that explains how to check your blood pressure at home and what to do with the results – measuring blood pressure at home can be very useful to give a more accurate picture of what a person’s blood pressure is like. The monitors can also detect an irregular heartbeat which is another risk for CVD.

 

Please click here to read the full press release.