Police Report - 7 July 2022

You may have seen Police this week wearing full tactical accoutrement belts including firearms. This is not a new approach to Norfolk Island Policing, we are all undertaking our annual Operational Safety Tactics recertification. This includes a week long program of weapons handling, tactical training including Taser, baton and handcuffing. This is a mandatory course for all Australian Federal Police that must be recertified every 12 months.

Recently NIPF have received numerous enquiries about scams, particularly email and text message scams. If you did not order a package, do not respond to request for details to deliver. Do not respond to messages of any type relating to items you did not purchase. The taxation department will not inform you of a debt by text message and demand a fine be paid. Tax time scams are up and running, if in doubt, don’t respond, refer to scamwatch.gov.au and search for your particular interest contact message or email. Crypto currency presents another opportunity for scams. Did you know crypto currency is the most common payment method for investment scams? Please be aware of scams, if you fall for one and part with your hard earned money, you will never recover that money. Usually the offenders hide behind complicated barriers often in third world countries. In 2021, Australians lost more than $2 billion dollars to scams. Between January and May this year, Australians lost over $205 million dollars to scams. Norfolk Island is not immune to these issues and we have seen a recent increase in activity reaching into the Norfolk community.