Google alerts Gmail users about 5 key scams and spams during holiday season

  • The company advised users to avoid gift card and giveaway frauds, charity-related scams, demographic targeting scams, subscription renewals frauds and crypto scams.
  • According to Google, the tech giant protects users from around 15 billion unwanted messages a day and blocks more than 99.9% of all spam, phishing and malware.
  • Gift card, giveaway frauds and charity related scams are very common during the holiday season.
  • For more on this, please visit the Mid-day website.

National Crime Agency plans new system for reporting online child abuse

  • The National Crime Agency (NCA) has set out to develop a ‘DRB (designated reporting body) front door’ for reporting bodies over 2023.
  • This development is in response to the Online Safety Bill, which will require an update to current workstreams in the agency. The NCA does not believe their current systems will be suitable once the changes are implemented.
  • This project will be done working with a budget managed by the Home Office’s Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Abuse Unit.
  • For more on this story, please visit the UK Authority website.

Struggling families at risk from prepay meters

  • The Children’s Commissioner in Scotland has said that compulsory installations of pre-payment meters should be banned due to their effect on struggling families.
  • In a letter to Ofgem, the commissioner said pre-payment meters put needy families at severe risk of being disconnected.
  • Ofgem’s recent market compliance review has identified several weaknesses in energy providers’ practices, including failing to identify vulnerable customers before pre-payment meters are installed.
  • For more on this story, visit the Wales Online website.

Rise in children as young as 11 needing NHS mental health help

  • A breakdown of the data from NHS Digitalfor England  shows a 29% rise in 2021/22 in number of under-18s in contact with mental health, learning disability and autism services when compared with 2020/21.
  • According to the head of external affairs at YoungMinds, Olly Parker, “Thousands of young people are seeking mental health support but too many are being told to wait, struggling to cope and hitting crisis point before they get help”.
  • The overall total of people contacting mental health services has risen by almost a fifth in three years.
  • For more on this story, visit the Independent website.

Festive season is “incredibly difficult” for carers of people with eating disorders

  • The eating disorder charity, Beat has opened spaces for its ‘Coping with Celebrations’ training course, which helps carers, parents, families and partners guide their loved one towards recovery.
  • According to the charity, they ‘often hear from carers who find supporting a loved one overwhelming’ particularly difficult during the holiday season.
  • Carers range from children and young people, to those caring for parents of every age, partners and sometimes friends.
  • Beat revealed that the charity provided six times more support to people in Northern Ireland last festive season than the same time period before the pandemic.
  • For more on this story, please visit the Irish News website.