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Woman issues warning about text scam that stole ‘every penny’ she had

Make sure you don’t fall for this

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@EmmelineHartley / Twitter

After a young woman was conned by a text scam that saw her lose ‘every penny’ she had, she took to social media to warn others.

Student and actor Emmeline Hartley went viral after sharing her experience, with others saying something similar had happened to them.

Emmeline received a text from some scammers pretending to be Royal Mail, which kicked off a chain of events that led the con artist’s to call her and pretend to be from Barclays, her bank.

She took to Twitter to warn others: “I mentioned yesterday that I’d been scammed out of every penny I had. Thought I’d post what happened in case it helps anyone avoid being in the same position.

“Please save the lectures, I don’t think it’s possible for me to feel any stupider”.

It all began when she received a text claiming to be Royal Mail saying they needed an additional £2.99 payment in order for her parcel to be delivered, and as her birthday was coming up she believed it was genuine.

To be sure it was legitimate, she even checked Royal Mail’s website, and decided it was safe to enter her bank details.

This is when things took a turn, and someone claiming to be from her back, Barclays, contacted Emmeline to say somebody had tried to set up direct debits from her account at Vodafone and Currys/PC World, as well as an attempt to spend £300 at Argos.

Emmeline added: “The next bit is going to sound stupid, but I was so embarrassed by my stupidity of falling for the Royal Mail scam, shocked and scared that somebody had been trying to use my card.”

She went on to explain that, because the man on the phone knew so many details about her, she believed it was actually her bank, and transferred all the money she had into a new ‘safe account’.

The scammer told Emmeline that because she’d used her bank details in the Royal Mail scam that her account was compromised, and that she needed to transfer her money out to protect it, while she waited for a new card.

To highlight how sophisticated the scam actually is, Emmeline checked the number she was being called from and it showed up as the same number as the Barclays fraud team.

It was only after the scammers told her to clear her overdraft that she began to realise something was off, as she didn’t actually have one on her account.

She said: “Despite knowing deep down that something wasn’t right, I tried to transfer the sum of money he told me to transfer. It didn’t work, confirming what I guess I already knew. I broke down in tears and he hung up.”

Cristiano Betta / Flickr

After calling the real Barclays, they explained that the scam she’d been tricked by is quite common at the moment.

She added: “After several hours [on the phone to my actual bank], they’d cancelled my cards, issued new ones and launched an investigation into my fraud claim. They said that this a very common scam known as the ‘safe account scam’.”

A spokesperson for Barclays told Cosmopolitan UK: “Following an investigation of this case, it is evident that our customer has been the unfortunate victim of a very sophisticated scam. We have provided the customer with a full refund of the amount that was lost.

“Fraudsters try to appear as legitimate as possible, so it’s important to be vigilant and stay alert to anything suspicious.

“No genuine bank would message you to transfer money to a ‘safe account’ – we advise any customers to ignore anyone who asks to do this, whether it’s by phone, email or any other method.”

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Heroic school boy clears 18 tonnes of rubbish which had been fly-tipped along country road

Daniel Lewis is on a mission to clean up his home town

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@Daniel Sam Volunteer / Facebook

A school boy has set the example of all examples after he got to work single-handedly shifting eighteen tonnes of rubbish that had been fly-tipped along a country road.

Sixteen-year-old Daniel Lewis has earned the nickname ‘SuperDan’ by locals after he set out on a mission to clean up the streets around Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.

As a part of his selfless commitment, Daniel has organised litter picks and a community skip scheme to provide free skips to villages around his home town.

@Daniel Sam Volunteer / Facebook

And, in the last year alone, Daniel has removed over eighteen tonnes of rubbish and litter, most of which had been fly tipped onto country roads. The waste included old furniture, children’s toys and clothes and 130 used tyres.

And, upon hearing of Daniel’s mission, local businesses such as the Bryn Group of Gelligaer, started donating their services to help him dispose of the rubbish for free.

Writing on Facebook, Bryn Group said: “We were only too happy to be able to help Daniel with his quest. 18 tonnes of fly tipped waste is hard to comprehend and yet it was up there. Thanks to him it’s no longer blighting our landscape.”

@Daniel Sam Volunteer / Facebook

And Daniel, who is also an avid nature and wildlife photographer, uses his social media accounts to post reminders about the importance of preserving natural land.

He wrote: “Remember, it is not someone else’s duty to pay to dispose of your waste that you are responsible for.

“Out of respect to Volunteers like myself, companies who have provided the skips and services like Step Up Skip Hire and the beautiful countryside and farmers land, please think twice about fly-tipping and morally remember- YOU purchased the items to begin with, therefore it is YOUR responsibility to dispose of the waste correctly.”

We all need to be a bit more Daniel.

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Kind-hearted Mancunians thanked after charity receives huge donations for Afghan refugees

£40,000 has also been raised for those fleeing Afghanistan

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Helen Banks / Twitter

The kind-hearted people of Manchester have been thanked after a local refugee charity received a wave of donations for those fleeing Afghanistan.

Following the Taliban’s take over of the country earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that over 20,000 Afghans will be eligible to be resettled in Britain, with women and girls given priority status.

The first evacuation flight from the war-torn country arrived in the UK on Sunday, with the second touching down late on Tuesday night, and another landing early on Wednesday morning.

In response to the news that a number of refugees will be housed in hotels near Manchester Airport before being placed in more permanent accommodation, local charities have been appealing for donations from the public.

And, when the charity Care 4 Calais issued an urgent appeal for donations of men’s clothes and other items such as shoes, basic toiletries, stationery, and phone chargers, the people of Manchester responded remarkably.

The charity has since received dozens and dozens of bags and boxes of donations, which were delivered throughout the day from people across the city at one of their numerous drop-off points, one of which is at Beetham Tower down Deansgate.

A huge sum of money has also been donated, with the charity surpassing their initial £30,000 target for the ‘Afghan Welcome Packs’ with £40,000 in donations.

https://www.facebook.com/care4calais/posts/4626264227406498

Founder Clare Moseley, who set up the charity in 2015, said on the efforts: “It’s just been fantastic.

“I’m a Northerner myself and we’re really proud of Manchester for responding in this way. We’ve had numerous locations accepting donations for us and I believe they are pretty full. We have had people bringing car loads and van loads of stuff.”

Clare added: “I think the North is always welcoming and it’s just fantastic to see communities coming together like this.”

For more information on how you can help the refugees fleeing Afghanistan, visit the following links:

British Red Cross
UNICEF
AllWeCan.org
United Nation Refugee Agency 
Refugee Council

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Americans are baffled at how far people actually walk in the UK

Another day, another American perplexed by British culture…

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Here in the UK we love a good jaunt, whether it be in the countryside, around our local park, or on our way to work.

However, it turns out that our love for walking isn’t a global thing because, according to one American this week, our passion for getting out and about on foot is completely bewildering to those on the other side of the pond.

Taking to Reddit, the American user expressed their disbelief after finding out that a ‘thirty minute walk’ is considered a ‘short walk home.’

Brett Jordan / Unsplash

They wrote: “I was listening to an ITV true crime podcast yesterday, and the person said ‘it was a short walk home, about thirty minutes.’ Is that really considered to be a short walk home?

“I can’t fathom walking that far in the US and considering it anything I’d do just to get home. Do people walk that much in the UK?”

They clarified in the comments that they were being serious, explaining that ‘most of the US just isn’t set up for walking.’

“No sidewalks, crazy drivers, plus just distance. Americans don’t walk. Also, where I am in Indiana, there is no mass transit. Indianapolis has it, but it’s scarce and quite unreliable. We drive everywhere. As in, everywhere.”

@areksan / Unsplash

Of course, the post was quickly inundated by amused British users who all couldn’t quite wrap their heads around a world of no regular walking.

One person wrote: “Thirty minutes is only a mile and a half, you’re joking aren’t you? I take my dog longer walks.”

Another noted: “I can’t speak for all people, but I would hate to meet the person to whom a 30-min walk is considered some sort of unusually length trek of incredible proportions. For any normal healthy person it’s about 1.5miles.”

The NHS website states that a brisk ten minute daily walk carries an array of health benefits and counts towards your recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise.

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