Bank fraud victims
Police are texting 70,000 people, warning them that they may have been victims of a banking scam in the UK's biggest anti-fraud operation. The Met have charged a Londoner with running an international service of fake phone calls to victims, who have lost thousands of pounds. Detectives only have victims' phone numbers and are asking people to act if they receive their messages. Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the proactive counter-fraud investigations involved ‘industrialised fraud’. There could be 200,000 UK victims of fraudsters pretending to be a bank and warning of suspicious activity on their accounts. A London address is the centre of fraud on a global scale. Police have the numbers of victims but not their names and addresses. Genuine messages from police were sent on 24 or 25 November, directing victims to register at the Police Action Fraud website. Texts on any other day should be regarded as fraudulent.
UK: femicide
A femicide census of men’s fatal violence against women during 2019 and 2020 found that, overall, men are killing one woman every three days in the UK. Between 8% and 12% of these killings were by strangers; all other femicide was by men who were current or former partners. These killings by a person known to the woman revealed appalling police failings. The organisation Counting Dead Women reported that the number of women killed by a male in 2021 is higher than the numbers in 2019 and 2020. They say this may increase when they receive responses to their FOI requests to the police. It remains unknown what is behind the increase, but the organisation will be paying close attention to intimate partner femicides and the role of separation. Despite acres of news coverage, politicians' statements, and tweaks to the laws, the femicide figures remain unchanged.
Bishop defends seal of the confessional - even for abuse
Bishop Paul Mason, the lead bishop for safeguarding in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has defended the seal of the confessional even when a priest may hear disclosures of abuse. He said this after the biannual plenary meeting of bishops where a report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommended that failure to report a disclosure of child sexual abuse should be a criminal offence, including disclosures made in the confessional. Bishop Mason said that it’s an extremely sensitive and difficult area, and IICSA noted that they didn’t come across priests who have described having had a paedophile in the Confessional. Bishop Paul said if we do have contact with these people, we have an opportunity to turn their lives around and report themselves to the authorities.
Salvation season
From Passion for the Nation: ‘“Lift up your eyes and look at the fields; they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35). We thank You, Father God, for every promise given to us for revival and awakening, and for those who have already come to know You. We thank You, Lord, for anointing us to preach good tidings to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and open the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61:1). We pray for a new season of evangelism, and for your people to see what You see. Raise up those who will speak to individuals and the crowds, and strategic evangelistic programmes. In this Christmas season, we pray God’s word will be spoken with boldness and clarity, sensitivity and wisdom, and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be heard. We speak the revelation of Jesus into the lives of individuals, families, communities and cultures.’
