Topics for this month:

Far Right logo stickers

We have been informed NW Regional Prevent Co-ordinator that Generation Identity and other right-wing groups have been placing stickers with their logos in around Liverpool city centre and at the Hugh Baird College campus in Bootle. If you see anything similar in the area, we have been asked to provide photographic evidence, plus details of the location and time and date. This information can be forwarded on to the JTM’s Safeguarding Team and we will ensure it is forwarded on to the relevant authorities.

Click here for the Far Right logo poster

Please look at the stickers on the attached document to familiarise yourself on what has been identified locally.

Teenage bank accounts being targeted for money laundering

Recently more and more safeguarding officials have spoken about how teenagers with bank accounts have been targeted by criminals to help them launder money. The money gathered by drug dealing and other crimes is given to a young person to put into their bank account and transfer it into another account, keeping a proportion themselves. These unwitting victims are known as a money mule.

Social media is used to recruit the youngsters with promises of ‘easy money’ working ‘from home’. The number of cases of 14 to 18-year-olds who have allowed their bank accounts to be used to divert funds has grown by 73% over the last two years to nearly 6,000 cases. Getting involving in this fraud can lead to a jail sentence of up to 14 years and lead to problems with banking in the future.

A website have been launched to raise awareness of this fraud by UK Finance, a partnership of banks and Cifas, a not-for-profit fraud prevention organisation.

Top Tips from Action Fraud
1. Keep control. Don’t give away any of your bank account details, unless you know and trust the person receiving them – and never let anyone else access your account. Alarmingly, nearly one in seven (14 per cent) over 18 – 25s have shared their PIN with someone else.
2. Money for nothing? Be cautious of unsolicited offers of easy money as this is a common tactic used by criminals to recruit money mules.
3. Tell someone you trust. Whether it’s a parent, teacher or friend, make sure you tell someone you trust about any concerns you might have.
4. Take time to think. Remember that letting someone else use your bank account is a potentially serious crime which could damage your financial future – is it worth it?
5. Too good to be true? Remember the simple rule of thumb about offers of easy money: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Explainer Video: https://moneymules.co.uk/what-is-a-money-mule.html

Don’t be Fooled website: https://moneymules.co.uk

FGM and Breast ironing
FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is a form of child abuse and violence against women and girls. FGM comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, for non-medical reasons. It has no health benefits and harms girls and women in many ways.

FGM prevalence in England and Wales:

  • In 2015, approximately 60,000 girls aged 0-14 were born to mothers who had undergone FGM.
  • Approximately 103,000 women aged 15-49 and approximately 24,000 women aged 50 and over who have migrated to England and Wales are living with the consequences of FGM.
  • It is illegal to carry out FGM in the UK and the Female Genital Mutilation Act was brought into force in 2003. The law in England and Wales was strengthened in 2015 to provide for new measures, including FGM protection orders and a mandatory reporting duty.

What is breast ironing?

Breast Ironing is practiced in some African countries, notably Cameroon. Girls aged between 9 and 15 have hot pestles, stones or other implements rubbed on their developing breast to stop them growing further. In the vast majority of cases breast ironing is carried out by mothers or grandmothers and the men in the family are unaware. Estimates range between 25% and 50% of girls in Cameroon are affected by breast ironing, affecting up to 3.8 million women across Africa.

Breast Ironing in the UK

Concerns have been raised that breast ironing is also to be found amongst African communities in the UK, with as many as a 1,000 girls at risk.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (2019) mentions breast ironing from page 83, as part of the section on so-called ‘Honour Based Violence’.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/835733/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2019.pdf

Please read the attached document that gives you more information on FGM and Breast ironing. Click here for more information

Big White Wall free online support forum and counselling service

Big white wall is an online mental health and wellbeing service that provides 24/7 online peer and professional support with trained counsellors. The service also provides a safe space online to get things off your chest, explore your feelings and learn how to improve and self-manage your mental health and wellbeing.

Big white wall is totally anonymous, so no one will know you have chosen to use it unless you tell them. More than three quarters of members feel better as a result of using the service. You can get support via the service at any time of the day or night, seven days a week, 365 days a year. To find out more please visit the link: https://www.bigwhitewall.com

BBC ‘own it’ app

The BBC have launched a new app for young people called OwnIt. The app monitors how young people interact with others online and uses artificial intelligence to evaluate the mood of the child so it can offer advice. For example if the child types ‘you’re really stupid’, the app will alert the sender and ask if they really want to send it. It does a lot more and definitely worth a look. For more information see here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49726844

‘What3Words’ app

What3Words is a relatively new free app available for smart phones that is being recognised by the emergency services as a fast and reliable way to accurately pinpoint the location of someone that may be requiring assistance. The developers behind the app have assigned each 3m square in the world, a unique 3 word address, that will never change. 3 word addresses are easy to say and share, and are as accurate as GPS coordinates. Whereas a postcode may cover 20 properties, a 3 word address will cover a specific 3 x 3 metre location.

For example field.meanwhile.cycles marks the precise location of the JTM office in Speke, whilst scrapping.parading.revamped gives a specific 3 metre squared location in the staff carpark.

One example of how the app is used is when individuals go to festivals and use the location on the app to remember the exact location where their tent is. We think the app is definitely something that should be shared to help learners keep themselves safe.

How do I use what3words in an emergency?

  1. Find the 3 word address for your current location on the free what3words app for iOS and Android. It works offline – ideal for areas with unreliable data connection.
  2. Share your 3 word address over the phone to the call handler.
  3. The emergency service can then coordinate a response directly to the exact location where help is needed.

More details can be found here about how the app can be used by emergency services to help pinpoint a precise location: https://youtu.be/s70FnHirF8k

As of 17/10/19, 73 emergency services have confirmed they are using and accepting 3 word addresses when assisting people in need of help.

Swiggle – child friendly search engine

For use at home and in school, Swiggle is a child-friendly search engine developed by South West Grid for Learning and built on the Google Safe Search technology. It is free, ad free, has a reporting page for children and adults, active blocking of inappropriate search strings and even a Swigglebot to give advice. For more information go to the link below and look at the menu (top right of page)
https://swiggle.org.uk/

Live Streaming – advice for parents/carers

The popularity of live streaming is ever increasing and while it can be fun, exciting and provide opportunities for children, there are also risks to be aware of, some of which are detailed below.

As streams are unmoderated, children and young people may access and view inappropriate content either accidentally or on purpose. Often children and young people are unsupervised when live streaming, such as alone in private spaces like their bedroom or bathroom: 96% of live streamed abuse investigated by the Internet Watch Foundation showed a child on their own, in a home environment.

There could be hundreds (potentially thousands) of people watching a live stream at any time, including people who are looking to offend against children and young people. Offenders can then move a child from a public live stream to a private one. The opportunities and risks can be read about in much greater detail here: https://tinyurl.com/y5rbmc2m

In an effort to get parents engaged in their child’s online activity, the CEOP Education organisation have produced a short guide to live streaming. The guide (https://tinyurl.com/y644rwk8) explains:

  • What live streaming is and why it’s so popular
  • What makes it risky for young people
  • How they can help their child stay safe while live streaming

Test your password!

‘How secure is my password’ is a website where you can check how quickly ‘hackers’ would take to guess your password. The top ten passwords people use are:

  • 123456
  • Password
  • 123456789
  • 12345678
  • 12345
  • 111111
  • 1234567
  • Sunshine
  • Qwerty
  • Iloveyou

(Source: Digital Trends https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/top-100-worst-passwords-2018/)

According to ‘How secure is my password’ all these passwords can be guessed ‘instantly’. One easy way to strengthen a password is to make it longer, and add at least one special character like ! or ?. Simply adding an ! to sunshine in the above list would now take 2 hours to crack, two exclamation marks would take 4 days. By adding the name of the site you’re on, you could strengthen your password so it would need 143 trillion years to crack.

For example:
sunshine – could be hacked instantly
sunshine! – would take 2 hours to hack
sunshine!! – would take 4 days to hack
sunshine!!sainsburys – would take 143 TRILLION YEARS to hack!!

You can test how secure your password is by visiting: https://howsecureismypassword.net/

Training and Resources

FGM:

Virtual College have a free online training course that focuses on recognising and preventing FGM for staff CPD: https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/free-courses/recognising-and-preventing-fgm


Silvercloud free online self-help modules

Silvercloud has a series of online self-help modules that you can complete for free. The programme of modules are based on cognitive behavioural therapy which provide various tools and techniques to help manage stress, anxiety and depression and bring balance into your life.  Once registered, you work through a series of topics chosen by your Therapist at your own pace, when it suits you. The Therapist will check in with you about once every two weeks to review your progress.

The course of modules feature videos, activities, quizzes, audio guides and your own online journal. The service is available for young people from 16 years old to adults. To find out more please visit the link: https://www.silvercloudhealth.com/uk

Domestic Abuse

The team recently attended training on Domestic Violence and the impact it has on children aged 11-18 years. The training was extremely informative and so we have put together a training sheet with information and tasks that you can use with your learners – please see attached document and do not hesitate to speak to one of the team if you require further information or guidance.

Click here for the training sheet