Posts Tagged ‘crime’

Leave those kids alone. The horrifying statistics on child rape.

Posted: July 7, 2014 in Political musings, Popular Culture et al, Religion
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For reasons which need not concern us here, we were this morning browsing the Victorian Police crime statistics for the last year on offer, 2012-13.

We came across this staggeringly depressing statistic:

Incidence of rape against minors

This year 542 +0.71%

Last year 538

Incidence of rape against adults

This year 1,106 +1.5

Last year 1,090

child abuseYou might imagine, Dear Reader, that we are about to fulminate against the growth in the incidence of rape in both cases, in a sort of Colonel Mustard-like “Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells” manner.

But although we deplore the fact that the figures are rising rather than falling, we suspect the slight rise recorded is due to natural population growth.

 

Yes, we would have hoped that we would be seeing a steady decline in these stats, given that we are all supposed to be becoming more “aware” of the disgusting nature of sexual violence. But it appears it is a very slow process.

Something for those with the purse strings of Government advertising budgets to consider, perhaps.

We should see all domestic violence and rape and sexual assault as part of the same patriarchal continuum, and until men take it seriously, it will continue.

But what really horrifies is the raw number of more than 500 rapes against children in a year. Coming up for one-third of all rapes.

500? Five HUNDRED?

How many of these are against sexually active teenagers isn’t the point.

Rape is rape, it is never justified, and no excuses or attempted slut-shaming of the victims is ever acceptable. And although they were all against people who are legally children, ie under 18, and so there will be some mid-teens in there, it’s a pound to a penny that many of these crimes were against what you and I would recognise as children. Kids. Little tackers.

And this is the REPORTED cases. Ye Gods, the mind boggles. Unreported cases would run into the thousands.

Given the high profile given to many of these types of cases in the UK in particular, and in the various enquiries into child abuse in Australia, especially involving religious and community organisations, not to mention the recent brouhaha in the UK press about whether or not there was a high-level pedophile ring operating at the top of British Government (involving, allegedly, those close to at least two Prime Ministers, and perhaps even one (now deceased) Prime Minister), we simply suck in our breath in disgust and horror that this most avoidable and heinous of crimes, which leaves lives shattered sometimes beyond repair, is so persistent and pernicious despite the obvious fact that for the offenders the advice is utterly simple and unavoidable: don’t.

Just don’t. Do something else for your kicks, don’t do that. They are KIDS, for fuck’s sake.

To steal the innocence from a child, to betray their trust, to warp and bend that child’s value system until it is unrecognisable, to sometimes terrify the child into silence: these are crimes which demand the most urgent enquiry and vigilance, and an unrelenting determination to root out the offenders. Not one adult offender in this area can possibly imagine, for one moment, that their activities are anything more nor less than utterly destructive and illegal.

We must be unyielding in our attempts to cure this plague. Period. Full stop. That’s it. End of.

(Post scriptum: this article obviously talks about Victoria, Australia. I would be very happy to publish statistics from elsewhere if you can look them up. I urge you to find out how prevalent this crime is in YOUR community. And if you know of a community where it is LESS prevalent, perhaps we can all learn why.)

Scams cost Australians $89 million in 2013, says Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. And the most recent scam exposed.

Posted: June 16, 2014 in Business Management, Popular Culture et al
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Beware scams say ASIC

Beware scams say ASIC

 Tens of thousands of Australians are being scammed each year, with dating and romance scams topping the list of financial losses for 2013, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).The latest figures from the consumer watchdog show a 10 per cent spike in scam reports last year, as well as an alarming trend in phishing and identity theft.

The ACCC’s Targeting Scams Report says Australians lost $25 million to dating and romance scams.

But out of a total of 92,000 complaints received – amounting to losses of $89 million – just 2,777 related to dating and romance scams. The most complained about scam was advance fee-upfront payment scams, where consumers are typically asked to make a payment with their credit card to access a bogus refund, prize or other kind of reward.

ACCC deputy chairwoman Delia Rickard says the figures are only a small snapshot of how much money people are losing to scams.

“We talk to other agencies, and work is being done so there will be a central repository of all reported scams in Australia but that’s not in place just yet,” she told the ABC.

“So we know it’s significantly more than the $89 million that was reported to us.”

She says dating and romance scams are very concerning.

“I think scammers are learning that by forming a personal relationship and really putting effort into knowing their victim and forming those trusting bonds, that this is the market for them,” she said.”This is where they can get the biggest pay off. The majority we’re aware of are under fake profiles in online dating sites. We’ve done work with the dating and romance sites in terms of best practice guidelines on how they can kick the scammers off.

“Some sites seem to be better than others and we’re about to review all of this work and do another round of work with those sites so that they’re better at identifying scammers, keeping them away from the sites and also giving warnings to their members.”

More than 10 per cent of scam victims reported losing more than $10,000.

As people age they appear more likely to be victims. Scams were most commonly reported by people in the 45-to-54 age category, and the number of people aged 65 years and over who reported being scammed nearly doubled to 18 per cent.

Watch that phone

In line with a shift in recent years, 52 per cent of scams were delivered via phone and text message, with combined total financial losses of $29 million.

Ms Rickard says she is very concerned about the “huge increase” in phishing and personal identity theft.

“These can take all sorts of forms but usually it might be ‘fill in this survey and you could win a $50 voucher’ and you go to fill in the form and it will ask you for a range of private things with your name, age, address,” she said.

“It might ask for your credit card details so they can deposit winnings into it, Medicare numbers, passport numbers.

“What scammers do is they then use this information to impersonate you to open all sorts of accounts, run up debts in your name, drain your bank account.

“So people really need to learn the importance of that personal information and not give it out unless they’re absolutely clear about who they’re dealing with and it’s clear why that person will need that information.”

In 2012, the ACCC received about 84,000 complaints with total losses to consumers of of $93 million.

The report also found that scammers continued to favour sending ‘high-volume scams’, which involve targeting a large number of victims with requests for small amounts of money.

scam alertVery helpful website
The latest information about scams and tips for consumers can be found at http://www.scamwatch.gov.au The most recent warning is very helpful.SCAMwatch is currently warning consumers to be on the lookout for energy billing scams currently doing the rounds.

A new “phishing” email pretending to be from reputable energy companies is currently circulating, which claims you owe money for an outstanding gas or electricity bill.
The email will ask you to click on a link to view or update your account and arrange payment via money transfer. If you click on the link, you risk infecting your computer with malware and having your personal information stolen. If you pay this ‘bill’ via money transfer, you will never see your money again.
Don’t let scammers raise the temperature of your heating bill in the lead-up to winter – if you receive an email out of the blue from someone claiming that you owe their company money for an outstanding energy bill, press delete.

How the scam works

  • You receive an email out of the blue from someone claiming to be from a reputable energy company, informing you that you owe money for 2013 energy usage.
  • The email may appear to come from an official part of the energy company such as the ‘Accounts Payable’, ‘Receivable Department’ or the ‘Accounts Receivable Team’. The email may even have all the trademarks of a bill – it may state that it is a gas or electricity bill, and include a fake account number, account summary, billing period details and due date for payment. However, on closer inspection, the email may contain spelling and grammatical errors – a tell-tale sign that something is amiss.
  • The email may claim that the reason for the outstanding amount is that you have exceeded your energy consumption limit. It may even claim that you are eligible to use a discounted energy tariff to pay the bill if you click on the link.
  • The email directs you to click on an embedded link, attachment or zip file to access your account and view your statement, and then direct you to a money transfer service with instructions on how to pay the bill.
  • If you click the link or attachment, your computer may be infected with malicious software and your identity compromised. If you transfer money, you’ll never see it again.

Note: you don’t have to be a customer of the energy company claiming that you owe them money to receive this email.

Protect yourself

  • If you receive an email out of the blue from someone claiming that you owe money for outstanding energy usage – just press ‘delete’.
  • If you’re not sure whether an email is a scam, verify who they are by using their official contact details to call them directly. Never use contact details provided by the sender – find them through an independent source such as a phone book or online search.
  • Watch out for tell-tale signs – whilst the sender may claim to be from an official source, their email may contain spelling mistakes or use poor grammar.
  • Never click on links or open attachments in an email from an unverified sender – they may contain a malicious virus.
  • Keep your computer secure – always update your firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and only buy from a verified source. If you think your computer’s security has been compromised, use your security software to run a virus check. If you still have doubts, contact your anti-virus software provider or a computer specialist.
  • Never send money to someone you don’t know and trust – it’s rare to recover money from a scammer. If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

Do you know more?

Sources: ABC, Scamwatch

Another day in Pakistan, another dishonourable “honour” killing. Pregnant woman stoned to death with bricks outside courthouse for marrying the man she loved.

Posted: May 28, 2014 in Political musings, Popular Culture et al
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(From the Arab Times, re reported elsewhere)

Killed For Marrying The Man She Loved

 LAHORE, Pakistan, May 27, : In another disgusting example of cruelty and misogyny, a perfectly innocent 25- year-old woman was stoned to death with bricks by her family outside one of Pakistan’s top courts on Tuesday in a so-called “honour” killing for marrying the man she loved, police said. She was three months pregnant.

Farzana Iqbal was waiting for the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore to open when a group of around dozen men began attacking her with bricks, said Umer Cheema, a senior police officer.

Farzana Parveen was was stoned to death by her family outside a court in Pakistan. (Mohammad Tahir/Reuters)

Farzana Parveen was was stoned to death by her family outside a court in Pakistan. (Mohammad Tahir/Reuters)

Her father, two brothers and former fiance were among the attackers, he said. Iqbal suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital, police said. All the suspects except her father escaped. He admitted killing his daughter, Cheema said, and explained it was a matter of honour.

Many Pakistani families think a woman marrying her own choice of man brings dishonour on the family. Iqbal had been engaged to her cousin but married another man, Cheema said. Her family registered a kidnapping case against him but Iqbal had come to court to argue that she had married of her own free will, he said.

Around 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year by their families in honour killings, according to Pakistani rights group the Aurat Foundation.

The true figure is probably many times higher since the Aurat Foundation only compiles figures from newspaper reports. The government does not compile national statistics. Campaigners say few cases come to court, and those that do can take years to be heard. No one tracks how many cases are successfully prosecuted.

Female members of the victim's family wail in inconsolable grief at her murder.

Female members of the victim’s family wail in inconsolable grief at her brutal murder.

Even those that do result in a conviction may end with the killers walking free. Pakistani law allows a victim’s family to forgive their killer. But in honour killings, most of the time the women’s killers are her family, said Wasim Wagha of the Aurat Foundation. The law allows them to nominate someone to do the murder, then forgive him.

“This is a huge flaw in the law,” he said. “We are really struggling on this issue.”

The BBC reports that although the Pakistani government itself does not collect any data — and it is technically illegal to carry out such killings — several hundred women are said to be killed in honour killings every year in Pakistan. In the latest annual report released (PDF) by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 869 women were killed in the name of honor in 2013.

Earlier this year, the BBC traveled to a village in northwestern Pakistan to tell the story of a young woman who survived an honor killing and has been publicly speaking about it since. As the story notes, such killings are difficult to prove or to prosecute because of two reasons: first, the lack of witnesses to the crime, and second, lack of motivation for the police to pursue the suspects, regardless of the evidence.

But what happened in Lahore on Tuesday seems different. It wasn’t in a remote village in Pakistan, neither was it in the middle of the night. Parveen was killed in broad daylight, in the presence of several bystanders, in front of the top court in the second largest city in Pakistan.

Wellthisiswhatithink calls on the Governments of the world to not only outlaw this barbaric behaviour, but to take effective action to prevent it and other violence perpetrated against women. And we demand that the men in these cultures (because with some exceptions it is always men who take the lead) take a long hard unblinking look at themselves.

Let us be clear on a few things: this is not a uniquely Islamic problem. Other cultures in Africa, the Middle East and Asia experience this insane perversion of family behaviour too and it is not primarily related to religion. It is a cultural issue. Let us also be clear that uncountable millions of Muslims would find this incident as horrifying as those from different religions.

Second, there is no honour here. The men concerned are cowards, and cold-blooded murderers, and they should be locked up for life. End of discussion.

This was your CHILD! Your SISTER! A free individual. Not an animal. Not your possession. You should have done everything in your power to protect her, not harm her.

May you rot in the lowest depths of hell, as you surely will.

14 year old carries a knife, a woman dies, her life gone, his life ruined.

Posted: August 2, 2012 in Political musings, Popular Culture et al
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weapons

This is a deadly weapon ……….. and so is this …………… and so is this.

There is a lot of discussion in the world currently about guns. The recent events in Colorado make that inevitable. And the arguments on both sides in favour of the Second Ammendment to the Constitution in America, and in every other country in the world, will rage on. We do ourselves a dis-service if we do not concede that there is sincerity on both sides, although not in the case of everyone doing to the arguing.

Try to pick this issue apart, I have always said that in my opinion it is the attitude – the desire to carry a weapon, and the acceptability of that – that determines the likely outcome, and the question of an innate a preparedness to engage in violence. Even if that preparedness is momentary, fleeting, instinctive. The effects can last forever.

There is little doubt in my mind that some countries are inherently more violent than others, with less concern about the potential for human injury or death. I have opined many times that the real problem with guns in America, for example, is their casual acceptance of violence – not to mention poverty, disconnectedness, crime and lack of social justice – that leads that nevertheless great country to suffer even more gun violence than even its vast number of weapons in circulation would assumptively lead to.

It’s not just the number of guns in America that matters. It is people’s preparedness to use them.

But guns are only part of the story. We have seen recent high-profile cases in Victoria and New South Wales – but they occur regularly – where a single punch has killed a young man.

I have thrown punches in my life. The thought now horrifies me. A single punch can kill. When will we learn?

So it is surely the duty of all parents, all teachers, and all law enforcement officers, all social workers, all churchmen, all imams, all politicians, to promote one simple fact.

Violence – other than, PERHAPS – in self-defence (a matter for another article) – is unacceptable, under any circumstances, because violence, even minimal violence, even violence without serious intent, can maim or kill.

Another tragic case today

Today, the Victorian Supreme Court has heard the story of a 15-year-old boy, who fatally stabbed a mother of three after “egging” her home, and that he would be considered just “a naughty little boy” had he not been carrying a knife.

However, he was. And the teenager has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, after he killed a 43-year-old woman with a single stab wound to the chest. She died of severe blood loss.

Prosecutor Mark Rochford told the court the teenager targeted the house with his friends, after he told them the woman’s son was bullying him after school.

The court heard that the woman, her husband and 11-year-old daughter gave chase after eggs were thrown at the roof of their house, carport and cars in July last year.

The boy, who was 14 at the time, ran away and was hiding in a nearby driveway when the woman confronted him.

He was armed with a knife that he had been given by his friend. It was described as being “no bigger than a pen.”

Mr Rochford said the woman said “we’ve got you” before running at the boy, who then stabbed her.

The teenager asked his brother to get rid of the knife. It was found by police divers in a lake.

Friends gave him up

The prosecution said the boy shaved his head to try and avoid detection, but he was arrested at his home after his friends went to police.

The boy’s lawyer said causing the death of a person was hard for a 14-year-old to digest and his client was deeply remorseful.

“He is not a child who was off the rails at the time,” he said. “He is no rat-bag.”

Indeed, the court heard he is a very timid, quiet and withdrawn boy with no history of violence. The defence submitted the boy should be sentenced to three years in youth detention.

Justice Paul Coghlan questioned whether it was enough, given that he was armed with a knife. “Apart from the knife, they were just naughty little boys,” the judge said. However, he said, the boy had chosen to take a knife to what was a childish prank. The boy will be assessed by youth justice and will be sentenced at a later date.

“Why would anyone think it necessary to have a knife?” the judge asked.

Why, indeed?

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