Earlier this week a school teacher in Bradford, South Yorkshire, innocently thought nothing about giving his pupils a little chocolate sweet as a treat as they left the school. Unfortunately, one of the sweets contained a hazelnut which was choosen by a seven year old pupil with a nut allergy. The child, after consuming the sweet, then went into anaphylactic shock, his face went red and his mouth began to swell, and even although his parents knew what had happened and injected him with his life saving EpiPen he still suffered two cardiac arrests. The little boy is now out of danger but still in hospital.

Here at Crime Prevention Products we understand that accidents do happen, although no one wants it to happen to their child. Peanut allergy affects around 4% of school children with one in ten being serious if not diagnosed correctly and properly (source). Luckily for this child, his parents were on hand to diagnose the symptoms immediately and call the emergency services. However, what if help was not at hand, how would others know what to do when a child or adult took an anaphylactic shock from a food source.

Crime Prevention Products have the perfect solution – the Nut Allergy ID Tags, this life saving ID system will link the emergency services with your family just incase the unthinkable does happen.

Here at Crime Prevention Products we are always on the lookout for news stories that are of interest and this is one that came out a few days ago. It’s a fact of life that hardly anyone carries cash any more. We all have our ‘flexible friend’ to help us, and if we need money all we have to do is head to the nearest ATM. Many businesses, hotels restaurants and garages all take payment via Chip and Pin thus ensuring that we don’t have to carry much money around with us.

According to life assistance company, CCP, credit card fraud has now effected 13 million people in Britain, and, even though we saw a 3% reduction last year some people are still unaware that their credit/bank card has been cloned and used for purchasing goods. It is reported that some card owners (around 33%) don’t even know they have became a victim, while 34% only found out when their bank or credit company contacted them (source). In the report Brighton is named as the card fraud capital of the country followed by London and Manchester.

The report also reveals the methods that are used to obtain your details include:

• The magnetic stripe on the card being cloned at an ATM or via a Chip and PIN machine.
• Internet fraud, criminals using the internet to gain access to your card details.
• Letting their credit/bank cards out of their sight.
• People not shielding their fingers as they enter their PIN number.

It is estimated that credit card fraud costs our economy an estimated £440 million every year, so people have to stay vigilant while using their card. However, there are several actions that people can do to help protect their money including :

• Don’t use a card machine or ATM if you think it has been tampered with.
• Whilst using the ATM don’t let people look over your shoulder and cover your fingers as you enter your PIN number.
• Never enter your card details into a web site unless you are 100% happy with it.

These may seem like simple common sense instructions, however, there are some people that will be only too happy to take full advantage of that lack of concentration. Often costing you more than you think!