By Staff

July 23, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

Once again the Region of Halton tops the 2018 Crime Severity Index allowing it to once again maintain its position of having the lowest Crime Severity Index of all Canadian municipalities with a population of 100,000 or more for the 14th straight year, according to Statistics Canada’s annual report on crime in Canada.

According to Statistics Canada’s annual report on crime in Canada Halton Region has maintained its position of having:

The lowest Crime Severity Index (CSI) when compared to Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services;

The lowest Violent Crime Severity Index when compared to Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services;

The lowest Non-Violent Crime Severity Index when compared to Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services;

Maintained the lowest values for each of these three indices for 11 straight reporting years (2008 – 2018) when compared to Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services;

Had the lowest overall crime rate, violent crime rate, and property crime rate amongst Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ police services; and

Had the highest Weighted Clearance Rate* (55.6 per cent) of the same ‘Big 12’ and has maintained the lowest value for this index for five straight years (2014 – 2018).

Halton Regional Police Services Chief Tanner. .

Chief of Police Steven Tanner explains that the statistics are due to the work of our frontline officers and staff and to the support of the residents we serve. It is only because of our strong partnerships and relationships, coupled with our ongoing commitment to our Community Safety and Well-Being plan that we are confident we will be successful in keeping Halton at the forefront of policing and as a leader in public safety in the years that lay ahead. As an organization, we are committed to crime reduction and prevention and to investing in the appropriate resources and community supports to keep our region the very safest it can be.”

The Region spends heavily on public safety which keeps people safe and secure and positions the four municipalities: Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills as great places for corporations to set up shop and attract employees who place safety for their children first amongst their priorities.

“The one Crime Severity Index (CSI) result that I am extremely proud of, is the fact that since 2014 we have had the highest Clearance Rate based on the Crime Severity Index. Distilled down, this means that our officers (front line and investigators) are consistently solving serious crimes, and doing so at an increasing rate.

“One of the most effective methods of crime prevention is enforcement, and we will continue to put those responsible for our most serious crimes before our courts and into our corrections system. I want to take this opportunity to offer my most sincere thank you to our many front line and investigative members for their hard work, dedication and commitment that has once again ensured the residents of Halton continue to be as safe as they can be.” added Chief Tanner.

Police Services Board Chair, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton.

Halton Regional Police Services Board Chair Rob Burton said: “Once again these results show the value of our continued and enhanced commitment and investment in Community Safety and Well Being throughout the Region of Halton. Community engagement and support have continued to flourish throughout 2018 as our citizens and stakeholder groups worked in close partnership with our police service to best meet the needs of all.

“My congratulations to our team within the Halton Regional Police Service, and to all of our community partners and citizens on another very successful year.”

Each year, Statistics Canada reports on the number and type of criminal incidents coming to the attention of police. To facilitate comparisons among geographic areas as well as over time, police-reported crime has traditionally been expressed as a rate per 100,000 population. The traditional “crime rate” provides information on the number of police-reported incidents that have occurred for a given population, but does not provide information on the overall seriousness of crimes reported by police. For this reason, the Crime Severity Index (CSI) was developed.

The Crime Severity Index enables Canadians to track changes in the severity of police-reported crime from year to year. It does so by taking into account not only the change in volume of a particular crime, but also the relative seriousness of that crime in comparison to other crimes. The CSI helps answer such questions as: is the crime coming to the attention of police more or less serious than before; and, is police-reported crime in a given city or province more or less serious than in Canada overall?

The Weighted Clearance Rate is the proportion of reported crimes solved by police, factoring in the seriousness of individual offences. Weighted clearance rate is based on the same principles as the Police Reported Crime Severity Index (CSI), whereby more serious offences are assigned a higher ‘weight’ than less serious offences. For example, the clearing of homicides, robberies or break and enters would represent a greater contribution to the overall weighted clearance rate value than the clearing of minor theft, mischief or disturbing the peace.

By Staff

July 22, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

Originally published in Inc. magazine with some local content added.

Phishing scams are nothing new; most of us have heard about the “Nigerian prince” phishing emails that have been showing up in inboxes for years.

Unfortunately, phishing attacks continue to increase exponentially in volume, and are considered a serious threat to both companies and individual internet users since they can result in devastating financial losses. In addition, phishing emails can be much harder to recognize than many business owners think.

Cybercriminals have resorted to increasingly sophisticated phishing strategies as of late to get recipients to open, click, and share malicious code. And these tactics are paying off handsomely. Business email compromise (BEC) scams are more successful than ever, with losses reaching $2.7 billion in 2018.

Add to that the half a million that was scooped out of the city of Burlington coffers in 2019.

Here are some common phishing trends that business owners should know about and tips for educating employees about them:
What are phishing scams?

Phishing scams typically consist of emails that seem harmless but are actually intended to trick users into sharing sensitive information. This is often accomplished by encouraging the user to click on a malicious link or attachment. Phishing emails get their name because the hackers are “fishing” for your personal information.

Most phishing emails appear completely legitimate, often by imitating a company’s logo using high-quality graphics and including opt-out instructions. For this reason, it’s quite common for recipients to be fooled, and even large companies have fallen prey to these scams. SiteLock has published a round-up of some recent phishing examples to demonstrate the prevalence of these scams and how to protect against them.

Common Phishing Trends and Techniques

There are many different techniques hackers use to launch a phishing attack. A few of the most common ones are provided below:

Invoice phishing: Invoice phishing scams emails claim the recipient has an outstanding invoice from a well-known company, bank, or vendor. The email instructs the recipient to click on a link to pay their invoice. But when they click on the link and access the site, the hackers steal their personal information and gain access to their bank accounts.

The virus or compromised account: Viruses and compromised accounts cause users to receive an email from a third party company claiming one of their accounts has been compromised. The email instructs them to log in to reset their password or to download a form, fill in their personal information, and return it. However, a legitimate company would never request your personal information through email in this manner.

Payment and delivery scam: This tactic involves sending emails from what appears to be a legitimate vendor asking for a user’s credit card information. They typically claim that your payment information needs to be updated before they will deliver your order. Be very careful with these emails, especially if you haven’t purchased anything from the vendor.

Downloads: Download scams send an email instructing recipients to click on a link. These emails often contain hyperlinks that could download a malicious file onto the end user’s computer. Never click on an email link unless you are absolutely sure that the sender is who they claim to be.

Tips for Spotting Phishing Emails

Although phishing emails often mimic actual companies and vendors, there are ways to detect them. All small business owners and employees should be aware of the following red flags that indicate a possible phishing email:

The email contains links or URLs that direct you to the wrong website or try to get you to access a third-party site that is separate from the email sender.

Note the url that the email came from – it wasn’t the one the bank uses, Remember – look over email that is not familiar to you – carefully.

You receive an email from a company requesting sensitive information which can include your social security number, bank account information, or credit card numbers. Consider these emails suspect and never share your personal information without checking with the company first.

You find an unexpected email in your inbox from a person, vendor, or company that you rarely or never deal with. If this happens, the safest thing to do is delete the email without opening it, as there’s a good chance it’s a phishing email.

The email has obvious errors like typos, poor grammar, or incorrect information. A legitimate email from a company is very unlikely to have these kinds of errors.

The email address of the sender is incorrect, although it is close to the actual email address. This is another common sign of a phishing email.

Good hackers, and there are a lot of them out there – are combing through your data looking for ways to get into your computer,

Phishing scams remain a very common type of cybercrime, and can cause major financial losses to individual users and companies. And phishing emails are much more sophisticated these days, making them harder to detect. If you’re a business owner, it’s essential to be aware of common phishing techniques and red flags and to educate your employees on them.

Related news story:

How much damage cam identity theft do to you?  Read how one young GTA resident had to deal with it.

By Staff

July 16, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

This scam is good – they’ve done a good job of looking legit – they aren’t.

It is scams like this that caught a Burlington city staffer off guard – it happens.

Dear Client,
Please press the ‘Review Document’ button to review your Service Agreement and complete the e-signature process.

Upon completion you will automatically receive an email with an attached signed copy of this Service Agreement.

Regards
Simmons Canada Inc

Do Not Share This Email
This email contains a secure link to DocuSign. Please do not share this email, link, or access code with others.
About DocuSign

Sign documents electronically in just minutes. It’s safe, secure, and legally binding. Whether you’re in an office, at home, on-the-go — or even across the globe — DocuSign provides a professional trusted solution for Digital Transaction Management™.

This message was sent to you by Simmons Canada Inc who is using the DocuSign Electronic Signature Service. If you would rather not receive email from this sender you may contact the sender with your request.

This email was sent by: Simmons (Mouldings) Ltd
661 University Ave, Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7 Canada

By Staff

June 19th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

The Regional police have made an arrest of a robbery suspect who was riding a BMX-style bike and flashed a switchblade-style knife during two incidents.

Back in May police responded to a report of a break and enter in the area of Shoreacres Road and Spruce Avenue in Burlington. The involved individual was located in close proximity and taken into custody. During the subsequent investigation that same individual was linked to two recent knife point robberies.

Michael Main (27) of Burlington was charged with the below offences and held for a bail hearing:

-Trespass at night
-Assault with a weapon
-Robbery (2 counts)
-Fail to Comply Probation (3 counts)

The robberies occurred on May 19, 2019 at approximately 10:00 pm and on May 20, 2019 at approximately 1:30 am in the Appleby Line and New Street area.

Anyone who may have any additional information pertaining to this investigation is asked to contact Detective Steve Siomra at 905-825-4747 Ext: 2343.
Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See Something? Hear Something? Know Something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

Persons charged with a criminal offence are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

By Staff

June 16th, 2O19

BURLINGTON, ON

Late late Friday evening – the 14th the Regional Police responded to a collision on Derry Road, west of Guelph Line.

A westbound sport utility vehicle, driven by a 72 year old Burlington resident, turned left across the path of an eastbound motorcycle, driven by a 54 year old Hamilton resident.

The motorcycle rider was thrown from his motorcycle to the roadway and suffered fatal injuries. He was pronounced deceased on scene. The female driver of the sport utility was uninjured.

The Collision Reconstruction Unit attended the scene and assumed responsibility for the investigation.

Any witnesses who haven’t spoken to police are urged to call (905) 825-4747 extension 5065.

A traffic fatality took place in Burlington on Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Guelph Line and Mount Forest.

By Staff

June 14th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

It took more than a month to tell the story but at least they went public with a computer scam that cost the city more than half a million dollars.

The city got stung by a scam that fooled a staff member into transferring funds to the account of a company they had done business with in the past.

The scam was based on an email asking to have banking information changed.

With that information the thief was inside the city system.

It took a week for the loss to become evident – bank was called, police notified but the money is gone and once it is out the door there is no getting it back.

Was it sloppy on the part of the staff member? A little perhaps – but it is very very difficult to stay on top of the attempts to get at your money.

The Gazette was hacked earlier this week. In our case someone got at us by getting inside the server that our site runs from.

Our readers are still not able to comment on news stories.

We live in a different world and have to learn think differently.

The senior people at city hall in the Finance and IT departments will be devastated – some lessons will be learned and procedures will be tightened.

By Staff

June 5th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

Police are seeking public assistance to identify the persons responsible for displaying hate-motivated messages at six locations in the City of Burlington since May 21, 2019.

The first known incident occurred on May 21, 2019 near Dundas Street and Guelph Line, and involved a note being left on a private vehicle that included a hate-motivated racist message.

The second incident occurred on May 23, 2019 and involved an Anti-Semitic poster that was placed on a traffic post.
The next incident occurred on May 26, 2019 when hate propaganda was placed on a number of vehicles in the parking lot of a church near Mainway and Walkers Line.

Suspects approach the doors of Burlington’s city hall.

On May 30, 2019, a complainant reported to police that an Anti-Semitic message was written on their vehicle in marker.

Some time between June 1 and June 2, 2019, Anti-Semitic imagery was found posted on the front doors of the Burlington Art Gallery.
In the most recent known incident, Anti-Semitic imagery was found posted on the front doors of Burlington City Hall on the morning of June 2, 2019.

The Halton Regional Police Service condemns any/all such incidents that impact or erode the community’s sense of safety and well-being.

“Hate crime has no place in any community, and I am confident that the persons responsible behind these ignorant, cowardly and hateful acts will be quickly identified with the public’s assistance.

“No one has the right to make another person feel fearful because of the colour of their skin, race, religion, ethnic origin or any other factor. The Halton Regional Police Service is committed to fully investigating these crimes and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice,” said Deputy Chief Nishan Duraiappah.

The HRPS is investigating these offences as hate crimes that willfully promote hatred. We are appealing to the public to come forward with any information that would assist us in determining the persons responsible. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at 905-825-4777 ext. 2315 or ext. 2316 or the on-duty 3 District Staff Sergeant at 905-825-4777 ext. 2310.

Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See Something? Hear Something? Know Something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

Mayor Meed Ward issued a Statement earlier today saying: “On behalf of the City of Burlington and Burlington City Council, I join Halton Police in condemning all incidents where this type of despicable behavior takes place. Hate absolutely has no place anywhere in our city. Burlington is a place that embraces and celebrates diversity, acceptance and respect.”

The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister for Democratic Institutions and Member of Parlimenrt for Burlington said:  “These crimes displayed hate-motivated and anti-Semitic messages around the City, including at City Hall.

“These types of acts are unacceptable and there is no place for hatred or violence in our community. No one in our community should feel discriminated against because of their faith. Burlington is a place that celebrates our diversity. We are a tolerant and accepting city where everyone should feel welcome.

“In a world where hate and racism continues to rise, we must respect each other, and embrace each other’s differences. Our diversity is our strength. We must continue to fight against discrimination of all kinds and we must stand up against hatred in all of its forms.”

By Staff

May 31st, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

This kind of scam is used again and again – because it works for the thieves.

A quick look at the address it came from tells you it wasn’t a bank.

And banks don’t just throw money around like this. If the bank wants to talk to you about money – they will be in touch with you directly.

Some however will get taken in.

Cardinal rules: If it looks too good to be true – that’s because it isn’t true – and if in doubt – don’t.