Speak up Sutton works with adults aged 18 and over that have learning disabilities and live, work or study in the London Borough of Sutton.

The aims of the group are:

• To give a voice to our members to speak up on various issues affecting people with learning disabilities
• Have regular meetings to discuss useful, practical and basic ideas that members can take back to the council to resolve
• Represent people with learning difficulties at various national meetings
• Organise and support the Sutton Partnership board to give a voice to a wider community of people in the borough with learning difficulties

At a recent group meeting, members discussed what motivates them as an adult with a learning disability and here are a few comments that were collected at a social meeting.
For more information, please look at this website link.

If you're considering donating to victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, keep in mind that scammers are always lurking to take advantage of such a crisis.

On social media, there are pages, posts and videos containing misleading or false information about the earthquake. This is in an attempt to get people to send funds, including Bitcoin and NFT donations.

Learn how to make a safe donation to the Turkey-Syria earthquake.

As part of our new report on the psychology of scams, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 victims of bank transfer scams. We wanted to learn about the common tools and tricks that led people to be scammed. One of our findings was that scams often occur when victims are emotionally vulnerable, stressed, tired or distracted, leaving them more susceptible to fraud. Further information can be found in the psychology of scams: how fraudsters trick their victims document.

With the cost of living crisis impacting people all over the UK, criminals are taking advantage of the financial hardship and government grants to scam people out of their money. For one in four (24%) of UK adults, losing just £100 would tip them into a serious financial crisis, unable to pay bills, buy food or other essentials. Friends Against Scams has provided advice on what to look out for.

Common HMRC scams to watch out for

The National Cyber Security Centre recently revealed that HMRC scams were the third most reported email impersonation scams. 

Some HMRC scams include emails telling you to update your details, or claiming your details have already been changed. We’ve also seen scammers impersonating HMRC caseworkers over the phone, luring victims into handing over personal information and bank details.

Here are some of the most common HMRC impersonation scams and how to report scam communications.