Source: Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) published on this website Friday 1 August 2025 by Jill Powell

Make sure your home doesn’t have an open door to abusers by following these simple steps to educate, inform and support your childline

Source: National Trading Standards UK published on this website Wednesday 30 July 2025 by Jill Powell

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and UK International Consumer Centre (UKICC) are warning consumers and businesses to stay vigilant of scams using our name and branding.

We have recently been alerted to a number of new scams involving fraudulent LinkedIn profiles, fraudulent emails and letters falsely claiming to represent CTSI or UKICC.

Some of these scams include:

• Emails being sent from kate.nikolova@eccentre.eu, falsely claiming to represent CTSI or UKICC
• A LinkedIn profile under the name of 'Karen Moss' claiming to be a Compliance Officer at CTSI is fake
• Letters and bogus text messages impersonating CTSI, with fraudsters copying the CTSI branding

How to spot a scam?

Common signs of a scam using CTSI's name include:

• Unexpected emails or messages claiming you are owed money
• Use of unofficial email addresses (such as hotmail, gmail or any other domains that do not look legitimate)
• Poor grammar, unusual formatting or suspicious links
• Claims of association with “CTSI”, “UKICC” or “ECC” or similar, especially if asking for action or payment

Remember:

• CTSI and UKICC never send unsolicited emails offering compensations, refunds or funds of any kind
• We will never ask you to provide personal information without legitimate reason

Protect yourself

Only trust communications from official CTSI channels. If in doubt, do not click or respond - contact us directly to verify.

Here's an Example of Scam Letter - further examples are available upon request, from the CTSI Press Office: pressoffice@tsi.org.uk (please use this email address to enquire about any other CTSI Policy-related matters).

Report to Action Fraud or in Scotland, contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or if in Northern Ireland, call Consumerline on 0300 123 6262. For consumer advice, please call the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133. 

Who are the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI)?

CTSI is a training and membership organisation that has represented the interests of the Trading Standards profession since 1881 nationally and internationally. We aim to raise the profile of the profession while working towards fairer, better informed and safer consumer and business communities. CTSI's members are engaged in delivering frontline trading standards services in local authorities and in businesses.

Who are the UK International Consumer Centre (UKICC)?

The UKICC provides free advice and assistance to UK residents who have problems with anything they have bought from companies based outside the UK. The UKICC works with partner organisations in various other countries, to ensure UK consumers are empowered with the knowledge they need in order to resolve problems with a company. In some instances, these partnerships enable the UKICC to make contact with the company on behalf of the consumer. This can be helpful whenever the parties have been unable to reach an amicable solution

Source: The Charity Commission published on this site Thursday 31 July 2025 by Jill Powell

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has criticised the Central Oxford Mosque Society and The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent, both of which failed to prevent their platforms being misused to communicate inappropriate material.  

It was found that there was misconduct and / or mismanagement committed in connection with the charities.  

Central Oxford Mosque Society 

The Commission opened a case into the charity after concerns were raised about posts on the charity’s social media platform in October and November 2023.  

The posts commented on the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East. One provided information on what to do if arrested at a protest and advertised the services of a specific private solicitor’s firm. Another featured a graphic cartoon which seemed to criticise media reporting of the conflict. A third post included another cartoon suggesting the media misrepresents the situation in Palestine. Both cartoons were shared by the charity just three days after the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The Commission considered that the sharing of these cartoons could create community tensions in the context of the conflict in the Middle East.  

The regulator engaged with the trustees, who were unable to explain how the posts furthered the charity’s purposes for the public benefit. It found that, at the time of publishing the posts, the charity had no social media policy in place and that only one trustee had access to the social media account. The trustees’ responses to the Commission also failed to acknowledge or recognise all of the concerns about the posts in question.  

The Commission concluded that the posts were outside the charity’s purposes, and that two were divisive and inflammatory.  

The Official Warning sets out actions the charity is to take to address the wrongdoing, including to create, implement and adhere to robust policies, including a social media policy, and to ensure all of the charity’s activities are in furtherance of its purposes.   

The regulator acknowledges that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity’s trustees have taken steps to address the concerns. 

The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent 

The Commission opened a case after concerns were raised in the media about speeches held at the charity’s premises. The sermons were promoted on the speaker’s social media channel.  

The Commission determined that of five speeches given at the charity’s premises in November and December 2023, four included inflammatory and divisive content, two contained content that could reasonably be interpreted as encouraging support of Hamas, a proscribed organisation, and one could be reasonably interpreted as discouraging worshippers from engaging with democratic processes.  

The Commission found that, at the time of the speeches, the charity did not have effective policies in place to manage risks related to speakers at the charity. In response to the regulator’s concerns, the charity’s trustees did not demonstrate that that they fully understood the risk of reputational harm being caused by the sermon and were unable to offer adequate assurance that they would take action to prevent a similar failure in the future.  

The Official Warning sets out steps the charity now needs to take to address the concerns.  

The Commission notes that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity has adopted a written policy on speakers.  

Charity Commission Assistant Director for Investigations and Compliance, Stephen Roake said

“We recognise that recent events in the Middle East are emotive and distressing. But it is precisely in times of conflict that charities are expected to bring people together, not to stoke further division.  

“Trustees of charities have a legal duty and responsibility to ensure everything their charity does is capable of furthering its purposes, and must also take steps to protect the charity’s assets, including its reputation.  

“Sadly, in the case of these two charities, the trustees failed to have appropriate processes in place, and allowed their charity’s names and reputations to be exposed to serious harm through inflammatory and divisive language, and in one case, seeming to associate the charity with a proscribed organisation.  

“We expect the trustees to continue to take swift action to address the respective concerns.”

During the last 18 months, the Commission has opened more than 300 regulatory cases involving charities supporting different sides of the Middle East conflict. It has issued formal statutory guidance to charities in around 100 of these cases, and has made more than 70 referrals to the police where it considers a criminal offence might have been committed. 

Source: Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published on this website Tuesday 29 July 2025

A celebrity osteopath who is thought to be one of London’s most prolific ever voyeurs was jailed for three years today, after he admitted taking intimate images and videos of thousands of women without their knowledge.

Torben Stig Hersborg, 64, of Tower Hamlets, London, took secret pictures and videos of approximately 2,000 women in his clinic, in public and private places and students living in university accommodations across London for more than a decade.

The scale of his offences – revealed for the first time in court yesterday by prosecutors – suggests he is one of the capital’s most prolific ever voyeurs.

Hersborg, a Danish national, boasts a string of high-profile celebrity clients including TV personalities and Olympians, and has been pictured with some of the nation’s most famous faces.

He was jailed for three years and five months after prosecutors built a strong case against him, even though victims couldn’t be identified, and as a result he pleaded guilty to eight serious charges at the earliest possible opportunity.

Alex Weichselbaum of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Hersborg operated in plain sight for too long and, having targeted thousands of women over 12 years, we believe the scale and significance of his offending makes him one of London’s most prolific voyeurs.

“His meticulously planned acts included setting up secret cameras in his clinic and covertly filming women - both in public and when they thought they were in the privacy of their own homes.

“Hersborg deliberately abused the trust of his unwitting patients by filming them in intimate positions and targeted strangers for his own sexual gratification.

“Women should be free to live their lives without unwanted intrusion – particularly from sexual offenders like Hersborg who deliberately chose to film or photograph them in their most private or intimate moments.”

A phone call to the police:

In December 2024, a member of the public contacted the police after they spotted a suspicious vehicle outside university accommodation in Islington, north London.

Hersborg was seen in the back seat of a dark Lexus wearing black gloves and sat on seats lined with black plastic bags. A search of the vehicle found a telescope in the footwell and a video camera with black tape around the lens, pointed at students living inside.

A hard drive, SD cards and recording device were all recovered and analysed after Hersborg was arrested and were found to contain thousands of files containing images and videos of victims.

It soon became clear that women were filmed without their knowledge in Hersborg’s private practice in Old Street, at beaches, on footpaths, waiting at bus stops or for the tube and when they were in their own homes.

Some pictures and videos showed victims undressing in their bedrooms and bathrooms. On two videos found on his SD cards, women were filmed having sexual intercourse without their knowledge.

Building an evidence-led case:

Despite not being able to identify any of the women who appear in the videos and photographs, nor obtain statements from them, prosecutors were determined to secure justice for every one of Hersborg’s victims.

By focusing on the digital material, which showed thousands of different women being filmed and photographed without their knowledge, the Crown Prosecution Service focused on an evidence-led approach which identified consistent patterns of offending.

They built a picture of Hersborg’s motive – which over a 12-year period consistently saw him use secret or concealed cameras to focus on intimate areas of the body or when women were in private situations in their home.

Working closely with officers from the Metropolitan Police, the prosecution team was able to bring an overwhelming volume of digital evidence to court at the first hearing in December 2024, which saw Hersborg plead guilty to multiple voyeurism charges.

After his devices were analysed by officers, Hersborg was later charged with five further counts of voyeurism and admitted all of these offences at a separate court hearing in January 2025.