Shread your docs - Paper recycling bags are been rifled through at night

[Penguin68]

As James said, Thames Water may be checking for leaking pipes - at night is the best time as it is much less likely water would be being drawn off for consumption - so the sound of water flowing would mean a leak (or someone watering their lawn at night!)

They check for leaks in the pipes between the mains and the house - I had one a few years back and they repaired it for free, even though the leak was under my land.

[languagelounger]

Ta James/Penguin for that. I had now started to wonder why they were lifting drain covers in the middle of the night and as "looking for alligators" was the most sensible suggestion so far I am grateful for your explanation.

Perhaps if a couple of people emailed Thames Water to suggest that they add a paragraph somewhere in all the bumph they regularly send out to explain that they do this? I was quite glad that I'd already seen TW at work in another road at 1am so when I heard the sound of blokes directly outside my own window in the small hours a few days later I could happily go back to sleep instead of calling the police.

[Nero]

Lang - yup, it was precisely what you described that I saw. Glad to know it wasn't nefarious bin-rustlers.

[jollybaby]

Just a word of warning on the identity theft/fraud side of things - I received a very convincing letter in the post today supposedly from the inland revenue - it came in a prepaid envelope and looked very professional. It was only when I read that they were wanted to repay me some money that I became suspicious! I think they wanted me to ring up to confirm my bank details.

I've had seen these sort of scams via email before but never via the post. Be warned.

[SeanMacGabhann]

I'm not saying it isn't a scam jollybaby as I haven't seen the documents in question, but the Inland Revenue giving money back is not that unusual

[Sue]

But they normally just send a cheque, Sean ??

[Penguin68]

I have been re-paid by HMRC - they can do it by cheque or by direct debit - your choice: if you haven't made a choice, the letter could be about that.

Contact your tax office by phone if you are in doubt - they can tell you what the position is.

Mostly fake HMRC scamming is via the internet - a snail mail scam (with a real address to send information to, which could thus be checked) seems a novel one.

[DonGee]

Last night, well this morning at 2.30am I saw two guys in high viz jackets going into a garden on Friern road, they parked a rusty looking van on the corner of underhill (by the P13 bust stop), walked round the corner and entered a garden, I think they must have been disturbed because as quick as they entered the left, only this time walking quiet fast. They jumped back in the van and speed off down friern towards the peckham rye park, which I thought was odd as the road will only taken them back on themselves. I tried to get to the number plate but unfortunately wasn't able to.

if this isn't to do with ID theft, do you think they could be lifting bikes from gardens, due to the amount that has gone missing of late they could be loading them in a van.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Sue - that's true, good point

[jollybaby]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm not saying it isn't a scam jollybaby as I

> haven't seen the documents in question, but the

> Inland Revenue giving money back is not that

> unusual

No I think this one's a scam. They've addressed me slightly differently from any previous correspondence and on the back it gave some random bank details that they are supposed to be transferring the money to . presumably wanting me to correct them . ..I will of course double check and report it.

[jollybaby]

Well thanks penguin and Sean for encouraging me to pursue this. . . it wasn't a scam- I wish it was that would be more straight forward. Was a real letter from the inland revenue about a rebate and somehow someone has managed to submit a tax return on line using my unique tax reference. If I'd had ignored this I'd only have discovered this when I went to do mine later in the year. Great.

[ianr]

jollybaby, was it possibly an instance of this HMRC error? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10174577.stm