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Many preppers and survivalists focus on getting ready for different disaster scenarios. While there’s nothing wrong with that, as a prepper you should alsoplan for small-scale disasters.

Theseinclude financial disasters, which can be difficult if you don’t have money saved for emergencies.(h/t to Survivopedia.com)

ManyAmericans deal with financial difficulty, with some living from payday to payday and without emergency funds. With limited resources, it can be difficult to save money and invest it in preps.

Unfortunately, some people may also take advantage of already difficult situations by running scams to steal your hard-earned money.

Scammers are now usingthe internet to their advantage. With an internet connection, scammers can now reach more people and access more information about the people they wish to scam.

According to figures from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scamming has increased by at least 30 percent over the last year, with an estimated $8.8 billion lost to fraud.

Out of that amount, the single biggest segment is investment scams, a long-time favorite of many fraudsters. In the past, before the heyday of the internet and gadgets, scammers often targetedthe elderly to try and convince them to invest their life savings in various investment scams.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have resources. Your stockpile is an investment, and it can help protect your family when SHTF.Your stockpile can also be considered part of your investment for retirement.

When disaster strikes, you can live off the food in your stockpile and reduce your overall monthly cost of living. (Related:Cyber security threats: 10 Tips for safe internet browsing.) Common online scams to avoid

Familiarize yourself with different kinds of scams. As a prepper, you might fall for product or sales scams.

These can take several forms, such as: Offers for products that don’t do what scammers claim they do Offers for products that don’t look like advertising photos Offers for books that contain little to no information, and that are easily accessible Products offered on “clearance sales” of different types will not be shipped Offers for other items which may be hard to find but will not be shipped

Check websites before buying anything online because there are manysmall websites with people selling products of one variety or another.

There are many trustworthy prepping websites, but there are also many that will try to scam you. Most of these were created to make them look like legitimate ones, making it hard to tell the difference between the two.

Here are some things that might indicate a fake website that will try to take your money: Websites that sell several different products that are unrelated, like clothing and hand tools. Websites that have not been around for a long time. Websites without legitimate contact information. A website without a detailed “About Us” page. A websiteasking for payment through a new account.

Most of the time, you’ll find out about these false websites through an e-mail, a group that you are part of, or even advertisements on social media.

Social media ads have become one of the easiest ways for scammers to find potential victims, especially since advertising on social media is inexpensive and widespread.

Becausethe process is often handled by computers at the social media headquarters, there is no human operator to flag any suspicious activity. And by the time the company finds out that it is a scam, fraudsters may have already stolen money from many victims. Be wary of some online prepping groups

If you don’t have time for personal meet-ups, you might spend more time online with your prepping groups.But you must be vigilant because not all groups are safe.

Scammers know that being a member of a group gives them an appearance of legitimacy to the rest of that group. Once they join a group with many members, they can now offer to sell low-cost items cheap, which they have no intention of shipping to you.

By the time anyone figures out what they’re doing, theyre gone with money from their victims.

If you prefer online prepping groups, always check the URL of a website in your browsers address bar to confirm that you were directed to the right address.

Many fake websites try to copy legitimate ones by mimicking their “look.”

This scam includes trying to use the URL of the original website in the fake site, like putting the name of the legitimate company at the beginning of the URL, followed by a symbol like a dot, then their registered name, with a “.com.” Checking carefully will help you spot this small but crucial difference.

When checking the address bar, look for the security “lock” which indicates that the URL is a secure site. Click on the lock to access a websites TLS certificate, which shows that they are a real company.

You can easily check how long a website has been online by checking its URL in the Whois.com database. This will also tell you who owns the website, along with other public information.

Knowing that a website URL was only registered one or two months ago should make you think twice. Avoid doing business with them, or research them further, such as with the Better Business Bureau.

If an online offer seems too good to be true, think twice about buying from a suspicious website.

Avoid scams by not doing business with anyone you dont know or dont know is well-established. Choose trusted businesses with physical stores so if you don’t like a product, you cantake it back to them for a replacement or a refund. What to do if you fall for a scam

If you are a victim of a scam, keep in mind thatscammers tend to keep going back to the same victim.

Scammers will often come up with a fake reason why your original payment was not enough or they may tell you that they need more money or that you need to pay them more before you can receive the item.

If they ask you for more money, end all communications before it gets out of hand. This won’t bring back the money you already lost, but it can help you avoid losing more money.

Always report scammers to the police and to the online platform they used to scam you.

This won’t always help you get your money back, but the information you provide can help give law enforcement officers the clue they need to bust a regular scam operation.

Scammers are abusing technology and the internet to steal more money from their victims.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t take measures to protect yourself and avoid falling for common scams. Be wary of new members in your online prepping group and learn how to spot fake scammer websites from legitimate sites.

Watch the video below for more information about the student loan “scam” and how to avoid them.

This video is from theHigh Hopes channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories:

Online safety: How to avoid common internet scams.

Digital prepping: How to protect yourself against cyberattacks.

More than 376M SCAM messages sent daily to steal money, clone voices of Americans.

Sources include:

Survivopedia.com

FTC.gov

Brighteon.com
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Sir Keir Starmer could be ousted as PM within months, two senior Labour MPs tell Sky News

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Sir Keir Starmer could be ousted as PM within months, two senior Labour MPs tell Sky News

Two senior Labour MPs have suggested the prime minister may have to go within months if the government continues to perform poorly.

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates said his sources – a member of the government and a prominent politician – have “put Sir Keir Starmer on notice”.

Both warned that, if Labour performs badly in next May’s elections across Wales, Scotland and London, it could mark the end of his time in Downing Street.

Coates added: “The level of unhappiness and despair in parts of the Labour Party is so striking that right now, on the first anniversary, I am hearing from ministers in government that Starmer might have to go in months.”

Reform UK is surging in the polls in Wales, while Labour faces a threat from left-wing parties such as the Greens in London.

It comes as the prime minister made it clear that Rachel Reeves has his “complete support” as chancellor and remains integral to his project, Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby understands.

She looked visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions, with a spokesperson claiming she had been affected by a “personal matter”.

A day earlier, Sir Keir’s controversial welfare bill was passed despite a sizeable rebellion from Labour MPs, with major U-turns meaning a new £5bn black hole has appeared in the country’s finances.

One senior figure told Rigby that the pair were as “as close politically” as any chancellor and prime minister have ever been.

“She is going absolutely nowhere,” they added.

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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’

Ms Reeves’s tears sent markets spiralling, with the value of the pound and long-term government bonds falling sharply.

Later in the day Sir Keir, said Ms Reeves will be chancellor for a “very long time to come”.

The prime minister said it was “absolutely wrong” to suggest her tearful appearance in the Commons related to the welfare U-turn.

“It’s got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her,” he said while speaking to the BBC’s podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson.

“I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It is a personal matter.”

Read more from Sky News:
Just 25% of public think Starmer will win next election
Analysis: Emotional Reeves a reminder of tough decisions ahead

Asked if she will remain in post, he said: “She will be chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we’ve been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the chancellor and I’ve been working on together.”

He said Ms Reeves has done a “fantastic job” and added: “She and I work together, we think together. In the past, there have been examples – I won’t give any specific – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, also offered a strong defence for the prime minister and chancellor.

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Health Secretary: Reeves is ‘resilient’

He told Sky News this morning that Sir Keir has been “consistently underestimated” and was “of course” safe as prime minister.

And he said Ms Reeves was a “tough character” who was ” resilient” and “here to stay”.

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Greater Manchester Police investigating grooming cases with more than 700 victims

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Greater Manchester Police investigating grooming cases with more than 700 victims

Despite making “significant improvements”, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has lost the “trust and confidence” of some victims of grooming gangs, according to a report by the police watchdog.

Michelle Skeer, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said that since 2019, when GMP started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, “the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation”.

The document, published today, said police have live investigations into “multi-victim, multi-offender” child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.

Grooming gangs scandal timeline

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‘Our chance for justice’

But despite recording improvements, a report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) also identified:

• Various training gaps within the investigation team
• Lack of consistency in evaluating case files between social care, health and police
• Failures to initially support victims meant they had “lost trust and confidence” in police

The report was commissioned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham in 2024 to evaluate whether police, councils and health services can protect children from sexual exploitation in the future.

More on Andy Burnham

Its release comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced he was launching a new national inquiry into grooming gangs after previously arguing one was not necessary,

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Starmer to launch new grooming gang inquiry

The findings were issued as the final part of the CSE (child sexual exploitation) Assurance Review process which started in 2017. The first three reports examined non-recent child sexual exploitation in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale.

Mr Skeer said that the force has been trying to improve its service to those who have experienced sexual exploitation, but previous failings have badly affected trust in GMP.

He said: “For some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences.

“It is vital that improvements are led by victims’ experiences, and if they do come forward, they are supported, protected and taken seriously.”

A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in “denial” more needs to be done to understand why this is the case.

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Teen caught in child sex exploitation

Inspectors also said there were “training gaps” in some investigation teams and issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to “significant delays in investigations” into grooming gangs.

It cites problems with intelligence provided by Manchester City Council, which took months to arrive and “was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words”, the report said.

Read more from Sky News:
Analysis: Badenoch’s grooming gangs outrage
Grooming survivor wants apology from Starmer

GMP is the only force in the country to set up a dedicated team to investigate grooming gangs. Called the Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT) it has about 100 staff and a ringfenced budget.

In October 2024, the force told inspectors there were 59 live multi-victim, multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, of which 13 were being managed by the CSE MIT.

The report adds: “The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past.

“It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation.”

Separately, the Baird Inquiry published in July 2024 found officers at GMP were abusing their power – making unlawful arrests, unlawful and demeaning strip searches, sometimes treating victims as perpetrators, and traumatising those who have suffered sexual abuse or domestic violence.

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Wes Streeting defends chancellor and PM ahead of ‘seismic’ 10-year plan for NHS

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Wes Streeting defends chancellor and PM ahead of 'seismic' 10-year plan for NHS

The health secretary has offered a strong defence of the prime minister and chancellor – ahead of Sir Keir Starmer setting out his 10-year vision for the NHS.

PM ‘might have to go in months’ – politics latest

Wes Streeting dismissed suggestions the prime minister could be forced out in months following the toughest week of his premiership yet, and described Rachel Reeves as “resilient” and would “bounce back” following her tearful appearance in the Commons on Wednesday.

Overnight, two senior sources – a member of the government and a prominent politician – told Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates that they had “put Sir Keir Starmer on notice”.

The health secretary, who was speaking as Sir Keir prepares to set out his 10-year vision for the NHS, said the prime minister had been “consistently underestimated”.

Asked by Kamali Melbourne on Sky News Breakfast whether Sir Keir was “safe”, Mr Streeting said: “Of course.

“Keir Starmer has been consistently underestimated. I wonder when people will learn.

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Reeves has ‘complete support’

“They said he couldn’t win the Labour leadership, but he did. They said he couldn’t change the Labour Party, but he did.

“They said he couldn’t take the Labour Party from its worst defeat since the 1930s to election victory last year. And he did and now the cynics say he can’t change the country, but he will.”

As for Ms Reeves – whose tearful appearance in the Commons spooked markets after the prime minister initially failed to back her, Mr Streeting said the chancellor was a “tough character” who was “resilient and she will bounce back”.

The health secretary declined to expand on why Ms Reeves was in the chamber at all yesterday, repeating that it was a personal matter.

“Rachel Reeves as chancellor is here to stay,” he continued.

“We need her to get the economy from strength to strength, to make sure that family finances are in better health than we were when we came into office.”

Speculation about the futures of the two most senior members of the government threaten to overshadow the announcement today, which the government says is “one of the most seismic shifts” in the health service’s history.

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Why has Starmer axed NHS England?

Sir Keir will pledge three main facets of the plan: moving care into the community, digitising the NHS, and a focus on sickness prevention.

The prime minister will announce neighbourhood health services will be rolled out across England to improve access to the NHS and to shift care out of overstrained hospitals.

Sir Keir has already promised thousands more GPs will be trained, and to end the 8am “scramble” for an appointment.

He also previously said his government will bring the NHS into the digital age, with “groundbreaking” new tools to support GPs rolled out over the next two years – including AI to take notes, draft letters and enter data.

And he will promise new contracts that will encourage and allow GP practices to cover a wider geographical area, so small practices will get more support.

Unite, one of the UK’s largest healthcare unions, welcomed the plan cautiously but said staff need to be the focus to ensure people are better looked after.

Read more:
Hundreds of NHS quangos to be axed

How pilot scheme from Brazil is helping NHS

‘Reform or die’

Sir Keir said: “The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it.

“But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future.

“That ends now. Because it’s reform or die.”

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Do you want AI listening in on chats with your doctor?

Neighbourhood health services

The newly announced neighbourhood health services will provide “pioneering teams” in local communities, so patients can more conveniently access a full range of healthcare services close to home.

Local areas will be encouraged to trial innovative schemes like community outreach door-to-door to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E.

The aim is to eventually have new health centres open 12 hours a day, six days a week to offer GP services as well as diagnostics, post-operative care and rehab.

They will also offer services like debt advice, employment support, stop smoking help or weight management.

More NHS dentists

Dentists will also be part of the plan, with dental care professionals part of the neighbourhood teams.

Dental “therapists” will carry out check-ups, treatments and referrals, while dental nurses could give education and advice to parents or work with schools and community groups.

Newly qualified dentists will be required to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, which they have said will be three years.

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