Safety
If I think I have been a victim of a crime what can I do?
If it is an emergency ie. a crime is happening right now or someone's life is in danger call 999.
If it is not urgent you can call the police on 0131 662 5000.
If you are not comfortable contacting the police you can make a remote report in the Advice Place.
How to make a remote report
I am new to Edinburgh, are they any safety issues I need to be aware of?
Edinburgh is typically a very safe city, you need to apply the usual level of caution that you would use in any city, here is some info to be aware of.
Walking alone
Try to avoid walking home alone in the dark. However, if you do have to walk alone be alert, walk confidently and avoid carrying all your possessions in one bag. Stick to well-lit roads, plan your journey before you leave and don’t walk with your headphones in.
Taxis
You can hail a black cab on the street or book a mini cab over the phone or email.
You can find details of licensed taxi and mini-cab companies either in the Yellow Pages or, by looking on the Taxi & Mini-cab website for Edinburgh.
Club and pubs
To protect your drink from being spiked don’t leave it unattended in a pub or club and do not accept drinks from anyone you don't know.
Many nightclubs, pubs and supermarkets now sell stoppers for bottles 
that only a straw can fit through to prevent anyone slipping anything in to your drink.
If you think you have been the victim of drink spiking and may have been assaulted or robbed of your possessions, report it to the police. You can come in and see us for support and more information on support services. Remember you are not alone.
Reporting a crime.
In the event of an emergency telephone 999 to contact the emergency services (police, fire brigade or ambulance).
All mobile phones have facility to contact the emergency services whether you have credit on your phone or not.
For all non-emergency issues including reporting crimes you can:
• Phone Central Edinburgh’s local police station at St. Leonard’s Street on 0131 662 5000. For other areas Lothian and Borders Police website.
• Phone Crimestoppers to give anonymous information about a crime on 0800 555 111
If you are reluctant to report a crime to the police in person, you can report it to a third party who will then pass the information along to the police and, if necessary, offer further support and advice.
This process is called 'Remote Reporting' and the Advice Place is one of the organisations in Edinburgh who offer this service. Reporting a crime can be done either formally, informally or anonymously.
For support if you have been a victim of crime you can contact Edinburgh’s Victim Support service at 2 Nicholson Square on 0131 668 2556.
Scams
Tenancy scam
Be very careful when responding to adverts for private accommodation. Do not, under any circumstances, send money to anyone for accommodation prior to viewing the accommodation and verifying that the person is the actual landlord or a representative of the landlord (such as a letting agent) and 
seeing the tenancy agreement.
These scams usually involve you being asked to pay money upfront to secure the accommodation via one of the payment services such as Western Union, Bidpay or Money Gram.
If you give them a copy of the receipt you will lose your money and will not be able to recover it again.
Another common scam is for a 'landlord' to ask for a deposit and rent to secure the property at the viewing. Please do not hand over cash before or whilst viewing a property.
You should always take time to check and verify that they are genuine before parting with any money.
You can find out if your landlord and the property are registered and that the landlord is therefore a genuine landlord before handing over any money for payment of rent or deposit by visiting the Landlord Registration Scotland website.
If it seems wrong it probably is, come in and check with us before parting with any money!
Phishing scams
There are an increasing number of email phishing scams around, there is lots of advice online about how to keep yourself safe, here are some general rules to protect your personal information.
1. Never fill out forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal financial information.
2. Check your online accounts regularly, as well as your bank, credit and debit card statements to make sure all transactions are legitimate.
3. If you suspect an e-mail might not be authentic, don't use the links within the e-mail to get to a webpage, as it may leave your computer vulnerable.
4. You should always be suspicious of any e-mail with “urgent” requests for personal financial information.
5. If you do provide personal information (like a credit card number), do so only via a secure website or the telephone.
6. Always make sure you're on a secure Web server when sharing sensitive information. To do so, check the beginning of the URL in your browser address bar. It should be "https" rather than "http." The "s" stands for secure.
7. It’s advisable to install a Web browser toolbar to alert you before you visit known phishing fraud websites.
8. If you receive an e-mail message that is not personalized, assume it 
cannot be trusted.
9. If e-mails use upsetting or exciting statements to try to get you to react immediately, that’s a red flag signaling to stop and think carefully about your next move; these statements are almost always false anyway.
10. Make sure that your browser is up-to-date and security patches have been applied.
Work scams
Any work opportunity that requires money being transferred in and out of your account is probably money laundering, if it seems to good to be true, it usually is. Come and see us if you are concerned.
Cash Machines
When you use a cash machine, make sure that nobody can see you typing in your PIN.
Don’t allow anyone to stand close behind you or to distract you when the card is released by the machine (for example, by dropping something or by tapping your shoulder).
For more information about preventing crime and keeping yourself safe see the Crimestoppers website.
Don't live in fear
Remember this is advice for the worst case scenarios, you don't need to live in fear.
Just exercise reasonable caution. If you have any worries or questions, contact us.