*Thieves are not stupid.*

donkey too

Guest
This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic
technology.
*GPS *
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car
broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the
green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to
football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote
control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the
dashboard.
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked
and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had
used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote
control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves
knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was
scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the
house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of
its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in
it... Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still
find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live
if your GPS were stolen.

*
MOBILE PHONES*
I never thought of this.......

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile
phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell
phone, credit card, wallet... Etc...was stolen.
20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him
what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin
number and I've replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the
bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The
thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact
list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all
the money from their bank account.


*
Moral of the lesson: *

Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact
list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....

And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,
CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere,
be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you
don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and
friends' who text you..
 
Thanks for this! Something I for one hadn't thought of; will set the local Police station as my home address and see just how bright any crooks who steal my satnav actually are - or maybe booby-trap the house while I'm away!
 
In a similar vein, don't put your home address on luggage labels until you are coming home.

Likewise I was always reluctant to fill in visitor books with my full name and address

Channa
 
Likewise I was always reluctant to fill in visitor books with my full name and address

Channa

Too late Channa, your face was all over the country last night on Crimewatch. :dance:


And that mate of yours, Old Arthur (aka The Weasel) is wanted for breaking his strict bail conditions. For anyone who doesn't know, Arthur was caught breaking into a £5 note. A very serious crime in Yorkshire.

Hang him, I say. :mad2:
 
That crimewatch scares me to death as they show them photo's i sit there and sweat like a geordie in a spellin test :eek:
 
Too late Channa, your face was all over the country last night on Crimewatch. :dance:


And that mate of yours, Old Arthur (aka The Weasel) is wanted for breaking his strict bail conditions. For anyone who doesn't know, Arthur was caught breaking into a £5 note. A very serious crime in Yorkshire.

Hang him, I say. :mad2:

I seen him do it, it was one of them big white ones, I reckon. It belonged to the duke of Wellington...nay mind having is picture on it
Channa
 
We have our village garage set as our "home" location and have done for years for the very reason mentioned on here. It was our MB garage salesman that is now a friend that advised us to do that.

I have to say, regarding PIN numbers, my husband and I have different numbers for our cards and we don't tell each other what they are, so I wouldn't be able to answer that questions should I get a text, which I believe you are supposed to do.

I have all my family down as their Christian Names so that bit is covered. I do have ICE1, 2 and 3 (In Case of Emergency) that is my Husband ICE1, Eldest Son ICE2 and Youngest Son ICE3. I suppose an intelligent thief could work that one out, so there is a dilema, do I leave them in place in case of an emergency or do I remove them??

Cheryl
 
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:eek: i once set my home in the sat nav to the local supermarket it was 2days before i was noticed and taken home :dance:
 
The only thing I have in my favourites are the destinations for that particular trip. As I know where I live, I just set a place to get to, where I know the way from that point.

You might not be aware that EVERY trip you make will be stored in your satnav. Remember to erase them every so often. On some satnavs, they are difficult to find but a thief will know where to look.
 
'Home' on my GPS is somewhere in the wilds of Germany, but if you have the 'breadcrumb' trail set it's fairly obvious where you came from... In the old days folks thought I was paranoid for shredding any personal info, now I'm just normal. Ish.
 
Fortunately most crooks are fairly stupid (otherwise the old Bill wouldn't catch any of 'em)

Only the clever ones seem to get away with it for a time, they even they get to do a spell at HMP Crook University and come out a bit harder to catch next time.

We always said our local copper couldn't nick himself shaving
 
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