NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID

[Suzukidave]

NOW HEAR THIS...NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID!!

1. A friend of a friend left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble Beach and robbed it. So I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should not leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener.

This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.



2. 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.

3. 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 When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.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 Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.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:

a. 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....

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

c. 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.

*PLEASE PASS THIS ON

* I never thought about the above!

As of now, I no longer have 'home' listed on my cell phone.

Even if this does not pertain to you....Pass it on to your family and friends.

[Insaniac]

If you leave your car parked, especially if it's for a long time make sure there's nothing of value or anything that hints of that (purse, wallet, cellphone, guitar) which can be seen by looking through the windows. Leaving something like a GPS on the window is a dead giveaway. I know some of the US probably doesn't live in areas like some of us do and don't worry about such things, but it's better to be safe then sorry. I've lived in and around some cities (LA, SF, Oakland) and I know there's a lot of people who would break your window just to steal a few dollars or even a cheap item if you leave it out in plain sight.

Here's something that happened to my grandma recently. She got a call from her nephew who she doesn't know too well who called saying he got drunk and put in jail in a foreign country (he's in the air force). He said not to tell his mom because he didn't want her to find out, and he needed money sent to him so he could get out and be back home by monday as he was supposed to come back on vacation. I know a lot of us wouldn't fall for such a thing, or would atleast try to call him to find out if it's true, but alas she did not and lost $9000. It still baffles me but some people don't listen to others and age creeps up on them and their decision making may not be the best. If something sounds fishy always make the call to confirm it, never give out your PIN number in a text or anything like that. People are coming up with new scams all the time, and with the way the internet is now with social networking, many people give out information willingly that allows them to be victims.

[H2RICK]

Thanks for the tips, gents. My wife WILL be changing her cell phone AND GPS data ASAP.
Fortunately the "Text about forgotten PIN" scam wouldn't work for whoever stole my wife's cell phone......because I don't have a cell phone.LOLOLOLOL

If only criminals would apply such cleverness to legitimate pursuits, who knows what they could accomplish.

[Domiken]

Great to know, I knew a few of those things already, but wow.

They need to make garage door openers with a pin now.