Friday, September 25, 2015

...NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID

1.  Some people 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.

               Someone 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.  CELL PHONES

               I never thought of this.......

               This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her
               names on her cell 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.

               4.  Purse in the grocery cart scam...

               A lady went grocery-shopping at a local mall and left
               her purse sitting in the children's seat of the cart
               while she reached something off a shelf...wait till you
               read the WHOLE story!  Her wallet was stolen, and she
               reported it to the store personnel.  After returning
               home, she received a phone call from the Mall Security
               to say that they had her wallet and that although there
               was no money in it, it did still hold her personal
               papers.  She immediately went to pick up her wallet,
               only to be told by Mall Security that they had not
               called her.  By the time she returned home again, her
               house had been broken into and burglarized.  The thieves
               knew that by calling and saying they were Mall Security,
               they could lure her out of her house long enough for
               them to burglarize it.

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