Long-term parking
A family left their car in the long-term parking area while away. During that time, someone broke into the car. Using the information from the car registration in the glove compartment, the thief drove the car to the car owner's home and robbed it. If you are going to leave your automobile in long-term parking, do NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener. Please review any other personal information you may have in the car.
GPS
A car was broken into while people were at a football game. The vehicle 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 mounted on the dashboard. When the victims got home, they found that the 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. This is 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.
Cell Phones
A lady changed her habit how she lists her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. The handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. Twenty minutes later, when she called her hubby from a different phone telling him what had happened, hubby replied, "I received your text asking about our Pin number and I 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 When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.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 obtained the pin number. Within 20 minutes the thieve had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral 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 information 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.
Purse in the grocery cart
A lady went shopping at a local mall and left her purse sitting in the children's seat of the shopping cart. While she reached something off a shelf 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.
