Alert For All Members - New Thievery Method

phone ^ | 6/6/2011 | n/a

[B4Ranch]

I just received a call from a friend who arrived home after a three week vacation to find his entire house cleaned out. That's right everything was gone.

Somebody pulled up with a moving van and the thieves cleaned his house out in one day. Just like a professional mover would do. They took everything down to the garden hoses.

While he was driving home he got a call from the local police who said, "We have found some of your belongings".

He replied, "What are you talking about?." When the cop explained what had been found it didn't make any sense at all.

Here he was in Oregon driving home to the Bay Area and gets a phone call telling him and his wife that all of their belongings are gone. I can't imagine that happening to me. My wife would flip out for sure.

[B4Ranch]

If you are going on vacation let all of your neighbors know when you'll be back. If they see any vehicles in the driveway, please call the cops.

I hope nobody complains that I posted this in General but I wanted to alert as many FReepers as possible.

[ladyjane]

It is unfortunate but it may not be a good idea to tell the cops in advance...just sayin.

[cripplecreek]

You could probably have your calls fowarded to a neighbor.

[Peter from Rutland]

Forward all your calls to your cellphone.

Make some lights on a timer.

Make sure your mail delivery is stopped. If you get newspapers delivered stop them too (actually just cancel them, what are you crazy?)

Have neighbors or friend drop in and hang out for a while every other day or so.

[hoosierham]

Most of the time it will be a good idead;but there are cops who will rob the very house they are supposed to watch.Last such incident I know of took place locally a long time ago,and the dirty cops got cold feet and dumped the guns taken,got caught,went to prison, and did not get new job as cops.

A trusted neighbor who is home all the time may be best;if your neighbor is gone to work the thieves can steal a lot between 9am and 5pm.

[ryan71]

What's “the new method”? The robbers did it while they were on vacation?

[caver]

Did this friend of your’s make a post on Facebook saying he was going on vacation?

[Farmer Dean]

I suggest owning some good dogs.Anyone breaking into our house is going to have to deal with our German Shepherds.

[massgopguy]

They read Obituaries too.

[CIB-173RDABN]

I watched an old Dragnet on Net-flick which had this same story line. Nothing is new under the sun.

When we leave on vacation we let the neighbors know as well as the police.

[ErnBatavia]

My M.O. is to have the neighbor collect mail (and a newspaper if applicable, which isn't with us) versus placing "stop orders". He also moves the patio chairs around a bit to indicate occupancy.

The fewer that know, the better.

[Pollster1]

Thieves have been doing this for decades. Back in the 1980s, I came home at lunch only because I was very sick, waved in a friendly manner to the movers carefully packing and emptying my neighbor’s home, and called the police. My neighbors were on vacation and had never mentioned moving, so I knew what was happening. The only down side was the very long time it took to get their stuff (the “evidence”) processed and back into the home.

[rokkitapps]

If you can afford a 3 week vacation, you can afford to just buy all new stuff.

[pgyanke]

I hate the “volunteer” newspapers. These are the papers, notes or advertisements that show up uninvited and announce to the world how long it’s been since they were dropped off.

[Thank You Rush]

Did they have neighbors close by? I can’t imagine neighbors not questioning what was happening if they were close enough to see. We don’t leave town without letting our neighbors know and we don’t leave lights that would advertise that we’re not home. Even the timers tell a different story to folks perhaps casing a home. I read until a different hour every night so having the lights go off at a set time is a sure bet they are on a timer.

A couple of weeks ago we had a friend come in and feed and medicate our cat while we were gone for three days. She decided on her own to turn on lights because it was TOO DARK for the cat. This immediately told anyone up to no good that no one was home - lights on all night???? The “I was just trying to help” kind of friend. She’s done the same with our thermostat before - we set it where we want it when we leave and she for some reason can’t resist meddling with it. Won’t happen again!!!

[B4Ranch]

>>Did this friend of your’s make a post on Facebook saying he was going on vacation?<<

That, I have no idea about.

[camle]

whevener i go on leave, I notify my pal, frank who comes and gets my mail. by the time anybody figures out that I’m gone, I’m back.

[hiredhand]

Yep. It's a trend. Another trend is for drug thieves to get (generally available) details of a funeral. They pick cancer victims a lot. Then, when everybody is at the funeral, they go to the home of the deceased and steal all the leftover pain meds, and other items. I've house sat for neighbors before while they attended the funeral.

I've got a buddy here at work and he told me about a theft just across the road from him. He lives in a slightly rural area. He said that his neighbor (across the road) had a large gunsafe. The house was a pre-fab. From the police report, it "seems" that the thieves knew where the safe was. They backed up into the yard with a dual axle pickup, broke the door down, and punched two holes in the exterior wall on both sides of the safe. Then they fed a chain through the holes, around the safe and onto the hitch on the back of the truck. Then they drove forward and pulled the safe right off the floor (it WAS bolted - the bolts broke) and THROUGH the wall. They (probably) winched it into the back of the truck before driving away. He said it was one of the craziest things he's seen in a long time....left one BIG mess!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Make sure your mail delivery is stopped.

Have someone you trust collect it.

[B4Ranch]

I thought using a moving van was a new trick but I guess not.