Tuesday

Phillip B is a lawyer up in Tennessee, and he sent me a couple things, you might be interested in seeing. The first has something of a WOW! factor, at least I thought so when I viewed it:

The second is some good advice about your security.

1. LONG –TERM PARKING

Some people leave their car in the long-term parking at the airport while away, and thieves broke into the car.  Using the information on the car’s registration in the glove compartment, they hotwired the car and drove to the people’s  home and robbed it. So, if you are going to leave the car in long-term parking,  you should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener. This gives another thing to think about with all our new electronic technology.

2. GPS

  Some fans 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. Twenty 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 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 When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.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.

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  for 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.

4.1   MORAL OF THE STORY

1. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mum, etc.
2. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
3. 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.