Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh

Some good advice...

Most of us don't think about things like this - but if you do, it's so obvious.  (Sorry for any funky formatting - it's a c&p from email).Something to think about with all our new electronic technology.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 andspecially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car includeda garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had beenprominently mounted on the dashboard.When the victims got home, they found that their house had beenransacked 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 gainentry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the footballgame, 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 homeaddress in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so youcan still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would knowwhere you live if your GPS were stolen.MOBILE PHONESI 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, whichcontained 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 askingabout 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I've replied a little while ago.'When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.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 stolencell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pinnumber. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.Moral of the lesson:Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people inyour contact list.Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad,Mom, etc....And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet themsomewhere, 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.

Re: Some good advice...

  • SteelrsGrl92SteelrsGrl92 member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    ....u can never be too safe nowadays
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  • edited December 2011
    Thanks for posting this. It's good to know. I'll def. have to take our address out of the GPS. We had our house broken into on Jan. 2nd while I was gone for only 30 minutes. They only took our plasma and some electronics. It's such a horrible feeling knowing people were in our house.
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  • edited December 2011
    Good advice. My grandfather often sends me emails like this...I've heard about the phone contacts one before.
  • LaFemmeRousseLaFemmeRousse member
    2500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Good advice!
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  • McBridetobeMcBridetobe member
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    edited December 2011
    I've actually heard that you should program a few names of people into yourself - like Mom - so if you are ever in an emergency situation, they know who in your address book to call.  But my mom doesn't know my pin number, so it wouldn't matter in that case.  I lost my phone once and they called my mom to get it back to me.  :) 
  • edited December 2011
    Definitely good advice! I heard a similar GPS story a while ago, so we never keep our GPS in the car. Even if we are just running into the store, I unclip it and throw it in my bag.  I also put a password on my phone. There's way too much info on my blackberry!
  • McBridetobeMcBridetobe member
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    edited December 2011
    Um, yourself = your cell.  Where is my brain?  ;)
  • LaFemmeRousseLaFemmeRousse member
    2500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    On the emergency front, my phone has a setting where the first three contacts listed are my "In Case of Emergency" ones (mom, dad, and FI), and they show up in red.  I've also heard of people plugging someone in just as "ICE" for that same reason.
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  • edited December 2011
    Thanks for posting this.  That's really scary about the GPS we don't have one, but still!  I guess the same could be said for keeping mail in a car w/ your garage door opener.Ditto Jen about ICE, I don't know that I'd ever send a PIN over text (or email) anyway, that seems risky to me in itself.
  • edited December 2011
    P.S. that just made me think, car insurance docs have home addresses on them too, we keep ours in the car...not sure if others do that as well.
  • edited December 2011
    I've heard that people look for suction cup marks on the windshield to know if you have a GPS in the car and therefore, know if they can break in to get it. Very interesting article. :)
  • kime31kime31 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    This is good advice!  As far as the GPS, be careful about the ring it leaves on your dashboard too.  When my FI and I were in DC his car got broken into b/c they could see the mark left by the mount for the GPS even though it wasn't even up.  Sure enough they took the GPS, mount and wires but not the SIRIUS radio!
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  • edited December 2011
    I actually do the ICE thing - I have my mom, dad and DH set up that way. Although none of them would know my pin #.
  • edited December 2011
    Our GPS actually has password protection available in it.  (Of course I never set it up.)  I always carry it in my purse, but I didn't think anything of leaving the mount on the window.
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