GPS
A few weeks back 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 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 their house 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.
Mobile Phones
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet and others was stolen. Approximately 20 minutes later, she called her husband from a pay phone telling him what had happened, her husband 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 When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money in the bank account was already withdrawn.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 Within 20 minutes, the thief had withdrawn all the money from the bank account.
Lesson Learnt
DO NOT reveal relationship between you and the people in your contact list, by avoiding nicknames like: Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….
And more importantly, when sensitive information is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back, better yet NEVER give it through mobile phones or e-mail.
Finally, when you are being texted by friends or family to meet somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you cannot reach them, be very careful when going to the named place to meet the friends or family who texted you.
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