There has been a flurry of activity on the CVAC board with others who have either had similar things happen to them or friends and family who have.

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 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.

MOBILE PHONES
I 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, which contained 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 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
was already withdrawn.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minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral of the lesson:

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….
And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,
CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when receive a  text from friends or family to meet them somewhere, be
sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them.