Sat navigation warning

[joeyannie 10]

Just thought I would share a warning I recieved from my insurance company today.

Apparently there is a rising trend for thieves to find "home" in your favourites on your sat nav unit and to then go round and burgle your house, knowing that you are out and will be for some time as you will be dealing with the theft of the unit from your vehicle (yes I know you should never leave it in the car but everyone makes mistakes sometimes ).

Not something I had ever considered, not being of the criminal mindset...but the insurance folk recommend storing "home" under another name to safeguard against this kind of problem.

[DaBouncer 13]

Well i'm not gonna change my habits and remove my "home" saved data because some scrote wants to nick my SatNav.

I just don't leave it in the car.... ever.

 

Best to be warned though I guess... so cheers

 

Although, how to they know someone else isn't in the house at the time or even a very large nasty dog

[joeyannie 10]

I suppose they dont but a quick knock on the door would answer that question.

I dont want to change things to safeguard against scroates either, but whatever it takes to safeguard me and my property I guess.

(I also never leave mine in the car but you read all the time of folk who think by putting it in the boot no-one will nick it!)

[Ashcroft 19]

people who would do this are either crack heads or chavs, who wont think of anyone else been in or a dog. the other would be the pro, with all the know how and eyes every where and probably already got your house keys.

[DaBouncer 13]

I suppose they dont but a quick knock on the door would answer that question.

staffy's don't bark generally at the door knock but they do bite strangers

[SupraSteve 10]

To add a little more detail to this type of crime, as it was exposed on the BBC's 'The Real Hustle'...

 

The demonstration the programme carried out involved getting a driver to hand over the keys to their car (which are generally on the same bunch of keys as their house keys) by pretending to be a car parking assistant. By wearing a high-vis jacket and standing in a private car park (when the real assistant isn't looking) the con man tells the arriving driver that it's valet parking, and hands over a reciept for added authenticity.

 

A criminal is then in a position to wait until the target has gone out of sight, and then they can drive off in the car, with the keys to ther house and are unlikely to be found out for several hours (when the owner returns to collect his/her car).

 

On the programme, the would-be-thief spotted a faint 'ring' mark on the window, figured it was from a SAtNav unit, checked the glove box and ta daa! They they typed in "Home", which was programmed in - and of course had a handy guide of how to get there from their location.

 

The result of all this is that the criminal has;

- your car

- keys to yours house

- your address

- knowledge that you are unlikely to raise the alarm for several hours, maybe longer.

 

My advice; be sensible at all times.

[PeteC 10]

i have never used a sat nav system that goes on the windscreen and i never will, i've got it built into my van - yes i have a touchscreen but it's very small and not really viewable unless yoru sat in the drivers seat. The stolen tracking also comes in handy!

 

I don't keep any mobile phone holders on the windscreen - then again i do the same route everyday so no real need for my satnav - but it's piece of mind incase i break down or have a crash that i can get help.

 

Steve makes a dam good posting, i never keep my house and car keys together

[SupraSteve 10]

The programme did effectively bundle a whole catalogue of errors (on the car owner's behalf) together, but hopefully it's clear to most people that if you seperated out the key points that the programme made (trusting the 'valet', keeping valuables in the glove box, putting "home" into the SatNav, house & car (& office & etc...) keys on the same ring...), that each a security risk in itself and should be avoided. Combining the lot meant that person could face a very bad day indeed.

 

If Joe Public was a lot more security aware, most of this type of stuff couldn't happen. As much as I dislike 'The Real Hustle' for bringing these things to would-be-criminals attention, the reality is that the low-lifes probably knew about it already and are already thinking up their next scam, so hopefully far more members of the public are warned off and avoid getting scammed in the first place.