Sedona AZ (June 11, 2013) – It’s important to remember that not all thieves are stupid and some people make it easy to be victimized, reminds Dwight D’Evelyn of the Yavapai County Sheriff’s office.

On behalf of the YCSO, read the following and see if you should change a few habits:

• A person left their car in the long-term parking at the Airport while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car registration in the glove compartment, they thief drove the car to the owner’s home in Anthem and committed burglary. So if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should not leave the registration/insurance cards in it, or your remote garage door opener? Should this person alert neighbors when they go away? Are you part of Neighborhood Watch?
•  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. The car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Items 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 and used the 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 would be over, and how much time they had.

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 is stolen.

•  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. Within 20 minutes she called her hubby from a pay phone telling him what had happened and 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 When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money had been withdrawn.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 Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Lessons to be learned from these shared experiences? 

A.  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.

B.  It’s very important that when sensitive information is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

C.  And 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.

Be smart, stay safe!

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