"Buffalo Bob"
Casale's Corner

Some good things to consider and know, coming from a retired Los Angeles

County Sheriff's Deputy.

Not All Thieves Are Stupid—READ these lessons

1. LONG - TERM PARKING

Some people left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away,

and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration

in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble

Beach and robbed it.  So, I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term

parking, we should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor

your remote garage door opener. This gives us something to think about with

all our new electronic technology.

2. GPS:

Someone 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.

3. CELL PHONES:

I never thought of this! This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists

her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which

contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. Twenty

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bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.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 lesson:

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. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,

CONFIRM by calling back.

c. Also, 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.

4. PURSE IN THE GROCERY CART SCAM:

A lady went grocery-shopping at a local mall and left her purse sitting in

the children's seat of the cart while she reached something off a shelf/

Wait till you read the WHOLE story! Her wallet was stolen, and she reported

it to the store personnel. After returning home, she received a phone call

from the Mall Security to say that they had her wallet and that although there was no money in it, it did still hold her personal papers. She immediately went to pick up her wallet, only to be told by Mall Security that they had not called her. By

the time she returned home again, her house had been broken into and

burglarized. The thieves knew that by calling and saying they were Mall

Security, they could lure her out of her house long enough for them to

burglarize it.

*PLEASE PASS THIS ON*

Even if this does not pertain to you, please let your family and friends know so they don't get caught in a scam