It’s quite astonishing to hear what lengths thieves will now go to in order to achieve the ‘perfect crime’. The latest organised criminals are adopting a method known as the ‘sticker scam’ using transparent stickers, metal detectors and jiffy bags!
Initially, the thieves will undertake a detailed surveillance of the area and will target homes they consider to be the most vulnerable in terms of weak security and potential rewards from gold or jewellery. They may do a leaflet drop to identify those homes that present a good target, discreetly attaching a sticker to the letterbox whilst doing so. An organised gang will then return the next day to carry out their mission on those homes that have been so marked. Once inside, they then deploy their next ‘tool of trade’; the metal detector, specifically looking for gold and jewellery to detect such items in a very short space of time. With the items located, they are then immediately placed in ‘cash for gold’ envelopes and use runners to take the envelopes to a post box. That way, they will have no stolen goods on their person or even in their homes if they are subsequently searched by the Police, leaving little evidence with which to incriminate them.
Be aware of this scam, particularly looking out for odd stickers attached to your letterboxes and for suspicious groups of leaflet distributors in the area. Better still, make sure that your home security is first class throughout the property. However, the best security in the world will not be effective unless it is put into full operation whenever the home is left unattended, so do make sure you are security conscious and carry out regular security checks habitually. External security lights would also present a good deterrent in these circumstances.
Also check your home insurance policy to make sure all your items of gold, jewellery and valuables have the right levels of cover. If you’re not sure that the amounts are up to date, please contact us to make a change to your policy.
Leave a Reply