Distraction burglary Q&A with Met Police

Hi Simon

My grandma is 98 and lives alone. She lives in a bungalow with a front door and back door at opposite ends of the house, both with easy access from the street. She has a mechanical code entry system on the front door so carers/doctors/family can gain access, however anyone else would have to knock and wait for her to get to the door and answer. She does have a habit of leaving the back door open (unlocked) and everytime I mention it she will say something like "Oh I was just feeding the birds" or "putting something in the bin" "it has only been unlocked a few minutes". I worry that eventually someone will knock at her front door and she will go to answer it (despite me telling her she shouldn't) and someone else will walk in through the back. She has a habit of hoarding sums of money under cushions and behind clocks (not huge sums but significant enough) and is so trusting and naive. She really thinks this kind of thing would never happen "around here". I do try and get the point accross without frightening her but don't know what else I can do.

Hi Simon. I don't have a question for you, just a comment. I've twice been on the receiving end of distraction crimes. The first time was when I worked in a book shop (in South Africa) some years ago and two people came in and one chatted to me whilst the other selected one of the lowest priced items in the shop (a greeting card) and then paid me with a high currency note and did all sorts of switching with the notes as I was giving change, asking me to give it in various denominations, with his friend talking away all the time. It sounds pathetic now to have been bamboozled but immediately once they had left the shop I realised that I had given him far too much change.

The other occurrence was when I was withdrawing money at an ATM when two people appeared from nowhere on either side of me and one spoke to me on my left to say that the machine had been giving trouble and the other one leaned over me on my right to actually try and take my card out of the machine saying that it would be swallowed. Luckily I smelt a rat so to speak and I literally elbowed both away from me quite fiercely and said in a loud voice "Do not touch my card!" That attracted the attention of people around and the would-be thieves vanished in the crowd.

I suppose the upshot of all this is now that I am very aware and I like to think quite sharp and unlikely to be the victim of a distraction crime again.

We've been living in the UK since 2000 and some months ago a man came to my door the offer to sell me a mattress - saying that he had delivered one to my neighbour and had a spare. I didn't even open the door to him, spoke to him through the window. I regret now not reporting that incident.

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Reported

Having just spent half an hour on the phone to BT trying to understand the myriad of options they are offering me to renew my broadband and phone contract, and hopefully making the right choice, I was left thinking that I had once again been the victim of a 'distraction crime' .

Apologies, and - as you were.

Hi, Simon. My poor old mum, 89, has been a victim of this sort of crime, which I feel is among the most despicable. She was doing her shopping in the supermarket and someone asked her something - got her attention somehow, anyway. While she was talking to this person, someone reached into her shopping bag, which was hanging off the trolley, and stole her purse. She did not realise until she got to the checkout. She was very upset.

Since then, she routinely places her purse right at the bottom of her bag, which would make it harder for a thief, but not impossible.

How common are these sorts of broad daylight and in public crimes, and what is the best way to protect ourselves?

I would say NEVER put your purse/wallet anywhere other than securely zipped into a bag, over your shoulder and across your body, and held at the front! I used to just have my bag on my shoulder and either hanging at my side or just behind me, until I discovered someone behind me trying to unzip it one day! I now keep my purse inside my bag and zipped in the inner compartment!

Some of these criminals are so clever, and it is hard to be on your guard all the time.

I'm afraid I've fallen victim to several of the well known scams and have had my card/purse/bag stolen on several occasions.

The cleverest scam I came across was when my family and I were sitting in a café near Hampstead Heath. Stupidly, I left my handbag on the back of my chair when I got up to go to the loo. When I returned, my husband asked me why my bag was empty (he'd looked for my purse to pay for our tea). I looked in it, and it was indeed completely empty. I then realised that although it was very similar, it wasn't my bag at all.
Someone had taken my bag (with purse, bank cards, phone, etc.etc.) and left an empty one behind. They'd managed to do this in full view of my husband, my adult daughter and grandson.

I have had my car smashed twice in three months with stones, and other large objects I am not sure what they are. Both times I have reported to the Police but no one has been caught yet and now I live with
fear of this happening again.
I would like to put a survelance camera on the car. My question to you is:

1. what do you think about this idea?
2. What would be the best place to put the camera on or in the car?

after being mugged many years ago (early evening) i am paranoid about it happening again. I always wear shoes or boots i can walk fast in if needed. Most of the time i have a cross-body style bag. I try not to use my phone in public places. But none of that helped me last time and i wonder if there is anything else i should be doing?

When I'm out and about I always have my keys, Oyster card and mobile in my pockets - that way if my bag is snatched at least I can get home and indoors.

hello Commander,

my nephew installed quit a high tech alarm system on my house some time ago, but i've never had any problems in our area. for all it's so fancy it doesn't look like much and i wondered: how much of a deterrent is having an alarm in the first place? And do burglars really know whether the boxes are genuine or dummy ones?

When my sister in law moved house a local police man came round to advise her on safety and locks and things. I thought it was excellent that the police took such an interest in making sure she was safe, and wondered whether this service available to everyone as we are thinking of moving to another area ourselves.

Hello, I wanted to know: do you have a view on toughened glass in vulnerable windows? Ie ones off flat roofs etc. If they are good - what happens if you need to smash the glass from the inside say there was a fire or something?

After a spate of local burglaries we had an alarm fitted which has given us some peace of mind. When we go to bed we put the alarm on downstairs. Once it went off (turned out to be a drifting helium balloon that set off the sensor) and we were paralysed with fear about what on earth to do. Advice please in case it happens again and turns out not just to be a balloon.

This isn't a question, and I realise it's about theft, rather than burglary, but thought the following might help fellow GNers.

My DH and I were having lunch in a city centre restaurant when a young man, very smartly dressed and well spoken, sat at the table behind me and made much of telling the waitress that he was waiting for friends. He put a couple of bags on the floor next to him. A few minutes later he bent down to faff with them, reached under our table and pulled my handbag towards him. I asked him loudly what he thought he was doing and he apologised profusely, saying he thought it was one of his bags. He'd just realised he was in the wrong branch of Cafe Rouge, apparently, and dashed out of the restaurant.

I'd have known nothing about it if I didn't always make a point of keeping a foot on my bag when it is on the floor.

Hi there,

I am really keen to ask you about car crime as it seems to be rife in out area especially where clickers (is that the name?!) are have opened my car door without force. My brother in law also had his BMW stolen in this way recently and on the same night three others were also taken locally. My Bil told me that thieves target cars in shopping centre car parks and other busy places and copy the key signal so they can follow and steal later on. Is this true? My husband would like to upgrade our car from a Vauxhall to a Mercedes but I am now worried it will make us a target in a way we are not at the moment.

Thanks, would appreciate any advice/info you can offer on this.

Lily

Hi Simon.

What a tough job you have. Just want to say firstly thanks for all the work you do.

Can I also tell you an experience of mine which still upsets me to this day. I was once followed off a train and mugged as I walked home. It was late afternoon. I was not smartly dressed and nor did I have anything of value on me at the time. The young man caught my eye as we boarded the (very busy) train but only in a way you may glance at anyone in a busy environment. I still don't understand why me. Did I look vulnerable in some way? I can't think how but I really want to make sure I do everything I can to stop it ever happening again.

I feel very nervous at times now whwn I am out alone.

I'm siure you hear this situation all the time. Especially from 'older' people. We were broken into many years ago - a summer evening when we were in the (not very big) garden and someone the person got through an open window (no idea how as the only open ones were at the back where we were) and took a lot of jewellery that had great sentimental value. If I am honest I have never really got over it. So I have two questions if that is allowed/ One - how to have windows open on a hot day without putting us or our home and property at risk. And two - is it advisable to have a home safe or are there other things one should do within the home to protect valuables?

You often hear of people not helping when people are in trouble. I like to think that if I saw someone being mugged etc I would help them - but actually in this day and age where knife and gun crime is so prevalent I think I would frankly be too scared to intervene. What is the right thing to do?
The police can't be everywhere, on hand to help, at every given moment. I would like to think someone would help me if I was in danger.

Thanks

I try to impress on my teenage GC that is not safe to walk around using your phone in the street as it's an invitation to a chancer.

What can I tell them to make them understand once and for all that they may be putting themselves in danger in this way?

*nananew i agree on how dangeous it is to help a stranger now. the one time my son tried to help another young lad who was being hassled he got a broken nose for his trouble

and on another note we live on quite a busy road where someone could easily watch our house without really being noticed. so I am always a bit worried about whether its obvious we are out. we have an alarm. but if the car is not in the drive its pretty clear we have gone out (it is in the drive most of the time) is there a way round this? (short of having a spare car that lives in the drive)