Distraction burglary Q&A with Met Police

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 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.

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?

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?

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 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!

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?

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.

Reported

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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.

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.