Here are some seasonal tips for keeping safe at home, while shopping and after Christmas, from the UK police crime prevention scheme, Secured by Design. Don’t attract burglars to your home by leaving it in darkness,
Whenever leaving the house always ensure that your windows and doors are closed and locked. Lock gates to keep unwanted visitors from getting to the rear of your home. When you leave the house and find that your car is all iced up, never leave it unattended with the engine running to de-ice it. It only takes a second to steal your car and it would invalidate any insurance claim, SbD point out.
Christmas shopping
When out Christmas shopping, park safely; never park in isolated, poorly lit or dark places – look for a Park Mark accredited car park. Check that your car is locked before you leave it and don’t leave valuables and gifts on display in your car. Keep your bags, handbags, wallets and mobile safe. Busy places make it easier for the sneak thief, so be alert at all times
Socialising
Before you leave to go out, plan your journey and the transport that you will be using. Consider what you might need in the way of money/cards; and the time you’ll be home. Notify someone of your planned journey, who you are meeting and how you are going to get home. Consider whether you can travel home with a friend and ensure that you are aware of the time of the last bus/train.
Watch what you put on social media – check your settings to ensure that you are not broadcasting details of when you are not at home. To stay alert and aware of your surroundings, when out with friends look out for each other and consider travelling back together, or “checking in” when you each arrive home safely. Always call or book a cab or use a cab premises and never accept a lift from drivers on the street. Only black cabs can be hailed on the street so don’t ever hail a minicab without booking it in advance. Never accept a lift from a stranger.
Shopping online
Ask yourself if that’s too good to be true. Do you recognise the website? Trust the retailer? Is the price just too tempting? Remember – if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Always use a trusted website, and stick to their recommended payment process. Look for the padlock symbol in the address bar and check the domain name to ensure there’s an ‘s’ on the end of ‘http’ which indicates the site is secure. Fraudsters will list products for sale that don’t exist. Are all the images copied from a web search? Poor seller reviews? Being asked to make a payment outside of an auction site’s normal process? Treat an electronic payment like you would cash – don’t send one to somebody you don’t know and trust.
Only buy gift cards from a reputable retailer, or direct from the company they’re for. Scammers offering discounted gift cards might well be selling you one they’ve already used. If you’re having parcels delivered, but you may be out? Make sure that you make suitable secure delivery arrangements.
After the holiday, remember to install or activate tracking and security apps on relevant electrical and computer products. Consider marking your products using a police recognised property marking product. Property marking of valuables can make them far less attractive to thieves by reducing the potential to sell them; and an offender may realise that the item can be linked to the scene of a crime. It also makes it easier for the police to trace a rightful owner of possessions. Police Preferred property marking schemes must also include a register or a manufacturers’ database.
After Christmas don’t advertise your nice gifts to thieves by putting the empty boxes out for collection; disguise them, fold them up inside out or put them inside another nondescript box. And again, watch what you put on social media – check your settings that you are not broadcasting details of gifts now inside your home.
Visit Secured by Design’s Crime Prevention and Security Advice Hub.
