Warning - Another thieves scheme to steal from you

Kinetic85

Click on the picture so you can read it:



As you can see, there is another way of thieves stealing bikes from your property. This is simply done by pretending to have interest, then going to the property to steal the bikes.

The best way to defeat this (without me giving away anything to these thieves) is by doing the following:

-Do not let someone go to your address to see the bike.

-Arrange a meeting time somewhere away from your home address (or anyone else's)

-Take someone with you (or a couple of people. The more the safer) and meet in a public place filled with members of the public, i.e town centre.

-Best place to meet if you live in a town or city is outside a police station for obvious reasons. And if you're legit, you have nothing to worry about. Even explain to the police why you are doing it.


This applies to everybody around the world too. Remember, this is a thieves other solution on getting bikes and can be used by any thief around the world.

If you have any tips, fell free to mention them too.

Hope you all take note of this!!

projectsome

Kinetic85 wrote:

Click on the picture so you can read it:



As you can see, there is another way of thieves stealing bikes from your property. This is simply done by pretending to have interest, then going to the property to steal the bikes.

The best way to defeat this (without me giving away anything to these thieves) is by doing the following:

-Do not let someone go to your address to see the bike.

-Arrange a meeting time somewhere away from your home address (or anyone else's)

-Take someone with you (or a couple of people. The more the safer) and meet in a public place filled with members of the public, i.e town centre.

-Best place to meet if you live in a town or city is outside a police station for obvious reasons. And if you're legit, you have nothing to worry about. Even explain to the police why you are doing it.


This applies to everybody around the world too. Remember, this is a thieves other solution on getting bikes and can be used by any thief around the world.

If you have any tips, fell free to mention them too.

Hope you all take note of this!!

Anyone could have stolen the bikes, if the bike(s) were secured properly the problem wouldn't have arose.

Not saying you can totally prevent it but being in a public place won't make much of a difference as in a lot of cases they'd just follow you home.

The Rookie

I wouldn't buy a bike away from someones home address in case it is stolen, I always keep a record of phone numbers and addreses so if it turns out a bike I've bought is knicked the Police have a fighting chance of getting the guy who sold it to me......

There was also a story of thieves looking at 'open' garmin logs to see where cyclists live, after all if you're using a Garmin you won't be on a £100 BSO!

Simon

Briggo

The Beginner wrote:

I wouldn't buy a bike away from someones home address in case it is stolen, I always keep a record of phone numbers and addreses so if it turns out a bike I've bought is knicked the Police have a fighting chance of getting the guy who sold it to me......

There was also a story of thieves looking at 'open' garmin logs to see where cyclists live, after all if you're using a Garmin you won't be on a £100 BSO!

Simon

Exactly, its swings and roundabouts I'm afraid, its a tough one, legitimate buyers wont trust you but then you need to prevent this sort of thing.

Oh and Projectsome, that's a joke right, secure the bike properly? The only way you're going to do that is if you sleep with it.

Anonymous

Standard risk of selling anything where the guy comes to pick it up.

Another is they come round with a friend, decides they don't want it whilst the friend goes and nicks anything he can behind your back.

That's why I don't use Freecycle, especially as you may be getting rid of something old and they know you may be getting something new to replace it.

Then you get timewasters and the equivalent to the tyre kickers when selling cars.

But then, meet in a service station somewhere to do the deal, there are dodgy things that happen there too.

projectsome

Briggo wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

I wouldn't buy a bike away from someones home address in case it is stolen, I always keep a record of phone numbers and addreses so if it turns out a bike I've bought is knicked the Police have a fighting chance of getting the guy who sold it to me......

There was also a story of thieves looking at 'open' garmin logs to see where cyclists live, after all if you're using a Garmin you won't be on a £100 BSO!

Simon

Exactly, its swings and roundabouts I'm afraid, its a tough one, legitimate buyers wont trust you but then you need to prevent this sort of thing.

Oh and Projectsome, that's a joke right, secure the bike properly? The only way you're going to do that is if you sleep with it.

No it's not a joke, someone once gained access to my house and wheeled my back off while I was upstairs (it wasn't locked at the time). I did however get it back and consquently sell it.

Unless I'm on the bike etc then it's locked up.

njee20

(it wasn't locked at the time)

Unless I'm on the bike etc then it's locked up.

Contradicting? :?

projectsome

njee20 wrote:

(it wasn't locked at the time)

Unless I'm on the bike etc then it's locked up.

Contradicting? :?

Before having it stolen I didn't use to lock it up in the house.

Since having it stolen I now lock it at every opportunity.

clear enough :roll:

Briggo

Yeah because all those locks out there are known to keep those pesky theives away.

:One massive roll eyes smiley:

EH_Rob

He's right - no such thing as a thief proof lock. If someone wants it then they're probably gonna have it.

God bless insurance.

bluechair84

It's a terrible culture to be forced to have insurance knowing that locking things up probably won't stop them. I know of a bike shop that was broken into and subsequently lost a lot of stock. In response they bought a steel shiping container and made it impregnable. Thieves turned up with a hi-ab and drove it into the moors where they spent a few hours blowtorching their way through the side. Insurance really is the best answer (so long as the conditions are met).

1mancity2

Big dog chained to the bike, sorted..

Anonymous

A nice aggressive dog is just what pikey asbo thieving kid wants to prove to his mates he's hard.

Northwind

A good lock will protect against most thieves. Look at a big Squier, Pragmasis or Almax- to cut those you need hydraulics, a gas axe or a grinder. Sure, they can do that but why would they when the next place they case will probably have bikes secured with £5 tesco locks that they can just bite through, or even no locks at all. Course, they can still steal components from you, or might use a destructive method (ie, cut the bike frame- much easier than cutting the lock) but again, more hassle for them and less desirable.

The point isn't to be thiefproof, it's just to be less attractive to the thief than the next man, and most people secure their bikes poorly and so are very attractive to thieves.

lawman

bluechair84 wrote:

It's a terrible culture to be forced to have insurance knowing that locking things up probably won't stop them. I know of a bike shop that was broken into and subsequently lost a lot of stock. In response they bought a steel shiping container and made it impregnable. Thieves turned up with a hi-ab and drove it into the moors where they spent a few hours blowtorching their way through the side. Insurance really is the best answer (so long as the conditions are met).

Yep, similar thing happened to the LBS I worked in, the thieving bastards cut through the metal cladding a good 12 or so feet of the ground, and cleared the entire shop out, even the spares and shitty bits and bobs... due to this we were forced to close. ruined it for the guys and me, as we were all suddenly without jobs, thankfully I had another at the time, the others were not so lucky. I would personally rip the head off whoever did it, the very thought of what happened makes my blood boil!

Briggo

Northwind wrote:

A good lock will protect against most thieves. Look at a big Squier, Pragmasis or Almax- to cut those you need hydraulics, a gas axe or a grinder. Sure, they can do that but why would they when the next place they case will probably have bikes secured with £5 tesco locks that they can just bite through, or even no locks at all. Course, they can still steal components from you, or might use a destructive method (ie, cut the bike frame- much easier than cutting the lock) but again, more hassle for them and less desirable.

The point isn't to be thiefproof, it's just to be less attractive to the thief than the next man, and most people secure their bikes poorly and so are very attractive to thieves.

Against the opportunist thief looking for bikes in a public place perhaps but if they're casing your house because they've done their homework, they're taking your bike.

Anonymous

Problem is worse at times like this where money is tight so thieving goes on the increase as will their daring.

That's why the railways keep snarling up as they keep nicking the cabling and any bit of metal they can get their hands on. At the risk of frying themselves even.

Always been a believer that metal stuff is better than plastic but it's safer to get plastic at the moment as there's little value in it.

lawman

deadkenny wrote:

Problem is worse at times like this where money is tight so thieving goes on the increase as will their daring.

That's why the railways keep snarling up as they keep nicking the cabling and any bit of metal they can get their hands on. At the risk of frying themselves even.

Always been a believer that metal stuff is better than plastic but it's safer to get plastic at the moment as there's little value in it.

lad who went to my school just got nicked for that railway lark, same lad who threw a live chicken through the drive-thru window at KFC if you ever saw that...

The Rookie

Well a chap at our club just had 2 Spesh's knicked and an old frame, he just got the S-works Enduro back as another member of the club saw a young lad riding one (well they ain't common!) who looked out of place, when challenged the scroat just hopped off the bike and legged it, obviously they were either struggling to sell it or didn't realise it's worth!

The concern is that people with nice bikes have been followed home from our regular meets.

Simon

Northwind

Briggo wrote:

Against the opportunist thief looking for bikes in a public place perhaps but if they're casing your house because they've done their homework, they're taking your bike.

Er, casing your house IS doing their homework. If it was a foregone conclusion why would they take the risk? They're looking to see what you have and what they'll need to do to steal it, so they can make the decision of if and when to come for it. If they see it done up like fort knox, then of course that can be a deterrant- effective security requires a slow, noisy attack or much more substantial kit (hydraulic cutters are man-portable but slower and clumsier, and more obviously suspicious to witnesses). But most bikes can be stolen with pocketable tools- not a difficult decision. Case the place, see how easy it will be, target the easier ones over the harder ones because there's no shortage of soft targets.

The Northern Monkey

projectsome wrote:

njee20 wrote:

(it wasn't locked at the time)

Unless I'm on the bike etc then it's locked up.

Contradicting? :?

Before having it stolen I didn't use to lock it up in the house.

Since having it stolen I now lock it at every opportunity.

clear enough :roll:

Even I understood that 1st time round :roll:

EyesintheSky

Had my Cube stolen not long ago, thanks to the police's reactions (albeit hurried along by me :evil: ) and the thiefs stupidity in putting it on Ebay within an hour of taking it, I had my Cube back within 24 Hours and the guy had been arrested. I also came out £100 richer in compensation.

If I hadn't of kept up to date pictures of distinguishing features and serial numbers, as well as contacting the police straight away and looking on Ebay/Pink bike, I wouldn't have got my Cube back. I'd have thought that was common sense but not many people seem to do it. After all, as mentioned, if someone wants your bike, they're having it eventually, so make sure you have the best chance of finding it afterwards!

I7 Extreme

after reading this forum i feel i need to lock up my bike, living out in the countryside i thought i might be fine but the amount of times i go in and out of the drive and people are watching makes me think. I'l now keep a look out for a strong lock (and chain).

stubs

I7 Extreme wrote:

after reading this forum i feel i need to lock up my bike, living out in the countryside i thought i might be fine but the amount of times i go in and out of the drive and people are watching makes me think. I'l now keep a look out for a strong lock (and chain).

Dont forget even if the frame is locked there are all these nice expensive and easily sellable bits bolted to it. They could cut a frame in half with a hacksaw in a minute leaving you with a pile of aluminium dust and a chain.