Good anti-theft tips

[Darryl B.]

I'm on an e-mail list in regards to a local gaming expo, and one of our own got robbed over the weekend. Aside from not mentioning you should get an alarm, he passed along some good info, so I'm just copying and pasting it here verbatim.

Hey Gang,

My house was burglarized Friday evening, September 4, 2009, sometime between 7 PM and midnight. I came home at 12:15 to find the deadbolt busted off my backdoor.

They got my expensive Canon DSLR camera and lenses and my entire collection of PS2 games, over 150 of them, including hard-to-find titles like Ico and Fatal Frame, among others, and a little cash. They must have gotten spooked because they started out with my laptop, but left it at the staircase. I believe they went straight for the front door to open it, then went to the bedroom, taking the bedsheets to use as a bag. Unfortunately, my dog was caged at the time.

Saturday, 9/19, I visited the GameStop just 1 mile away from my house. I found many of my games. (Note from me: wow, are these guys idiots!) How did I know they were mine? I had tiny price stickers on about 8 of the games because I had been selling stuff at conventions, including some games. Those stickers were still on the cases. I told the clerk what was going on, and he showed me how to tell when the games were sold to the store: about 40 of the games I had stolen just happened to be sold to that store the day following the burglary. (And I was able to provide the police with the serial number of my camera, but that has yet to turn up.)

GameStop writes down the ID information of anyone who sells items to the store. I visited today and the clerk who actually bought the games remembered that transaction and the guys who brought them in. I said he checked their ID and wrote down names and addresses. Our neighborhood HPD is going to the store to gather that information this week.

I am not concerned about the stuff because I am insured for replacement value.

I am sending this email out to the group because I am pretty sure many of you have some sort of PS2 and PS3 collection. Those of you who do, take a moment to make some sort of identifying mark inside your cases or on your games in case this happens to you, and keep track of your serial numbers on your systems.

I believe these burglars REALLY knew the GameStop system, though. I have been told GameStop will not purchase game lots of there are multiple of the same titles or games still shrinkwrapped (my collection contained both doubles and new-in-shrinkwrap titles). I found my new games on the shelves, but the thieves must have opened them before going to the store. The crooks did NOT steal my PS2 or Wii, which were both readily available right by the front door, where they made their escape. If these had been stolen, the crooks could have been caught by the serial numbers.

If they were foolish enough to use a real ID, then we'll probably get 'em.

These crooks now know that I have pins and vids at my house. Have any of you ever been concerned about your pin and vid collection in a situation like this?

[Rob]

Good advice, and it sucks that this kind of crap still happens everyday.

One tip I would like to add is to keep a log of all your systems' serial numbers and sticker info. Not only does it make a handy reference, it is absolutely vital to turning up stolen systems once they make their way to the pawn shop/flea market. My ex once stole five or six systems and sold them on Craigslist, except for the 2600 that she sold to a pawn shop. I got that back based only on my serial number log that I provided to the store after seeing it sitting on the shelf. The only way you're going to get your stuff back is if you hand over a copy of the police report along with the serial numbers you have.

[Darryl B.]

There's already been updates too, they got photos and info of one guy who went to the store, as they require i. d. for all transactions. Luckily it seems like he didn't have a fake i. d. and has a record. So it sounds like it won't be long before he's picked up.

And as for you Rob, wow, that's pretty nuts. Did charges ever get filed against your ex?

[megasdkirby]

My ex once stole five or six systems and sold them on Craigslist, except for the 2600 that she sold to a pawn shop. I got that back based only on my serial number log that I provided to the store after seeing it sitting on the shelf. The only way you're going to get your stuff back is if you hand over a copy of the police report along with the serial numbers you have.

Was she ever arrested or at least convicted?

This is my ultimate fear: getting robbed. Around the house, there are plenty of locks and metal gates crooks have to go through in order to enter the house, so it's no easy chore. Still, I don't feel at ease, and I plan on (in the future) installing a new door (one of those super tough ones) and place deadbolts (two to three). This is only for my room.

All windows have gates on them, so there is no way they can enter through there, unless they take quite some time desoldering them. I also plan on installing a metal gate on one of the doors, so besides opening the door, the crook will be confronted with another "door gate" which has around 4-6 locks, some not easily accesible, as well as chains with locks. So even more time they will spend removing all locks.

Yet, I am still not content. I may install video cameras as well as a security system.

We also do small, yet subtle things to make believe there is someone in the home when there isn't anyone. But those are my little secrets.

[Rob]

Nah, she was never convicted. I called the cops when it happened, then supplied the detectives with the craigslist links when I saw them pop up a couple of weeks later (ditto the 2600 I found at the store). The cops basically said it was a domestic dispute and that I needed to take her to court if I wanted resolution. Even though we had split up the year before and I hadn't spoken to her in six months, and even though she broke a window and picked my systems clean, it wasn't classified as a robbery when they found out she was my ex. The cops in my state are pretty much useless.

[Darryl B.]

Well, THAT'S a sickening load of retarded sh*t, if you ask me If she broke in, she did just that, breaking the law. What morons.

[megasdkirby]

I did not know I could insure my crap...err...items.

How is the process?