[Melrose Arch Tenant] SECURITY ALERT | Common Robbery

[Melrose Arch Tenant]

        SECURITY ALERT

The latest crime hitting Johannesburg is Common Robbery.

Modus Operandi:

Suspect spots you being busy with your phone in a public space. They pose to be walking by,  grabs the item from you, runs to an awaiting vehicle, gets in and drives away.

This crime happens very fast making it difficult to combat.

A few cell phone robbery incidents have been reported .. while sitting at a restaurant or walking along the street!

It's imperative to always know your surroundings!

They are targeting high end cell phones! These incidents are sporadic and all over Johannesburg.

[Texting at the Bus]

Cell phone theft has been rising quite considerably. So much so that the chances of getting your device snatched is becoming a scarily common occurrence.

A lot of cell phone robberies happen when the user is so engrossed attending a call,  checking for messages or reading the latest tweet, that they don't notice when a thief is about to commit a crime.


  *   Take cover inside
While outside, try to get in the store (building or shopping center) closest to you,  to use your phone safely. If you find yourself in the middle of nowhere (with no cover near), look around to see if there is anything or anybody suspicious before taking your device out.


  *   Be aware of your surroundings
This is a must in order to avoid situations. Always be aware of your surroundings. That way, you will be able to react to any suspicious activity going on around you which might put your stuff (and you) in danger.


  *   Use a hands-free unit
This minimises the opportunity of having your phone snatched.


  *   Don't leave your phone unattended
Never leave your phone alone on a restaurant table, on the table bar, not even on the seat of your car where  it is only a broken window away from thieves.


  *   Do not text and walk at the same time
People do this often. It is true that it is almost impossible to not react to your phone's 'ding' no matter where you are. But taking it out to check and answer that message will put you in a very vulnerable position.


  *   Hide your phone away when you are not using it
Again, it follows the simple principle of avoiding showcasing your phone. When you keep it in places easy to access, you make it effortless for the possible criminals to steal  your phone.

These are some places where you should not keep your phone:

Back pocket of your pants,

Front pocket of your jacket,

The outer pocket of your backpack, etc.


  *   Do not to keep your personal information in your phone
Phones are being used all the time for every and any activity, therefore, they tend to host our personal information. This includes e-mails, contacts' info, face book accounts, twitter accounts, pictures and sometimes even banking information. Once your phone gets stolen, you can become a target for different types of scams and even blackmail. If you do have important personal information stored in your phone, always back it up. There are a lot of free and paid hosting cloud services (such as Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive) that can sync your phone information automatically and very easily.


  *   Password protect your device
If your phone manages to find itself at the hands of immoral people , having your phone password protected is the first thing that can stop them from accessing your basic information.


  *   Use an anti-theft software
This can help you as a pre-emptive measure. Once your phone gets lost or stolen, you can report your device as lost and the software will run its magic by sending you reports of its whereabouts and take pictures of its surroundings once it connects to the internet.

As grandma used to say: opportunity creates a thief. Criminals are always going to pay attention to the opportunities given to them to snatch our phones, electronics or any of our belongings. Therefore, we have to do our best to not give them any opportunity to turn us into the victims.

5 steps to protect your smart phone from theft or loss

  *   Step 1: Use a strong screen lock
  *   Step 2: Use a 'find my phone' app
  *   Step 3: Attach a note
  *   Step 4: Back up your photos and videos
  *   Step 5: Record your phone's unique ID number


Once lost...

The sooner you act, the better your chances of recovering it.

Here are 4 key actions to take:

Step 1: Seek and destroy

As soon as possible, log on to your "find my phone" service from a secure device. Try to locate the phone on a map. If it's nearby, have the phone ring. If it's not close enough for you to reach within the next few minutes, push the erase button. Hopefully an honest person will come across your device and notify you via the contact info you taped to your phone.

Step 2: Change your important passwords

As soon as you realize your phone is no longer in your possession and not quickly recoverable, go to the nearest secure computer, log into every account you had on your phone (banking, shopping, e-mail, etc.) and change your passwords. Start with the financial and shopping accounts that have your credit card on file and quickly move on to e-mail and social networks.

Step 3: Call your institutions

Inform your bank and credit card companies that you've lost your phone to alert them to possible fraudulent charges. The sooner they know, the easier it will be to dispute unauthorized account activities.

Step 4: Report the loss to the police

Notifying the police not only launches an official recovery attempt, but is also required for a credit freeze. You may also need the police report to dispute fraudulent charges made on your credit cards.

If you recover your phone

Wipe it anyway. You never know what malicious app or spyware someone may have installed while the phone was out of your hands. To be on the safe side, reset the phone to factory settings. If you see an option to "erase everything," make sure you select it. (Before doing that, though, check the backups on your computer or cloud service to make sure that you have copies of all the irreplaceable photos and videos on your phone.) Some phones give you the option of resetting their settings without erasing everything. Make sure you check the Reset Everything option.


Luciana Popa Retail Tenant Relationship Manager   image:Tel: +27 11 684 0002Cell: +27 82 511 8326Postal:    image:  image:image:
        
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