Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Attempted burglary on Cavendish Road
Hi everyone
I just wanted to let everyone know of a scam that we fell victim to this weekend. On Friday we had someone ring our doorbell and ask for someone who didn't live at our house - so far no worries. Though in retrospect, he kept my husband at the door a bit longer than we strictly necessary. About an hour later we thought we heard some post come through the letter box - and no post appeared. I should say at this point that kept our keys on a table by the front door for convenience.
A couple hours after that we went to look for the car keys and they were no where to be seen. After tearing apart the house and questioning our sanity we finally realised the next day that our car was unlocked and the stub of the key in the ignition and the car in gear. We reckon that the guy had come back to the house and put a coathook through our letter box and fished the keys off the table having seen them when he came to the house earlier.
Luckily our car key was slightly broken at the time (it's one of the electric key fob / stick ones) and the guy had broken the key off in the ignition and been unable to steal the car because of some nifty antitheft device. However, we're now out £300 to replace the car key and all the locks in our house as he made off with those keys as well.
Obviously this could have been a lot worse for us - but I wanted to make sure that you were all aware. We're no longer keeping our keys anywhere near our front door and will be keeping an eye on things for a while...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Years ago, some friends of ours kept their backdoor key on a convenient hook nearby. They were burgled after a neat hole had been cut in the kitchen window.
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Permalink Reply by maggie on
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Thanks for the warning. Would you have any description and who were they asking for?? I am often disturbed in the evening by people looking for someone and have thought no more of it except that it seems to happen so often, and probably it is quite innocent but a good idea not to leave things by the door.
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Permalink Reply by Rachel Fisher on
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My husband has a shocking memory for people - and so can't give a description... but they were asking for someone called Amy - and then, continued asking questions like 'what street is this' etc to keep him at the door.
Though I should say that I don't really have any proof that the two incidents are connected... just seems like too much of a coincindence.
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Permalink Reply by Kit on
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Late last year, there was a knock on the door at around 2230 on a Friday night. I'd decided to ignore it, but then heard the letterbox open and then the door move as if it had been pushed, and realised that whoever it was was up to no good.
Opened the door to a teenage boy who wanted to know if his friend - 'he's fourteen, like me' - lived here. Then, he started asking about the other houses and whether anyone lived upstairs, all the while trying to look over my shoulder. Meanwhile, his little friend was lurking on the pavement looking shifty. The chatty one was Celtic-looking, reddish hair, pale, round, freckled face. His friend was thinner, wore a white hoody and looked Mediterranean or mixed-race.
I was so rattled that I waited a couple of minutes, then went out to see whether they were trying any other houses, but they were legging it up the road towards Wightman. By coincidence, a PCSO knocked on the door a couple of days later, so I reported the incident. He reckoned they had hoped to find an empty house to rob.
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Hi Jono, we didn't report this to the police, but can do if you think it's not too late. My husband felt that it wouldn't be of much use as he couldn't remember what the person looked like - however, we reckon that he came round again on Monday - as we had someone come to the door asking for Sarah, and my friend was in the house at the time. She could probably give a description. Definitely interested in the letterbox cover and I'll email ou as you suggest.
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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That's really helpful Jono. Have there been any other reports of similar incidents recently?
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Permalink Reply by Phil M on
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Hi Jono
I live on Burgoyne Road, and had a similar-sounding visit about seven weeks ago (it was the first Sunday in January, I think). We were at the back of our house, with no lights on in the front, when a guy, 40-45-ish, scruffy, white, slightly long hair, knocked, saying he'd been called out by "the gas company" to fix the boiler at an address that is non-existent. This was at 6ish on a Sunday evening, so it all sounded rather unlikely. I got rid of him pretty quickly, having only opened the door a crack. About a minute later, and feeling suspicious, I looked out of our upstairs window: no van from any gas company and no shifty man. I suspect he only knocked on our door because he couldn't see a light on.
On the subject of letter box covers: we were given one of these, but when fitted it seemed to stop larger items of post getting through, so we removed it again. Is there any solution to this? Moving it higher up the door only seemed to negate its purpose...
Thanks
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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We used to get regular rings on the doorbell, often in the early hours of the morning, by people asking for money, to get to the hospital to see a sick relative or some such story: clearly they wanted money for drugs.
The first time this happened I gave the guy some money - I was suspicious, but I felt that I wanted to live in a society where you could call on your neighbours for help, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. However, he turned up again a few weeks later with a different story.
The other one I've almost fallen prey to was a "window-cleaner" who asked for the money up front and then started to walk off, saying he was going to get his ladders. I immediately asked for my cash back, which he gave me, and needless to say I never saw him again.
You live and learn, as they say.
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