Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Burglary scouts - check your letterbox
Hi All,
Just a heads-up, we've had a load of fake locksmith stickers been placed on our letterboxes on Lausanne Road over the past few days. These are placed on your letterbox by scouts as a way to inform burglars of good targets. It's a well known scam that has done the rounds over the years over London.
The stickers are small, transparent and carry the name "Ace Locksmiths 24/7" with a phone number.
The stickers have a genuine company listed although this is used as plausable deniability if the person attaching the stickers gets caught.
I'd advise you check your letterbox and immediatly remove if found.
Here's a link to the same scam in Putney back in 2020:
https://www.putneysw15.com/default.asp?section=info&page=concri...
And another one in Wandsworth:
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2017-05-20/council-warns-fake-locks...
As Shaw Taylor used to say on Police 5, "Keep 'Em Peeled". Gosh that's dated me...
Best,
Olly
Tags for Forum Posts: burglary
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by AndrewAW1 on
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If someone is locked out a card through the letterbox isn't much use.
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More odd than someone placing it on all the doors as a 'secret squirrel signal' to a burglar that never comes? Let's not turn HoL into NextDoor.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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You really do enjoy patronising people, don’t you James?
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I find spreading scaremongering nonsense online pretty patronising, Michael. Be afraid, watch out, keep twitching the curtains. It's pernicious and thoroughly unnecessary.
If you are so concerned, give the guy a call and have a chat with him. He might just tell you what he told me.
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Yup, you do enjoy patronising people.
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Permalink Reply by Olly on
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The possibility of misguided advertising did cross my mind and is always remains a possibility. However, looking at the link to the Putney article to the genuine scam, the stickers are almost identical and placed in the same way on letterboxes. The difference is that they were fake numbers and no company name. My guess is they have learnt and now put a genuine company and number on to improve their plausable deniability if caught. The article even has a quote from the police stating it as a scam with advice.
I traced the phone number back to a genuine company and their Trustpilot page for them is filled with people complaining about the stickers, with the only genuine use of their services stating that they effectivly got ripped off by their services (repeated call-out fees for unessciary work).
Even if it is genuine, despite all they complaints, they are still defacing our private property and should not be deserving of our business (I did find one white stiker that was highly frangible and impossible to remove with a fingernail). I also did a walk down the street shortly after we were alerted and not every letterbox had one so I'm still leaning towards scout activity.
Based on the past, confimed scam I'm still leaning towards scout activity, especially with the burglary rates in the area. Even assuming that this is genuine, they dont deserve our business. In both cases the the stickers should be removed.
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish on
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Thanks for highlighting- and yes - it is also defacing property
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Permalink Reply by tim p on
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I found one the other day and removed it , fiving it no more thought until today. Just strolled up the street to see whether any pattern emerged to the distribution. First thing was that houses with secondary exterior doors, those placed at the entrance to the porch , thus more secure, were not "stickered". Second , HMOs , therefore houses with nomerous occupants, seemed to be missed out. trirdle, noticibly delapidated properties similarly seemed missed out. Is there any merit to producing a small note to post through bestickered letterboxes, alerting householders to this potential mischief?? I'm sure not all residents follow this website.
N.B. Not my letterbox !!!!!
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I’m more direct action Tim - I peel them off when I see them.
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😊👍
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