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 B
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Thank you so much Olly for this. I had no idea. I saw such a sticker on my letterbox about two weeks ago and simply tore it off. I’ve just walked up and down my road and a number of houses have been ‘marked’ in this way. I will spread the word.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
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Did you contact the Police? You say this is a real company, are you certain it's not simply misguided advertising?
From time to time people do need a locksmith. We're lucky there's a small family business nearby who have been reliable, friendly, and trustworthy.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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I was sorry to see the little locksmith company in Green Lanes close a few months ago. It was roughly opposite Burgoyne Road.
It may have been driven out by high Rates and Rent.
In a sign of the times, the premises are now a vape dealer who may be better able to meet those overheads. In nearby Sainsbury, the customer service counter is still there, just, but the offer to check out up to five items is gone. The customer service counter is now dominated by side-to-side vape products.
A previous Haringey Director of Public Health endorsed vapes as a way of reducing the addiction of users to traditional nicotine delivery, but this may have been a misguided opinion.
The supply of vapes appears to have had the unintended consequence of spawning an all-new, colourful, wasteful retail sector that not only harms the health of users, but whose disposal has the potential to harm the safety of Veolia bin operators.
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Permalink Reply by Cathy
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Hello, Could you tell us the name of this family business? We had used the now gone little company in Green Lanes quite a lot in the past and now have no locksmith to call on.
Thank you
Cathy
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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They stickered Warham Road last week
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This reminds me of the 'Da Pinchi Code' moral panic that pops up from time to time. Symbols and codes, supposedly used by travelling bands of burglars to identify the choicest properties.
They both rely on the slightly farfetched assumption that these criminal gangs are unable to communicate with each other as every other person in society does. A chat, a call, a whatsapp... etc.The only robbery these stickers facilitate relates to the call-out charge for the locksmith to open your front door.
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I think the last one was supposed markings that turned out to be from utility companies.
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Yes, that's often the answer with the 'codes'. It's been doing the rounds in the UK for decades. I wouldn't be surprised if it's prompted a few people to have some fun at their neighbours' expense with a bit of chalk. The stickers here are just advertising.
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I agree that stuff can get overblown but in this case they are small stickers put on letterboxes, not cards through the door, which is a rather odd marketing strategy
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