by Dale Gribow
A thief starts off with a Booster bag which is a large bag with a false bottom. To use it you set it down over a slightly smaller bag or product.
The Booster Bag is Hollow and has a spring loaded bottom. When it is placed over another item, the spring loaded bottom secures the item about to be stolen and the thief walks away without anyone seeing anything.
This happens more often during the Holiday Season when stores are crowded and customers are placing their purse or other purchases on the ground while they are shopping and looking at something on the counter. It can also be used by placing the booster bag over a Gucci purse, for instance, and all of a sudden ….poof…..the purse disappears. It’s like magic. That is because it is the same principle that magicians use for some of their tricks.
Now that you know there is such a device hopefully you will think twice about where you set your purse or bag down in an airport, hotel, coffee shop, department store or anywhere else a thief might be lurking.
Some thieves don’t need any equipment to steal. For instance a car can be stolen without obtaining the owner’s keys or hotwiring the car. The thief looks on the left front windshield for the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) number. They write the VIN number down and then go to the car dealership’s parts department and explain they own the car with that VIN number and they lost their keys. A new device to open the car will be provided to the thief… and then the rest is history.
Cell Phones are another popular target for thieves because they have private emails, bank account records, personal codes and passwords. Obtaining these items makes it easy to steal your money or ID.
Our credit card information can also be stolen without taking the credit card. The thieves have a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) device which is half the size of a laptop. When they walk by you in a restaurant, airport or store the card reading device, which costs less than $100, automatically steals your personal info off the credit card. The Radio Frequency Identification is a tiny chip in our credit and debit cards. If your card has the symbol of 4 waves )))) or says Pay Pass, Pay Wave or Blink it has RFID.
At the same time the bad guys can transfer your personal information from the RFID onto a hotel credit card sized room key. That room key is now a “credit card” which can be used to swipe and charge things against your card. To avoid this you can put your credit cards into a protective sleeve that has an aluminum lining. They can steal the same information off your passport at an airport so you should buy protective sleeves for both.
With respect to credit cards when you receive them in the mail write “ASK FOR PHOTO ID” instead of signing your name. That gives you one more level of insulation against the bad guys.
Thieves also wait in the parking lot at movie theatres and when you leave your car they break in and steal your registration and get the address of your home. They then burglarize it while you are watching the movie.
Crooks also steal Library cards and check out and charge DVD’s from the Library onto the card and then sell them on the internet. If that happens you must contact the library to put a “hold” on your card.
There are phony casting agents who charge up front fees for auditions they promise to obtain for you. A real agent will not charge for this.
As they say “Forewarned is forearmed!!!!”
