Home Burglaries By Cleaning/Landscape/Home Improvement Crews (Atlanta, Roswell: house, cost)

[Karen Marie Smith]

Be on the lookout for gangs of expert theives posing as house cleaners,landscapers or painting crews. A friend of mine in Roswell, GA hired a house cleaning crew who turned out to be part of a "gang" that committed home thefts while on the job. They actually memorized her schedule and would show up with buckets or mops when they knew that she wasn't home and enter through the front door or side door using a "bump" key. Little by little things started disappearing but she could never pinpoint exactly when until she began finding boxes of "loot" in strange places waiting to be taken. Does anyone have a similar experience in the Atlanta Metro area??

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Karen Marie Smith

[b]A friend of mine in Roswell, GA hired a house cleaning crew who turned out to be part of a "gang" that committed home thefts while on the job.

Did she hire them from a yellow pages or print ad, or, from a flier on the mailbox or a "rep" knocking on the door? A note of caution: Never EVER hire someone to do work inside your home based on hand-made fliers, cards, or door knocks. Outside home repairs/work via this route should only be given if that person can provide verifiable references.

Originally Posted by Karen Marie Smith

They actually memorized her schedule and would show up with buckets or mops when they knew that she wasn't home and enter through the front door or side door using a "bump" key.

Hint: Spraying "WD40" lightly into the keyholes of your outer door locks on a regular basis helps to prevent people from using the special key molds they use to make a "bump key". When they place the mold in the keyhole and "bump" it with their palm, the WD40 will be too slick to allow it to properly shape itself right to make a working key (many times - it's not foolproof but it works more often than not). Some reports have disputed this, but the only alternative are safety locks that cost $200.00+ that use special non-standard type keys that you can't make copies of.