Criminals posing as police and other tactics (With thanks to CPF Brooklyn, Sector 4)
Please be careful about allowing strangers onto your property and instruct your workers and children not to open for anyone under any circumstances. Domestic workers, garden staff and children are often approached by robbers pretending to be: in need, repairmen, police, Telkom employees, SABC/Tshwane inspectors, meter readers, etc. Impersonation is an easy method used by criminals to gain access to your property without any force. For meter readers, rather write down and give them your electricity/water readings or fax/email readings to the municipality. Persons who are at home during the day should be made aware of these tactics and the need for security should be emphasized for their own safety. Furthermore, arm your workers and children with panic buttons.
Read these reports from different sources :
CRIMINALS POSING AS POLICE (Happened in Sector 4)
"On Saturday, 10 May 2014 a well dressed man rang the bell of our house and said he represents SAPS to investigate our Tshwane municipal account. Apparently he wants proof that we pay our account ourselves and not somebody at Tshwane. We have a business at home and were busy with a client and said that we could not see him, but he insisted that he can wait in the house. He showed his SAPS ID card from a distance and said I have to give him a written statement that I pay the municipal account myself. I told him he has to make an appointment and I would not let him in. He drove a grey suv BMW but parked it opposite the house. When new clients arrived and my gardener also came around the house, he got uneasy and left. We contacted SAPS and Tshwane and both parties said that this was a fraud."
BLACK LADIES "IN NEED"
"A couple of weeks ago (April 2014) there was a robbery in Buffa Street, Rietvlei View. It involved 2 or 3 black ladies getting access to the property under false pretences and then stealing some goods. During last week, I was working at a customer in Groenkloof when an armed robbery took place. Again it involved black ladies who gained access to the property by telling the domestic worker that one lady was very ill and they just wanted to come in to use the phone to call an ambulance. Once she opened the door for them, one black lady held her at gunpoint while the others ransacked the house. The domestic worker pressed the emergency alarm button shortly after they left but they were not caught. So, this has now become one of the new “modus operandi”. We need to inform our employees that no-one should be allowed into our properties (let alone our homes) without proper authorisation from their employers, regardless of their race and/or sex. The ladies were travelling in a black BMW."
FAKE REPAIRMEN
"After many instructions to my maid to never let anyone in that I did not tell her about, she did. Two black men in a light (sky) blue private car with no markings (she thought it was perhaps a BMW but the gardener said maybe Alfa or Corolla), newish model and clean. Driver (and the guy that entered the house) had a piece of Springbok skin strapped to the back of his right hand, had on a white shirt with thin stripes and black pants. Passenger stayed in car parked on street. They said that I sent them to fix lights and aircon. While talking to her through the gate he made as if he was talking to me on the phone and told her I said it was OK to let them in. Luckily nobody was harmed – only stole an IPod and nothing else. She confronted him when she saw the IPod missing but he said that she mustn’t be like that and left. I think he wanted to do an ‘inventory’ and see what type of security we had."
Tips from our general security document:
DOMESTIC WORKERS AND GARDENERS
They can be our best field agents if they know what to look out for or how to report crime and suspicious activity. They’re more at home during the day than we are. Send them to domestic workshops organized by your local CPF or police station.
Equip your workers with panic buttons. VERY IMPORTANT!
Always polygraph your domestic workers or gardeners if there has been an incident at your house. Even if they’re not guilty – if they know that there’s a likelihood of a polygraph test in future it will deter them from cooperating with criminals. Even domestic workers that have worked for you for 30 years can be swayed. Criminals will promise them a small cut and reassure them that nobody will be at home when they burgle or that they won’t hurt anyone if someone is at home. Sometimes workers are threatened or blackmailed to give information.
Make domestic workers aware that they must not give out information relating to their workplace or their employers whereabouts; especially to other domestic workers and gardeners.
Tell them not to open for anyone unless authorized by you. Always suspect people posing as Telkom, SABC, SAPS, meter readers, repairmen, etc.
A lot of domestic workers see crime as their employer’s problem and believe that it won’t affect them. Make them realize the implications of a robbery. Criminals don't play nice.
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