House Break-in following theft of bags from carouse at MEL

[vetrade]

Apologies if this has already been reported but there was a Herald Sun report yesterday of several bags being stolen from a carousel at MEL before the rightful owners could get there to claim them.
In at at least one case the address details on the bag tag were then used to ransack the passenger's house while she was still at the airport trying to locate her missing bag.

Obviously it's not a good idea to advertise your address on tags etc when you are travelling and not at home. Personally we only ever have our email address and mobile number on the tags.

The other issue this raises is whether there should be some monitoring / security checks done to determine if people collecting bags are the rightful owners. Recently in VFA we were delayed quite a while getting through immigration and in the distance it was obvious that all the checked luggage was removed from the carousel by attendants and stacked on the floor. We strap each of our cases with two rainbow coloured straps so when I saw one of ours (and another) being wheeled by a stranger I got the attention of an airport worker by yelling out (loudly enough for everyone on the arrivals hall to hear) "Hey, he's stealing my bag". Immediately the stranger ditched our case and disappeared out the door.

When you think about it, stealing luggage at the airport would have to be one of the least risky pursuits for crims to engage in.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Unfortunately in this case the traveller did two things wrong:

1/ Had her address on her name-tag. You should only have name and phone number (Though they may be able to google the address if you have a public number. Mine is not listed)

2/ She had her house keys in her checked bags.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

When you think about it, stealing luggage at the airport would have to be one of the least risky pursuits for crims to engage in.

Well in the case of international arrivals I think the risk level would not be low as:

-the are is monitored by staff and CCTV (mainly die to drugs)
-It is a controlled area
and so their name will be on a passenger list or they would need to work there.

Domestic arrivals though would be less risky as customs are not chassing drugrunners, but you would imagine airport security would still have ample CCTV.

In this case there is CCTV of the woman and now that police have released it you would imagine that someone will recognise her.

Due to airport security "crims" getting around an airport with a covered head would draw attention. so anyone doing it more than as a one-off these days would probably be running high risk of being caught.

 

[OzEire]

2/ She had her house keys in her checked bags.

How odd, even if the bag was delayed (not stolen) that would have been a bad strategy.

Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

How odd, even if the bag was delayed (not stolen) that would have been a bad strategy.

Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Indeed. For example bag could has gone missing on the airline. May show up a day or two later. But if your house/car keys are in that bag will cause inconvenience.

She was originally on a cruise ship and from her description got a bit flustered in the rush to disembark the ship and put the keys in her luggage at that time.

 

[Denali]

My reaction to keys in checkin bag is similar to when I read urgently needed prescriptions are in my bag. I always carry my meds with me and if I needed a large quantity, then thats what insurance/doctor is for so I carry enough for a day or 4 and get a script for a larger quantity.

We have name, PO Box and a number on our tags.

Ive been looking at getting one of those security tags with an locator app but havent delved too much into it yet.

 

[DC3]

... Had her address on her name-tag ... had her house keys in her checked bags

As unfortunate as it is, I'd say that the traveller will not be making those mistakes again.

 

[Himeno]

The only time I've actually written anything on my bag tags, the text had rubbed off within a few flights.

I've never had an issue like this, but then I'm normally one of the first people from my flight to the carousel. Though I can see how it might be an issue given the way people react when bags start coming out (crowding the belt and preventing other people from being able to reach their bags) or if someone is slow and the bags are already coming out by the time they reach the belt.

JAL used to have staff in their domestic baggage claim areas who would match bags to claim tags before pax could leave the claim area, but such staff positions were removed when JAL was cost cutting during bankruptcy protection.
If these sorts of problems become widespread, might such a position have to be implemented?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

LAX used to double check your baggage claim with your suitcase before you left the terminal many moons ago.

Having an easily identifiable coloured bag like bright yellow or orange is a good idea as it's easy to spot from a distance.

 

[cove]

The pictures on our CCTV at home give excellent quality recordings of who came onto our property. I think the 8 camera system cost about $3,000.

 

[harvyk]

I have to admit, I've never put too much thought into having my house address printed on my bags. Typically I only check bags for long haul with the family, and for those we tend to depart from SYD rather than CBR, so it would be quite a long drive for any would be thieves whom gleaned our address (and the "down at the pub" rate for our stuff probably wouldn't even cover the petrol money). Personally I'd say it would be far more likely that some bozo walking past our house over a few days would notice the missing car from the carport for several days at a time, and it would simply be a crime of opportunity.

That said I'd never ever place valuable things like my house keys into my checked bags even without my address printed on the side.

 

[Pushka]

I only put my mobile number. That's enough to identify and get action happening.

Our house was broken into a week after it was auctioned. They had clearly attended as they selected their target thefts across the house.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I only put my mobile number. That's enough to identify and get action happening.

Our house was broken into a week after it was auctioned. They had clearly attended as they selected their target thefts across the house.

Plus may well have fiddled with a window etc to make entry easy.

 

[CaptJCool]

Yea NO residential addresses on luggage

with the qantas 'tags' there's no addy whatsoever.....

muses in bygone days the work address was good - imagine the crook turning upto a city locale haha.

Google maps searches are they trackable?

 

[nodabs]

I still have my work address listed not that i think it would ever be used. Not too concerned about mobile number but then being in an apartment i have a second layer of security as well.

My mother was a TA for a couple of decades and one of the things she would tell every client is not to put residential addresses on bag tags. She had too many people report break ins while away! never a good idea

 

[TomVexille]

LAX used to double check your baggage claim with your suitcase before you left the terminal many moons ago.

Post 9/11 it was everywhere across the USA

 

[davidj]

Great, now another thing that will become regulated and controlled at the airport... "Hi Sir, please show me your ID... okay great thanks here are your bags".

Comments regarding recording of video at airport... end of the days these scum don't really care as they already have multiple police records (and have nothing to lose), all they are after is quick cash for their crack fix and run.

 

[robtemt]

The pictures on our CCTV at home give excellent quality recordings of who came onto our property. I think the 8 camera system cost about $3,000.

We paid around $1000 for our 8 camera system and DVR (Swan), we paid our electrician to install our system so it linked back to my study and all wires were in the roof space. Well worth it, I agree.

LAX used to double check your baggage claim with your suitcase before you left the terminal many moons ago.

Having an easily identifiable coloured bag like bright yellow or orange is a good idea as it's easy to spot from a distance.

Las Vegas used to be the same. I think they were one of the last to stop. It was a nightmare showing your claim tags to them to be cross checked. But probably a lot less bags going missing there...

 

[cove]

With our camera system the level of difficulty of the installation would be a 9 or a 10 as we are on multi levels, half an acre and it is walled and gated. Still nothing can keep a pro burglar out no matter whether it is at work or home.
Leaving keys inside a checked bag is not a wise decision.
I like it where the cameras are pretty well hidden so an intruder can be identified.

 

[moa999]

And more importantly the camera recordings are kept in a secure place.
Much easier now with IP stuff, and the ability to send to the cloud (if you have the bandwidth).

My view on security is you want enough that someone else's place becomes a better target.