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

[chelzmalee]

I think my bags have my parents address on them - that's how long the tags have been on.

It's a bloody long drive for anyone who wants to break into their house though. We only fly long haul out of SYD, so they're pretty keen if they want to drive 4hrs to break in and steal some old TVs.

Have never considered the implications though. Is definitely something I'll look into changing now. Of course, keys are always in my carry-on/handbag and usually hidden (mainly so they don't fall out while I'm scrounging for something else).

Have always travelled with bright pink suitcase and rainbow strap - makes it easy to identify and less chance of someone else "accidentally" taking it.

 

[Milefest]

An extremely rare occurrence where the cost of implementing additional security measures would vastly outweigh the cost of the rare break in which in most cases would be covered by insurance anyway.

 

[DC3]

Is there a reason that some people put their home address on travel luggage? I've only ever used my phone and email contact on luggage tags.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

It's amazing that passports have a line for Bearer's address in Australia. A check-in agent in the US tried to berate me for not having that detail entered.

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.

The deterrence provided by surveillance certainly has limitations, noting thefts perpetrated by airport workers and TSA agents themselves. Unfortunately it couldn't even prevent the public murder at SYD in 2009.

In cases where luggage can't be found at the carousel, how often is video surveillance even reviewed?

 

[vetrade]

An extremely rare occurrence where the cost of implementing additional security measures would vastly outweigh the cost of the rare break in which in most cases would be covered by insurance anyway.

Yes, but once other petty crims realise how low a priority airports place on prevention or deterrence, the number of these thefts could quickly escalate. In the case at hand it took a few months for the police to even release the CCTV footage and publicise it so you can bet they aren't going to be out and about chasing bag snatchers.

 

[clazman]

Seen the police picking up the contents of cases a few times on Tonkin highway on the bridge over the swan river

 

[dk4]

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.

The tiger cage, at the old MEL TT/T4 arrivals area was a good idea. It featured a wire-fenced in space, which all arriving passengers walked through, and this was where the checked bags were delivered after disembarkation - exiting the cage was via a one way turnstile, so at least only passengers could be in the bag collection area - all meet&greeters were kept on the outside, clinging to the wire.

 

[Denali]

..... so you can bet they aren't going to be out and about chasing bag snatchers.

Thats because there are dastardly jaywalkers to be caught!

Police crack down on jaywalkers in the city: No Cookies | Herald Sun

 

[Conrad_S]

This is a shark attack event. Good headlines but insignificant risk. Unless the thief was really after well used undies or cheap souvenirs I can't see checked baggage being a fertile paddock for crime.

 

[Haplo]

Lost baggage should be reported as soon as possible to the airport management, that way it makes insurance claim much easier as someone did use it to break into the place.

 

[harvyk]

This is a shark attack event. Good headlines but insignificant risk. Unless the thief was really after well used undies or cheap souvenirs I can't see checked baggage being a fertile paddock for crime.

There are enough people out there whom will go along to baggage auctions and pay real money to purchase bags which have been lost on the off chance that the bag contains something valuable. It stands to reason that there would be thieves out there whom might give it a go.

Of course, physically getting access to the bags is one thing, actually getting away with the crime is another. Apart from the risk of picking out a bag which belongs to someone else whom is standing there, you are almost certainly going to get your face on CCTV. Whilst airport security isn't going to notice someone "accidentally" picking up the wrong bag, they may notice someone hanging around the baggage carousels all day.

The other part of the equation is that most airports are not cheap to get out to. So you're going to want to get something truly worth while to cover the costs of getting there / back.

So from a thieves point of view, it's expensive to get to, there is a high likelihood of getting caught, unless you strike it lucky the yields are going to be low. From the point of view of the thief just getting "empty" addresses to rob, even simply trying to get addresses from bags doesn't pose a huge risk, since the thief would need to find a way of getting a list of potential addresses together, and there is no guarantee that the house would be worth breaking into.

If I was to put money on what thieves use to determine what house to break into, I'd say things like mail building up, bins out at the kerb at strange times, and cars in / not in the driveway which is different to normal. Most break-ins are simply ones of opportunity, not carefully planned events.

 

[Quickstatus]

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.

Last year I was asked to verify my ownership of collected bags at JFK/ I showed my boarding pass and luggage tag receipts
For many reasons never discard boarding pass.

Additionally not only theft of personal belongings but potentially frequent flyer points. The boarding pass often left behind (especially qantas) contain 2 of 3 pieces of information necessary to hack into a qantas frequent flyer account. a 4 letter pin can be guessed.

 

[harvyk]

Last year I was asked to verify my ownership of collected bags at JFK/ I showed my boarding pass and luggage tag receipts
For many reasons never discard boarding pass.

Additionally not only theft of personal belongings but potentially frequent flyer points. The boarding pass often left behind (especially qantas) contain 2 of 3 pieces of information necessary to hack into a qantas frequent flyer account. a 4 letter pin can be guessed.

Yeah, I've always wondered about the risks of stolen points. IMHO points stolen from an account would be very easily traceable. You'd need to set up an FF account, bounce the points into it, purchase your toaster (or something else from the shop, you certainly couldn't fly on them without taking a massive risk) and get it delivered to a fake address.

By the time you've gone to that effort, leaving a nice digital trail behind for authorities to find you, you could have simply swiped someones TV and sold it down at the pub for about the same income, or more likely targetted something of value, such as internet banking, where you can drain an account, and convert it into cash. It's the same level of risk, but for a much larger payday.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

It's a new world...

1. Never include private info on your luggage tags - email or mobile is more than enough
2. Never leave boarding passes behind or throw them in an airport bin
3. Never upload pics of boarding passes on social media (the QR/barcodes can be read which include all your booking/personal info)
4. Never leave your cabin baggage unlocked (organised gangs now target cabin bags on long haul flights)
5. Always take a photo of your tagged checked luggage on the weigh belt at check in (helps with airline lost baggage and also insurance claims)

 

[harvyk]

It's a new world...

4. Never leave your cabin baggage unlocked (organised gangs now target cabin bags on long haul flights)

You got a source for the claim that it's organised gangs?

 

[Pushka]

It's a new world...

1. Never include private info on your luggage tags - email or mobile is more than enough
2. Never leave boarding passes behind or throw them in an airport bin
3. Never upload pics of boarding passes on social media (the QR/barcodes can be read which include all your booking/personal info)
4. Never leave your cabin baggage unlocked (organised gangs now target cabin bags on long haul flights)
5. Always take a photo of your tagged checked luggage on the weigh belt at check in (helps with airline lost baggage and also insurance claims)

Sometimes you just gotta breathe and take a few risks. I've been more worried about the taxi drive that takes me home than these things.

 

[JohnPhelan]

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

SFO also - that was the first place I ever came across it, and thought it was a great idea.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yeah, I've always wondered about the risks of stolen points. IMHO points stolen from an account would be very easily traceable.

They could be moved to a "new" account and then redeemed for eGift Cards.

 

[Renato1]

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 have a similar set-up plus alarms, which cost a bit more than your set-up. Then for an extra $270 a year, a security company monitors our place. If an alarm goes off, they can see what's around our house via the cameras, rewind the recording and check on licence plates, and send two of their people to our place (costs $120 per call out), as well as call Police at the same time.

Obviously, this won't stop a quick smash and grab, but the likelihood of having one's place ransacked drops dramatically.

But the amusing part is being able to check out around one's house when overseas on a mobile phone or computer. My wife could see which plants needed extra watering.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Mrmaxwell]

You got a source for the claim that it's organised gangs?

Pirates in the sky: The number of thefts on planes is rising | The Economist