Collection Ripped Off?

[tomclark]

Collection/Sites Ripped Off?

Got your attention?

I know several people whose entire collections of cased points were stolen while they were at work. Neighborhood kids did it. The kids that these kind gentlemen had shown their artifacts to and were friendly with. They did not get their cases back.

The GPS tagging that your camera/phone can do can show exactly where in your house you took a picture, if the tagging is not turned off. Think for a minute about what you show the world. I saw a facebook page with a large collection and the owner is blabbing about going on vacation. Criminals love FaceBook and likely some of these forums. Just takes one criminal in the parade of information and pics.

In these days it's more important than ever to maintain vigilance over your collection and information shared, especially via social media and internet. Back in the day one would worry a little about a point walking off the table at a show. Now you have to be concerned about satellites and blabbermouths and cybercriminals. Almost anyone can get into an artifact room/mancave/whatever and it's pickup and run. I am shocked at what I see people post on FaceBook and YouTube.

I've been on these forums for many years and it's never been as open and rabid, LOL.
Please Retain Stool!!!

(49 is not the last number boom)


My house has been broken into twice in the past twenty years. No artifacts missing and there was the recent/regular stuff just laying around desks and tables, LOL. Just a camera and a jar of coins. If there had been a stack of case boxes or cases on the walls I don't know if they would have taken them. The most valuable and extensive FL collection that I have seen is in it's own special built room with various features if you can get past the dogs and the owner. The entire room is like a vault, opened by invite. He won't be posting pics of his collection on any forum or social media, doesn't even participate in any of that.

Another friend has furniture with built in compartments!

Maybe we should have a thread about thefts so newcomers into the hobby understand it may be a problem if not addressed......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging

Dangers of geotagging[edit]

Following a scientific study[SUP][12][/SUP] and several demonstrative websites,[SUP][13][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP] a discussion on the privacy implications of geotagging has raised public attention.[SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][16][/SUP][SUP][17][/SUP][SUP][18][/SUP] In particular, the automatic embedding of geotags in pictures taken with smartphones is often ignored by cell-phone users. As a result, people are often not aware that the photos they publish on the Internet have been geotagged. Many celebrities reportedly gave away their home location without knowing it. According to the study, a significant number of for-sale advertisements on Craigslist, that were otherwise anonymized, contained geotags, thereby revealing the location of high-valued goods—sometimes in combination with clear hints to the absence of the offerer at certain times. Publishing photos and other media tagged with exact geolocation on the Internet allows random people to track an individual's location and correlate it with other information. Therefore, criminals could find out when homes are empty because their inhabitants posted geotagged and timestamped information both about their home address and their vacation residence. These dangers can be avoided by removing geotags with a metadata removal tool for photos before publishing them on the Internet.[SUP][19][/SUP] [SUP][20][/SUP]
In 2007, four United States Army Apache helicopters were destroyed on the ground by Iraqi insurgent mortar fire; the insurgents had made use of embedded coordinates in web-published photographs (geotagging) taken of the helicopters by soldiers.[SUP][21]

Apache Helicopters cost 18-20 Million dollars a piece in 2007!

Check out some pic's exif information with this online tool

http://www.findexif.com/

.........see what I'm talking about. some of you have GPS off, Geotagging off, some do not.[/SUP]

 

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[BOBBY PIN KING]

nothing like a decoy vault for the crooks,with bricks and pennies in it for noise.......

 

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[centfladigger]

I invested in a pretty big safe awhile back, you can anchor them into your concrete slab or floor. IF someone somehow got it loose, it would take 2 or 3 guys to get it out. I found this safe in a vacant house , it was already opened and when I took it to the lock and key guy he reset the combo for $25 and informed me I had some silver in the tray. Double score for me

 

[dlos]

Great post and advice.

 

[bci101tractors]

LOL!!! That's right. Evidently you haven't heard that banks must allow safe deposit box inventorying by certain branches of our govt, and they do not, er I mean cannot let you know you have been visited.

LOL!!!! Did you read that on the internet??
I'm just saying that the security system in the basement of my bank certainly surpasses anything I could have at home. I can go on vacation and sleep well knowing that my collection and valuables are safe.
Most of what I have in the lock box is also locked again in bags, do they have a key for them as well??

 

[theviking]

LOL!!! That's right. Evidently you haven't heard that banks must allow safe deposit box inventorying by certain branches of our govt, and they do not, er I mean cannot let you know you have been visited.

Do you really believe that there is a certain branch of our government that goes around and takes inventory of every safe deposit box in the US? Banks do routinely break into boxes, but almost always in the case of a neglected account. The government can also break into a box if they want, but almost always due to an investigation, as long as your not an international jewel thief, or a major drug dealer I think you are probably safe. Good info and thanks for the post tomclark.

 

[pickaway]

Be aware who you let in your house I had a buddy lose a frame of killers to someone he lived with, safes are good but can be breached if i was a crook id focus on a safe, I worked in a prison for years Ive learned to hide things in places a crook wouldnt waste time looking.good post

 

[quito]

Now, I know I never said every safe deposit box in the country. Did I?

Would you believe just the ones they want to?

 

[rock]

Well for sure if you have a nice collection Id be wary of showing people the artifacts. Most of the ones I have could only be loved by the finder (me). I dont think I have anything to worry about, lol.

 

[old digger]

I bury most of my really good points in these, on the property!





The old fashioned way.

 

[NC field hunter]

Be aware who you let in your house I had a buddy lose a frame of killers to someone he lived with, safes are good but can be breached if i was a crook id focus on a safe, I worked in a prison for years Ive learned to hide things in places a crook wouldnt waste time looking.good post

"Places a crook would not look" that should be a Jeopardy category. I'd have to say the big gun safe would be crook's first look. Depends on how sharp of a crook we have, but I don't think many spots would go with out a peek. A possible safe place for hiding would be in the crook's work boots. Well..... If he owns a pair.

 

[mission]

I put all of my "choppers" in a icecream pail in July to show a local collector and they walked out of my garage along with my only pecked groove ax. Nothing else gone. So someone was comfortable enough to come in and either knew what they were getting, I doubt it, or took it out of opportunity. My list is a short one of who I think may have done this, a kid who moved away the same time this happened or like the post is about some smart techie found me but didn't take much, doubt it. This person took my favorite part of my collection without knowing it and that gets me the most, not the most valuable things but they were to me. Obviously not replaceable and a good chunk of my small collection, 3 rd year of collecting. Had a good long year and hadn't spent much time looking these pieces over no photos taken OUCH

 

[tomclark]

Ouch is right, can't hit the Like button on your post, Mission

 

[monsterrack]

This is JMO but if someone wants in your house they will get in, no matter the type of system you have . If man made it, man can get by it. Most home break in's will happen when you are at work or out of town, so they have time to look every where and you can not hide something from a real crook, the kid next door yes, but a real crook no. A safe deposit box is the best and I don't think Uncle Sam is worried about Indian artifacts, unreported gold , silver, yes but rocks no. I have a lot of stuff in my home but I worry more of a fire than a crook, a fire takes everything and my Ins. want pay what my collection is worth. I know because I had a fire once and of all the things that can't be replaced is your photo's and yes I keep some of those at the bank on disc.

 

[smokeythecat]

I had an attempted break in this past spring. It was not "personal", a lot of houses right around here had the same "treat". Joke was on them though. I just left to go to church. Good thing I wasn't home. Anyway, I had just built a 10' x 12' wooden box out of 1 x 12's to hold water to float a 32" model ship in for a film project. (Yes some of us are multi-talented, or just plain nuts.) And it was for a CHURCH project. Anyway, I noticed the thing would not allow the basement door to open. It opens inward. Now these crooks thought the alarm signs were fakes. They were not. 9 minutes after I left, I get a call on the cell. Alarm went off. So, I went back home, figured the wind had blown open that basement door. Didn't call the police - note to self, next time call police. There were fresh tire tracks and footprints in the lawn. Basement door was open - 6". That's all it would open with the big box in front of it. So they wait for me to leave, figuring the lawn signs are fakes (they are not), kick the basement door looking for a 2-3 minute "visit" most likely, the box stopped them cold. Alarm went off. They left.

I have a 2 cubic foot safe. It weighs a ton and is behind furniture which would have to be moved to get to it. It doesn't have a whole lot of good stuff in it, I don't have a whole lot. I've never really even had a lot. Over time I've had some nice pieces but like most of us don't have lots of money so have sold it just to pay bills. I have mainly papers in it these days plus some of my mom's things and even some of the kids toys, things you wouldn't want to lose in a fire. Sentimental junk. No one would get it out before the police arrived, and yes, the cameras with those cute little red lights on them work well, too.

Biggest fear is a nighttime invasion because I'd either wind up with a dirt nap or have to hire ServePro to clean up the mess. In the second instance I'd probably wind up deaf from close proximity of thunder cannon going off indoors. Those home invasions are getting much more frequent.

 

[scotto]

I knew a guy who was worried about theft, so he had a box "rigged" so if a crook opened it - let's just say he'll wish he didn't. He had it marked with something like "cash" or "coin collection" to draw a would-be robber to it. I'd be too afraid to have something like that in my house, but this man lived alone and wasn't worried about it I guess.

Another guy I knew had someone break into his place, and they woke up his sleeping rottweiler that they didn't know was in there. They didn't catch the guy but he lost a LOT of blood trying to get away.

 

[NC field hunter]

This is JMO but if someone wants in your house they will get in, no matter the type of system you have . If man made it, man can get by it. Most home break in's will happen when you are at work or out of town, so they have time to look every where and you can not hide something from a real crook, the kid next door yes, but a real crook no. A safe deposit box is the best and I don't think Uncle Sam is worried about Indian artifacts, unreported gold , silver, yes but rocks no. I have a lot of stuff in my home but I worry more of a fire than a crook, a fire takes everything and my Ins. want pay what my collection is worth. I know because I had a fire once and of all the things that can't be replaced is your photo's and yes I keep some of those at the bank on disc.

My Granddaddy was one of the smartest people I ever knew. He instilled what you said in to me. If a man made it, a man can take it apart and fix it. Another quote of his, "get out of that bed and do something, even if its wrong". That day I tore the deck off of the house. My Grandma had been wanting a new deck. He told me to do something, right or wrong. I did it!! Off topic.... Just made me remember a great man. Thanks for reminding me Rack!

 

[fongu]

Good information to know. There have been several artifact thefts within our community and within 30 miles of here. One collection was supposed to be worth thousands of dollars. I did have someone come into my house and steal my checking account number and open an account and start writing checks. How they got into my house without busting a window makes me think they had a bump key like they have on the youtube channel. I stay with my elderly Mama at nights and went and ate supper with her and came back to finish something I was doing on my pc. I smelled ladies perfume and knew someone had been here, but didn't know what was up until I called my bank and found out about the checks. They opened a checking account in their name but used my checking account number. Caused me to close out a long time account, have to go to the sheriff's office and do all this other stuff that took up my time and I caught this by accident and they only successfully passed one check about 100 miles from where I live. They sure put me thru a lot of trouble. Maybe I need to put a small mouse trap in my safe deposit box. lol

 

[monsterrack]

Just remember if you set any kind of trap and I do mean any kind and if the crook gets hurt are killed by a trap you will be sued by the crook are their family. It is a very screwed up legal system.

 

[bci101tractors]

They would just go "missing"...here anyway. But, a valid point.

Just remember if you set any kind of trap and I do mean any kind and if the crook gets hurt are killed by a trap you will be sued by the crook are their family. It is a very screwed up legal system.

 

[scotto]

Just remember if you set any kind of trap and I do mean any kind and if the crook gets hurt are killed by a trap you will be sued by the crook are their family. It is a very screwed up legal system.

Well yes, I didn't agree with him and with my memory - it's not a good idea anyhow, lol.