House Survey – Keys
Des Conway has over 20 years security experience, which combines police service with commercial security consultancy. He is experienced in undertaking security reviews of domestic and commercial properties, delivering reports highlighting vulnerabilities, and recommending simple, affordable and achievable countermeasures.
House Survey – Keys
Take a moment to consider the following question. Sit and think about it for a while, then write down what you think the answer is. How many sets of keys are there to your house and who holds them? Don’t read any further until you have done that, then with your list finished read on!
So how many sets of keys do you think are in circulation? Now, how many sets of keys could be in circulation?
When a house is sold, one or two sets of keys are surrendered and passed on to the new owner, but most families have more than two sets of keys. That means that anyone who used to own your house could still have keys that they kept for sentimental reasons (our first house)! They may be thrown in a box at the back of their garage with a nice brass tag showing the address they come from, but they exist somewhere!
Now widen the consideration. One or all of the previous owners may have given a forgotten set of keys to a relative for safe keeping, or given a key to the lady who used to clean for them. They may have forgotten that they gave the plumber a key the time he had to replace the boiler when they were on holiday. That nice Mrs Biggins who used to live over the road had a key, because she used to pop in at lunchtime to let their dog out. Oh yes, the man at number 73 used to service the car, so he had a garage key! Come to think about it little Jason lost his keys at school three times so we gave him a new set each time! Then of course there are the six or seven estate agencies, over the past 15 years they all had a set of keys when they were trying to sell the house and they may have taken copies!
So, how many sets of keys did you write down on your list? Now that you have read the information above, how many more sets or individual keys do you think you could or should add to that list?
There is no point at all in improving the security of your home when you don’t know, or are not certain who has or may have a set of keys to the property. If you have no control over the keys, you have no control over the security and safety of the premises. If you haven’t changed the locks since you moved in, any number of people you don’t know and have never met may have keys to your house! Remember previous owners may not have been as security conscious or careful in their control of keys as you will hopefully be!
Even if you are careful when making duplicates and giving sets of keys to people, how careful are you with your keys? You may think that they are safe on a hook in the kitchen or in a little bowl in the hall, but they may not be. Dishonest window cleaners have snatched sets of keys, had copies cut and then returned the originals when they came in to rinse a sponge, or they might just declare that the keys were found in the drive! That copied key with a list of the valuables the window cleaner has spotted in the house could be sold off to a burglar or used by the window cleaner in his night job as a thief. Keys in the hallway could be taken by somebody coming in to deliver a parcel, read the electricity meter or measure up for new carpets.
Even leaving keys in the hall could be a risk, because thieves have found that fishing through the letterbox with a cane with a hook on the end can be quite rewarding. While you are in bed, it’s worth a criminal investing 15 minutes of his time fishing through the letterbox, if the reward is that he gets the keys to your BMW or Porsche. All keys should be out of sight and out of reach of the door and any visitors who are passing through.
Keys – countermeasures
Locks give you security, keys give you access. Remember that unless you are very careful with your keys, you might as well not bother installing locks and locking things up in the first place.
Never leave any keys unattended – for example, in your car ignition while you go to open the garage or in your bag while you nip to the toilet. (Your bag will almost certainly also have something showing your address, so the thief will have your keys AND your address.)
Never leave keys inside windows, on desks at work, in your car – in fact anywhere that they may be taken or copied.
Be wary of labelling keys – you don’t want to tell a thief or any dishonest person who finds your lost keys where your house is or what the car number is.
If you want to put a label on keys, make it your mobile phone number. If you lose your keys and somebody calls, DON’T give your address, ask them to meet you at a convenient public place like the library or supermarket. Remember that they could be honest citizens just wanting to give you your keys back so don’t be too harsh on them. Agree to meet at a mutually convenient public place. Take the keys back, but on the basis of your opinion of the person who hands them back to you, consider changing all the locks anyway. For example, if you just don’t like the look or sound of him he may be a criminal, so trust your instinct and change the locks.
Always make sure you know how many keys you have cut for any given lock. Always record who has what key, then you know who has access, and know who to contact if you need a spare or have to replace the lock and issue new keys.
Before issuing a key to anyone, decide whether they really need a key of their own. Is it just for their convenience? If so they can wait to be let in by somebody else! Do they really need unattended access of their own? Do you want them to have unattended access of their own?
How many keys do people carry? Most people have or carry at least a few mystery keys – they can’t actually remember what they fit. When you change jobs or move, get rid of old keys. Spring clean your key ring today. Make a note of the keys you carry. Decide if you really need to carry the key to the lawn mower, or the key to your first motorbike that you keep as a keepsake. Remove any keys from your keyring if you don’t need to carry or don’t know what they are. Any that you recognise but no longer need – discard. Any you don’t need to carry (like the lawnmower key) put somewhere safe like a kitchen drawer. Any keys you don’t want, don’t use and can’t remember what they are, put in a sealed envelope in the back of a kitchen drawer marked ‘Unknown Keys’ with today’s date. A year from now if you still don’t remember what they are, and haven’t needed them – discard them.
Never allow strangers to have unattended access anywhere that keys are kept. It is too easy to take a key.
Make sure that everyone keeps their keys safe – put them on a chain, or on a clip inside a handbag or case. That way they shouldn’t be forgotten, because people know they always unclip the keys, use them then clip them straight back into the handbag, etc.
Avoid using key racks which are helpfully labelled ‘BMW, Garage, Speedboat’, etc.
If you find that a key doesn’t fit any more, change the locks. It is not unknown for criminals to simply switch keys, it takes a second or two and the loss may not be noticed for days or weeks. It works like this: the criminal takes a door key and substitutes one that looks the same. The key owner still thinks they have the five keys they always carry including a back door key! Because they never use that key, they have no idea that the key that they think is their back door key has been replaced by a similar key. (A reminder that if you don’t need to carry the key – don’t carry it.) Meanwhile the criminal is at large for weeks with a key to the back door of your house or worse still the key to the back door to your shop!
If you have lost a key, or have taken over a property and don’t know what keys are in circulation, there is only one remedy and that is to change all of the locks. With new locks, you have total control over who has a key to your house, garage or shed. You will issue a new key to anyone you think needs access to the house.
When managing keys, keep the number of keys to a minimum.
Review your list of key holders. If circumstances change you may be able to, or have to ask for keys to be returned. If so, update your list, and consider changing the locks anyway.
For extra security you can buy a security lock, which means that keys can only be cut at specialist security stores, they cannot be copied at any shoe repair shop or market stall.
Seriously consider issuing a single key and not sets of keys. For example, if you have children who may lose their keys, only issue them with a single key to either the front or back door. (Given a choice select the door with the lock that is easiest and cheapest to replace.) Then if the children lose their key, only that single door has been compromised, which means you only have to replace that single lock. If the child loses a set of keys you may be regularly replacing every lock in the house!
Are there any keys available to a criminal who sticks a cane with a hook on the end through the door? A lot of cars have been stolen with the owner’s keys that have been fished out through the letterbox or a broken window. Move keys away from letterboxes – fit a mail basket, internal flap and brush draught excluder as well to prevent ‘fishing’.
If you have a cleaner or other employee, or a lodger, or any other non-family member of the household, I strongly suggest that you replace all of the locks to which they had a key when the relationship is terminated. If relationships break down and tenants are evicted, or employees sacked or a lover is dumped, they could all hold a grudge. Why risk them coming back with a duplicate key to leave the taps on, take the television or put rotten kippers under all of the seat cushions? Change the locks!
Don’t leave house keys in your car. If the car is broken into, the criminal has your house keys, could well have the full address from documents in the car, and from the state and quality of the car also has a fairly good idea of your wealth and possessions.
If your keys were in your car, coat or briefcase or anything else that was stolen for that matter, change the locks.
Never, ever give, loan or leave house keys with a builder or other workmen.
I would never ever, leave keys in the tender care of estate agents or anyone else. The minute you hand a key over to an organisation rather than a person, you have totally and irrevocably breached your security.
House Survey – Valuable Contents
When doing a full house security survey on your own home, you should also do a valuable contents survey. (If you are performing a house security survey on a house you are thinking of buying, you clearly won’t be doing a valuable contents survey.)
A valuable contents survey requires you to retrace your steps through all floors of the house starting at the front door. As you pass through each room you should note the valuable contents, particularly the sort of things that a criminal would be interested in taking. Remember to open every door to include contents of cupboards, wardrobes, trunks, etc. to include things that are not actually visible or on show, such as, Great Aunt Susan’s jewellery, which is kept in the bottom of the wardrobe. Then there is the wedding gift of the antique vase, you think it is so ugly that you keep it in the airing cupboard or loft – and don’t forget the digital camera in your sock drawer, etc.
Make a note of the things that need to be photographed as an addition to any serial numbers and descriptions that you write down. If at all possible, mark your postcode and house name or number on each item. An ultraviolet pen can be used for this, but items have to be marked in an area where handling or cleaning and polishing will not wear the marking away.
Every house in the country has a postcode, which identifies a small group of houses. The addition of your house number (or the first few letters of the house name) will identify your house. If any property then comes into the possession of the police, they can check the postcode and contact you to ask why the person they have in custody has your television! If you can say it was stolen last night, that is evidence, just as much as if you say you sold it through a newspaper advert to a Mr Smith!
An opportunistic burglar will take cash and small items that can easily be carried and can easily be resold, such as cameras, jewellery, personal stereos, MP3 music players, watches etc. Some burglars will be more organised and will arrive with transport, so they could take hi-fi systems, televisions, DVD players, computers etc. For a major country home containing antiques and artwork, it is not unheard of for criminals to bring a removal lorry and spend some time clearing hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of property.
You will know what valuables could be targeted at your particular home. You should make a note of the contents of each room, describing where possible the following information:
- Item description (e.g. Flat Screen 38 inch television)
- Make (e.g. Panasonic)
- Item model (e.g. Model PS/345-2v)
- Serial number (e.g. P87-FS8650-7642-22)
- Unique marks (1 inch x-shaped scratch above on/off switch)
- Other information (for example a jewellery valuation and date given)
- Is a photograph needed?
- Is it marked with a postcode? If so where is it marked?
Photographs
Wherever possible take photographs of items that might be hard to describe, (for example, jewellery, antiques, ceramics, artwork etc.). When you take a photo, picture the object from front, rear and side views if it will help to identify it. Always include a size scale in the picture – a 12 inch ruler is best, but I have seen fifty pence coins used in photographs to indicate the size of jewellery. Make sure that you keep a copy of the printed picture on file, and keep the negatives or digital image safe.
If property is lost, photographs make it a lot easier for you to show the police what is missing. Even for something as simple as a bicycle, a photograph saves a lot of time. Try to describe your bike from memory, or a bike belonging to a relative. What is the frame size, style, colour? (Especially when manufacturers mix colours – try to tell the police your bike frame was fluorescent red, yellow and green, with the cross bar graduating from yellow at the saddle end, to green at the handlebars except for bands of black where the water bottle and puncture repair kit are fastened.) Where is the frame number, what is the frame number? Producing a colour picture of your bike, ride on mower, jewellery, etc. and saying to the police ‘this is it’, is a whole lot easier.
A photograph is even more important if jewellery and antiques are stolen, especially with a size scale in shot to show anyone how big the object is.
Video footage
Like still pictures, video can be used to show valuables. A tour of the house featuring key items is better than describing the contents of the home and can help people in a house with a lot of objects to identify and remember what is missing after a raid. A video image is not a substitute for records of make, model and serial number etc. The video tape will be additional information.
Insurance
A bonus of having video and photographs available is that it could help with insurance valuations after a fire or other disaster. Footage of the home with the valuables in place is better than showing an assessor a pile of rubble and assuring them that you really did have a Ming Dynasty vase, flat screen TV in every room, and priceless family heirlooms! Your claim is more likely to be accepted and processed quickly if you can give details. One insurance company reported that only 14% of claimants knew the make, model and serial number of the property they were claiming for.
Telling the criminals what you have
Do you advertise the fact when you buy new electronic goods? You don’t think you do, but you might! Forget the computer on show in the conservatory window and the latest flat screen TV in the lounge. We aren’t yet thinking about that nice laptop or electronic organiser carelessly left in the car. We’re still considering the house, but more specifically what you throw out.
Everything is shipped and delivered in packages and as soon as we get it home we unpack and install it. It might be the latest hi-fi, a laptop computer or the latest flat screen televisions for the kitchen and the kids’ bedrooms. Then we dump the box outside beside the bin and later put the box out for the dustman – and in doing so we also advertise to criminals that we just installed a brand new ‘whatever-it-says-on-the-box’. The criminals know that, and they are clever enough to walk, cycle or drive round on rubbish collection day to see which house has thrown out some nice new and expensive looking boxes. It doesn’t take Einstein to see that the people at number 42 have just unpacked and installed a wide screen television, top of the range computer or other deliciously tempting target.
Be careful and be green. Break the packaging down, turn the printed side inwards (so observers don’t know what came in the box) and then take it to the recycling centre. That way nobody but you and the friends you show your new ‘toy’ to will know what you have.
Information theft
You should seriously consider the documents and other information that you discard, and how you dispose of documents that may be useful to a criminal. Most people have been in situations where they are asked to produce proof of identity, where household bills or perhaps bank statements are accepted. A sift through the rubbish bin of many houses will produce an alarming amount of information, such as:
- bank statements
- pay statements/slips
- CVs and job applications with full personal details on applicants
- income tax documents
- receipts for purchases containing your bank information
- cash withdrawal receipts
- insurance documents
- personal letters
- full name and date of birth
- personal loan information
- court papers
- mortgage statements and details
- utility bills
- credit card statements and receipts showing numbers and expiry dates
- council tax statements
- notes showing cash card and other card personal PIN numbers
- discarded and out-of-date credit cards.
Are you happy that strangers could have collected that sort of personal information about you and your family so easily? Are you happy that businesses are so careless with your details that they throw similar information into a bin to which anyone has access?
Do you care that strangers know what you get paid, what your regular monthly payments are, or what your bank balance is?
Other than an intrusion into your private affairs, criminals could use all of this information to run up huge bills using your name! Credit card numbers are quite handy. Some unscrupulous employees working for companies which carelessly overlook criminal transactions can earn thousands from your credit card. You may discard enough information to give them on-line access to your bank account, or deal in stolen cars!
But it gets worse! Criminals could abuse your identity in more extreme ways. With the information and papers from your dustbin they could quite easily get a duplicate of your birth certificate by pretending to be you. With that they can begin to create a parallel identity, perhaps renting accommodation and setting up bank accounts, then taking out huge mortgages or importing drugs. This process is called ‘identity theft’ and I saw a report that stated that during 2003, identity theft increased by 54% over the previous year. The information is all they need and it is possible that you are happily tossing that into the bin for them to take their pick.
In the UK, identity fraud in 2003 cost us a total of £1.3 billion. But it is widely reported that identity fraud is a growth criminal industry so the 2004 and subsequent figures will be a lot higher.
Criminals are happy to pay the homeless and drug addicts to search bags and bins; there has been a surge in reports of interference with rubbish bags all over the country but mainly in major cities. While searching for information they slit bags open and toss through the rubbish looking for likely information. When they get it, they can either use it or sell it on. Apparently the going rate for personal details is surprisingly low. About £5 to £30 buys you a name and address with credit card details with expiry dates, etc. A top rate of about £50 will be paid for a full range of personal information that can be used to establish an identity.
With your information being misused you could lose money from your accounts and you could find that your credit rating has fallen to a point where you can no longer get loans. People have been refused a mortgage or loan because of debts that they knew nothing about, or even had the police asking them questions about fraudulent transactions completed in their name. Don’t get caught out.
Information theft – counter-measures
The answer is to destroy any personal documents and you can do that in a number of ways. For example:
Scissors. You could sit and cut things up – Anything that contains personal information, such as bank account details, National Insurance numbers and your pay slips, etc. Though you could sit and snip up the whole page into tiny unreadable pieces, you only need to destroy the sections of a document that hold that personal information. You don’t need to destroy the parts of a credit card statement that only tell you how to pay, or advertise and invite you to apply for a loan. If you are certain that it has no personal information on it, just throw it away!
Fire. If you have the space and time to do it safely, you could keep all of your personal documents and then have a monthly bonfire to totally destroy any trace of personal information. You have to have the space to do it safely. You have to make sure that everything has been completely destroyed and that the fire is completely out before you leave it. You also have to clean up the ashes or leave them blowing around the garden and put up with the mess!
Office shredder. Many people have access to an office shredder, and many employers do not object to their staff bringing in and shredding the occasional document, but before you try it would be best to check with your employer. If they allow you to do it, don’t abuse it. Once word gets around in the family you could end up with all the personal documents for your mother, father, aunt, grandmother and your cousin Bob. Your employer would not be pleased if you were spending two hours per day destroying family documents.
Home shredder. You can buy shredders for home use. They range from handcranked plastic boxes to almost office specification machines starting at about £60. Most shredders are graded by how fine the strips are. The more strips you cut a page into the harder it would be to reassemble them and gather the information. A cross cut shredder is even more secure, because it not only shreds a page, it cuts each little strip into sections cutting across the strip – hence the name. That makes reassembly of a cross cut shredded page even more difficult. You can manage with a hand-cranked machine, but they are quite slow. An electric shredder is quicker and more convenient. CAUTION: remember that if abused a shredder can be dangerous and that shredded paper could be a significant fire hazard!
Security waste disposal companies. Some companies offer a secure shredding service. They have industrial shredders, and will contract to attend client premises to collect confidential documents. They contract and guarantee to collect, transport, shred and dispose of those documents in absolute security. However, most security waste disposal companies would probably not be interested in dealing with household documents and if they did the fees would be considerable.
Don’t give out personal information over the telephone unless you are absolutely and totally sure of the identity of the person calling. I suggest that you should never give personal details over the telephone to anyone who calls you, no matter what their reason or excuse.
If you need to give personal details only do so if you telephone them, so that you are sure of their identity. If so only call them on a telephone number that you can confirm, e.g. it is on your bank statement, or is taken from a telephone directory, etc.
If somebody telephones and asks for personal or financial details, NEVER call them back on the number they give you. You could be phoning a criminal. If they require details tell them to write to you, or tell them to give you a name and address so that you can look up their legitimate number in the telephone directory.
Remember that the Internet is just another telephone call. Some criminals are not trying to collect personal information via emails. The email looks official and seems to come from an official source, e.g. fraudoffice@mybank.com, but they are quite easy to create. To all intents and purposes anyway, the Internet and emails are not secure, NEVER give personal, financial or any private information out over the Internet. When buying over the Internet, only do so if you are totally and absolutely sure that the website is secure and legitimate!
False websites are quite easy to create as well. If I was a criminal I could create a website called www.securityyourbank.com. I could set that up to look like it was an official site run by your bank. I could entice you to log in and ‘register’ for reduced rates, free gifts or a chance to enter our million pound draw. Of course when you register you will have to prove you are you by keying in your account number, credit card number, security code and your mother’s maiden name and the last purchase you made over £100 on that card. With all of those details, they are spending your money before you log off! NEVER give personal, financial, medical or any details over the Internet in any survey, quiz, competition or other transaction.
Never trust a mail shot, it may look official but you don’t know. An official looking letter arrives through your front door, explaining that everybody is switching to PIN number cards for security reasons and asking you to fill in and return the enclosed form to ‘our processing centre’. So the form asks for the account number, expiry date, security code details, your mother’s maiden name, etc, and you return it in the conveniently post paid envelope to Mr C Riminal, Central Processing Centre, PO Box 1554, Crookstown. There goes some more of your money!
Before you fill in any form, stop and think. A lot of organisations issue forms for such things as extended warranty, or asking for a quote for a new kitchen, or whatever. Have you ever wondered why they are asking some of the questions, such as:
Do you own your own home?
Do you have a mortgage – if so how much?
Which banks do you use?
What is your annual income?
They are collecting information on YOU. Nothing to do with what they are selling. They are collecting marketing information that they use or sell to other people to use. When you fill that form in, marketing men are sitting around rubbing their hands in glee. For example, they now know that you are a young married couple with no children, you own your own house and have a high income, so suddenly all sorts of marvellous offers start coming through your letterbox. Do you want to buy a luxury timeshare in Costaripoff? Do you want to buy exclusive designer handbags, or maybe a top of the range set of golf clubs?
When you get a form, fill in what is pertinent and cross out the ‘information gathering’ questions that have no bearing on the purchase or enquiry. If they won’t sell to me I will write to their head office to complain about their tactics, but I don’t really care, plenty of other honest businesses will sell me their products without demanding information that they don’t need!
Then they come back!
Criminals know that you will claim off your insurance and replace anything that has been stolen. They know that you will replace your missing possessions with something that is as good as, or better than what was stolen as soon as you can.
Unfortunately, having been inside they also know a bit about the security of your house, so it is quite common for criminals to wait to give you time to replace everything, then come back. On the second visit they take all the new possessions that you have only just unwrapped (another reason not to leave those boxes out for the dustman).
