Caught Red Handed! 5 Common Tricks and How to Counter Them

While mainstream media will have you believe that burglars are nothing but mere bumbling buffoons, there’s a distinct element of cunning and shrewdness associated with most burglaries. Turns out, these bandits have grown extremely tech-savvy and use the very defenses of your house to their advantage!

To help homeowners get some peace of mind, we’ve compiled a short list of the most common tricks criminals use to penetrate home defense systems. Furthermore, a simple yet effective counter for each trick is also mentioned so people can fortify their defenses and guarantee their safety!

Trick #1 – Dog Treats

Dogs aren’t only great company but also do a remarkable job of keeping intruders at bay. A properly trained guard dog can not only deter thieves but also attack them if needed. This is why when people get a furry, four-legged friend to guard and protect their homes, they think that they’ve effectively beefed up security at their homes and won’t experience troubles from intruders and thieves any more.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case as thieves have come up with a simple yet ridiculously effective way of countering guard dogs; by offering them dog treats! Believe it or not, thieves are able to gain the trust of a guard dog by feeding it treats every night for a long period of time. This makes the dog trust them, which means that when they strike, your guard dog is less likely to attack them or even howl to grab your attention!

An Effective Counter

By far the easiest way of countering this issue is by making sure that your guard dog is always well fed so that it doesn’t accept treats from strangers. Furthermore, you can also train your guard dog to always chase away strangers and to never let its guard down.

Trick #2 – Staking Out Your Property

Recent research conducted by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte shows that on average, burglaries in the United States take around 7 to 10 minutes. The main reason why thieves are so efficient at their job is because before they attack a home, they meticulously plan out every action in advance. They identify the weak spots in your house and brainstorm on how to overcome them.

In short, they know about the vulnerabilities of your home better than you and can use this extensive knowledge to plan out the best route of action. They spend a significant amount of time staking out your property before striking which is why they’re able to steal thousands of dollars in just a few minutes!

An Effective Counter

By far the easiest way of foiling a stake out is by installing security cameras. A surprisingly common mistake that most people make is that they install surveillance cameras on the front and back doors of the house and think that they’ll be safe. Frankly speaking, two security cameras, on their own, won’t be effective at foiling an intrusion.

A better practice will be to install a security camera on your drive way in addition to the ones installed on the front and back doors. We also advise going through the security footage at the end of every week to try to identify any foul play. Perhaps there’s an unmarked car that pulls up on the block every day. Whatever the case may be, if you find something fishy going on, you should alert the authorities as soon as possible. Hand over the security footage to the cops and let them handle the situation!

Trick #3 – Disguises

While this may sound something straight out of Hollywood blockbuster, it’s surprisingly true. Thieves and intruders create many fake aliases to try to get entry into the houses they intend to steal. Furthermore, they go the extra mile and put on very convincing disguises to try to convince homeowners to let them into their property.

Intruders have been known to dress up as gardeners, postmen, plumbers and electricians to get access into homes. Given the fact that people know so very little about the services that they hire, these intruders are able to take advantage of your ignorance and find it very easy to rob your home.

An Effective Counter

You can overcome the problem of disguises by simply never opening your door to unexpected visitors. Whether it’s a plumber or technician, don’t let them into the house unless you’ve called for them.

Installing a fish eye lens on your front door is also a wise idea as you can simply ask your visitor to show their credentials through the lens. If the unexpected visitor complies and shows you their identification card, quickly Google the details and make sure that everything checks out. However, if you find anything wrong, ask them very firmly to leave and notify them about your intentions to call the cops if the fail to remove themselves from your property.

Trick #4 – Embracing New Technology

It goes without saying that technology has completely revolutionized our lives. While recent technological advancements have no doubt made our lives safer and much easier, unfortunately, they’ve also helped thieves and burglars!

Intruders are now able to come up with cunning plans of bypassing security cameras, and disabling home alarms BEFORE they activate. Furthermore, they can send short, targeted electromagnetic pulses (EMP) that have the ability to disrupt a home defense system completely. To cut a long story short, there are many illegal yet incredibly ingenious ways of getting past home security systems!

An Effective Counter

Luckily, recent technological advancements in security have made things much easier for homeowners. There are many new gadgets that can be utilized to quell a home invasion before it happens.

Nowadays, homeowners can make use of thermal-activated sensors that record only when a person moves in their vicinity which means that you don’t have to sit and watch hours of uneventful footage as the camera records only when there’s action.

Furthermore, you can make use of biometrics to further fortify your homes. Things like finger print scanners and retina scanners are great at not only stopping invaders but deterring them from trying in the first place!

Trick #5 – Lock Picking

By far the most common way intruders get into a house is by picking the locks. Armed with nothing but a hairpin, thieves can open the standard door lock in less than a few minutes! This presents a massive problem to homeowners as a huge majority of them rely so heavily on these locks to keep intruders at bay.

Furthermore, in some instances, intruders don’t even have to pick a lock to get access to a building as they forge fake keys to make things easier for themselves on the day of the heist!

An Effective Counter

The simplest way of getting around this problem is by replacing the locks at your house with new and improved models that are virtually impossible to pick. We at New York Locksmith networks have a massive collection of locks that were especially designed with intruders in mind.

Furthermore, our team of expert locksmiths understands the importance of security to your house and knows that time is of the essence, which is why we offer 24 hour locksmith in Brooklyn NY and emergency locksmith in Queens.

Don’t gamble with lives of your loved ones at stake! Call us today to learn more about how you can fortify your defenses against intruders, and take the first step of ensuring the safety of you and your family!