My Computer Stolen By Burglars

[tigerbeer]

i have a webhosting account with powweb with 300 Gigs included. i pay yearly around 3000 plus baht per year including domain name. do all my backup there in addition to my external HDD.

[richard10365]

If possible, can we make a map of the areas that have been burglarized and pin it to the top of the Chiang Mai forum.

Something like this could help future and current residents adjust their level of security appropriately.

Yes??? No??? Maybe???

[cdnvic]

If possible, can we make a map of the areas that have been burglarized and pin it to the top of the Chiang Mai forum.

Something like this could help future and current residents adjust their level of security appropriately.

Yes??? No??? Maybe???

Easiest thing might be for someone to start a Frappr map.

[mongoose]

A question and a suggestion.

The question concerns secure storage. Is it possible here to rent at a bank a safety deposit box for storing valuables and, if so, what does it cost?

You can rent bank safety boxes. Different sizes different prices but most less than B1,000 per year. Might have to look around to find a bank with empty ones available or get on a waiting list.

[Rasseru]

A question and a suggestion.

The question concerns secure storage. Is it possible here to rent at a bank a safety deposit box for storing valuables and, if so, what does it cost?

You can rent bank safety boxes. Different sizes different prices but most less than B1,000 per year. Might have to look around to find a bank with empty ones available or get on a waiting list.

Excellent news. Thank you.

[bdenner]

One thing it made me do immediately was buy the largest safe I could find.

I have planned to get one as well. Would really appreciate details of what type of safe you ended up getting. (PM if you dont want to make the info public.)

I'm a bit far away but will keep my eyes open for the NoteBook, good luck. Global Home sold me a "Yale Laptop Safe" has both an electronic combination and Key. Not what one would call strong but I have it hidden and well bolted in place. Only TW and I (and all of you) know it exists. My spare NoteBook (which has all my latest data bases) resides in their with one set of my back ups. I keep 4 sets all told, even carry one in the car.

Paranoid, that's me.

Edited February 25, 2007 by bdenner

[ollyrosee]

how about a barking dog alarm ? deep woof woofs might work . but you get a bigger safe and higher walls and then they turn up with guns when things get tougher and they get more desperate .

a very loud shrieking alarm is whats needed , when the noise is so loud they will scram .

[WaiWai]

how about a barking dog alarm ? deep woof woofs might work

Yes, it might, or the

very loud shrieking alarm

you suggest.

Are such things available here ?

I was thinking of a recording of ghostly noises .

Some people leave the TV/radio on while out, to suggest someone's home.

Edited February 25, 2007 by WaiWai

[ollyrosee]

building a burglar alarm is not rocket science ,doors and windows covered by movement detectors ,linked to a control panel ,and some very loud sounders .you just turn it on and off when you come and go. battery backup if the power supply is unreliable. judging by the burglarised its essential for expats now.

[mongoose]

building a burglar alarm is not rocket science ,doors and windows covered by movement detectors ,linked to a control panel ,and some very loud sounders .you just turn it on and off when you come and go. battery backup if the power supply is unreliable. judging by the burglarised its essential for expats now.

Yeh I guess so but if you get the wrong kind of motion detectors the jingjoks will set it off and drive the neighbors nuts.

[KhunMarco]

No really need to spend lots of money. Buy 3-4 fake surv. cameras (20-25 euros each one), buy 3-4 stickers (this area is under...bla bla..the alarm is connected with the police..bla bla.) to put in places well visible from the street (they usually come with the cameras, ..the stickers..)

Fix the cameras outside, high enough, so people can't reach them.

I put a couple of stickers for RC car models on them to make them more believable ( samsung heh).

I need only to change the batteries once a year(they have a blinking red led, very nice at night).

My neighborhood all think I spent a lot of money on my camera circuit..lol I'm not going to spoil their story..

Since I put them around my house, I don't even find empty bottles or trash anymore in the garden, cause the people is just scared to be caught on video( yes some people is so retarded they throw their trash in your garden)

Think about it, there are hundreds of houses to choose from, they are not going to risk of getting caught, when they see the cams. It's that simple and it works. "Thank you Marco", you are welcome!

Edited February 26, 2007 by KhunMarco

[Phil Conners]

I have a proper alarm system with sensors on all doors and windows + motion sensors but have been unable to find "burglar alarm stickers" anywhere. The installer didn't have any (I asked).

Fake cameras are a good extra deterrent, at least against the casual burglar, and well worth the money, but I think a real pro would spot the fake. Where did you buy then anyway? I've seen them at Amorn shop in Si Racha, but never in Pattaya.

Edit: 20-25 EUR per camera? You can easily find real cameras at that price ... the ones I saw in Amorn were around 500 baht each.

Edited February 26, 2007 by Phil Conners

[cdnvic]

how about a barking dog alarm ?

Or better yet, an actual barking dog.

[KhunMarco]

I have a proper alarm system with sensors on all doors and windows + motion sensors but have been unable to find "burglar alarm stickers" anywhere. The installer didn't have any (I asked).

Fake cameras are a good extra deterrent, at least against the casual burglar, and well worth the money, but I think a real pro would spot the fake. Where did you buy then anyway? I've seen them at Amorn shop in Si Racha, but never in Pattaya.

Edit: 20-25 EUR per camera? You can easily find real cameras at that price ... the ones I saw in Amorn were around 500 baht each.

I bought them in Italy and it was several years ago, 20-25 euro a replica exterior surv. camera?(they look real dude, not some cheap plastic stuff) Where on the 4th floor at MBK? rofl, nugh said.

Naa. a pro can't tell the difference, they are an exact replica , the only way is to open them. Obviously, if you live inside the <sarcasm> Louvre<sarcasm/> it is better to have a plan B.

For a "regular" house... put yourself into the thief shoes. would you risk in that particular house with all the option available around?

That's the simple but effective logic behind it.

I'm not saying , is not good to have a proper system, every layer of security is a plus. This is the cheap-effective way. No dog, no wires, DIY in 2-3 hours..ahh well I start to sound like a vendor..do whatever you want, that was my 2 cents

[WaiWai]

I have a proper alarm system with sensors on all doors and windows + motion sensors but have been unable to find "burglar alarm stickers" anywhere. The installer didn't have any (I asked).

Can you give us contact details for the installer ?

What was the cost ?

If the sensors "go off", who is alerted - you/security company/ .. ?

[miltonbentley]

I have a proper alarm system with sensors on all doors and windows + motion sensors but have been unable to find "burglar alarm stickers" anywhere. The installer didn't have any (I asked).

I was going to have some made up. 'Try and die alarm company' - that sort of thing but obviously in Thai. Go halves if you like?

[terrymor66]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I found this story to be of interest as it relates to burglaries

[cobra]

> This weekend, everyone should get themselves an external harddrive and start backing up your > data,at least once a week. Then hide it away from your PC

Yes indeed, the only safe way is to store another back-up off-site. Burglary isn't the only way to lose something, you could have a fire or other.

I'm pretty much paperless, which is convenient but means I'd be up shi.. creek if I loose the data.

I back-up weekly to a external drive, I keep that one in the house.

I'll also back-up to one of those little USB drives, they're small and portable. That stays in my vehicle or other location out of the house. Finally, every few months I'll burn a disc image to DVD(s) which will also be stored on and off-site, (vehicle, friend, etc).

I always forward / cc email to a free mail client (Hotmail, Yahoo, lots of free storage, etc), and up-load add books, and other critical stuff to some on-line storage server. All of this is quick and painless, but you have to stick to the routine religiously.

[Phil Conners]

I have a proper alarm system with sensors on all doors and windows + motion sensors but have been unable to find "burglar alarm stickers" anywhere. The installer didn't have any (I asked).

Can you give us contact details for the installer ?

What was the cost ?

If the sensors "go off", who is alerted - you/security company/ .. ?

A complete system with 24 wired sensors, 2 dual PIR wired motion sensors, 8-zone control panel, two remote controls, 2 outside and 1 inside sirens, 1 strobe light, UPS, quality western brand, professional installation (nice wiring, they have the patience for that stuff here) set us back 30,000 baht here in Pattaya. The alarm is wired up to the phone system and we have set it to call our mobile phones. If triggered we would call our village security and have them check it out. It is possible to have the alarm call the security company (@ a considerable extra charge) but they would call the cops which would take much longer than for us to call our local security.

The dual PIR sensors need both heat and movement to trigger to prevent false alarms from moving curtains, heat changes etc.

The installer actually suggested getting two control panels - one at the entrance and one in the bedroom (to activate/deactivate the alarm with a pincode) which would have cost less, but I decided to go with remote controls like what is common with car alarms. That was a bad idea though, just means more gadgets to carry around (keys for house + car, remote controls for house + car, mobile phones, glasses - you end up needing a backpack whenever you go out).

[kudroz]

You guys who were victim of burglaries, do you live in gated villages or regular homes/appartments/condos?

[Macx]

According to my neighbors, one of the more successful ways of getting your stuff back is to find the local "bad guy" and tell him about the reward you have for the recovery of the laptop. The guy will be running around to all the places where they fence that stuff.

I tried this advice, but I was a week late so my stuff was already gone. But one thing for certain, the "bad guy" was pretty busy for a couple of days running around trying to get my things back for the commission/reward.

I could feel your heartache. Good luck and hurry.

[WaiWai]

Thanks for the information, PhilConners. I think such a system could be very worthwhile.

I note that you're not in Chiang Mai, though. Is anyone aware of a company providing security systems in CM ?

[BlackArtemis]

I feel for you, I lost 3+ years of pictures when my external died. Some I could get back others, well they are gone :/

Compared to important documents they are not much, sorry for the loss.

[realthaideal]

So sorry to hear of this Meadish... it humbles us all to think where we'd be in your position......

This week there's an IT Fair at Panthip Plaza in Chiang Mai - I've already placed the external HD's at 3090 B for 250 Gigs - I need one for my computer, and now maybe another one for hidden backup !! Best check out the fair n bargain if you can - it goes for a week or so.

Did this happen in BKK ? CM ? Where are you at ?

[Ta22]

you can backup photo and video file on

Photobucket . is a free site which give you space for photo and video backup .

i free and you can register as many account as you like with a each using a different e-mail

[meadish_sweetball]

So sorry to hear of this Meadish... it humbles us all to think where we'd be in your position......

This week there's an IT Fair at Panthip Plaza in Chiang Mai - I've already placed the external HD's at 3090 B for 250 Gigs - I need one for my computer, and now maybe another one for hidden backup !! Best check out the fair n bargain if you can - it goes for a week or so.

Did this happen in BKK ? CM ? Where are you at ?

CM, inside the Superhighway. The same day we were hit, there were also burglaries near Kawila and also out in Hang Dong. The Hang Dong police managed to catch one of the perpetrators, but unfortunately it does not seem like he was not part of the same gang as 'our' burglars, but belonged to a group operating all over Northern Thailand, with Kamphaeng Phet as a base.

[Ta22]

Since is a GAng it would be a PLanned . entry .

and there will SCOUT for their target .

this way . maybe a TRAP can be SET .

to go after them .

GPS chip and Well hiddent Cam. and a Rich farang . showing off his wealth will work .

good luck

[Tywais]

The same day we were hit, there were also burglaries near Kawila and also out in Hang Dong.

Was talking to a friend, a Thai ajarn, at work and he said a couple of weeks ago two homes in his moo bahn (on the canal road) were burgled with 2 notebooks taken from one house and 100,000B from another. He also told me something I wasn't aware of and that most burglaries occur during the day because the penalties for being caught doing it at night are much more severe. Reasoning, the probability of someone being home at night is high and the burglar would be aware of this and potential for violence much higher.

[Pim Kemasingki]

Sorry to hear about your loss. When our computer was stolen form work, two of my staff cleverly began to monitor Thai chat forums in the relevant areas. It took two days for a computer matching ours to come up on sale. We organised to meet at CM Plaza to buy it and caught the thief red handed. It was a very satisfactory catch!

[WaiWai]

Sorry to hear about your loss. When our computer was stolen form work, two of my staff cleverly began to monitor Thai chat forums in the relevant areas. It took two days for a computer matching ours to come up on sale. We organised to meet at CM Plaza to buy it and caught the thief red handed. It was a very satisfactory catch!

Bravo !