Anonymous letter to my house

[FireMedic]

I had a letter dropped off to my house by a neighbor saying that both a motorbike and car has been seen several mornings in a row casing my house. I have the Iron Dome of steel bars on all windows and doors with pad locks on the inside. My car and motorbike both have alarms and I have a 4lb nutless wonder of a Chihuahua that will lose his mind if anyone comes in the wall or gate. The letter is saying I leave all my outside lights on at night. Either way, I live in a pretty decent area with a guard at the gate, but it still freaks me out a bit. I travel for a few days at a time and leave Ms Firemedic here alone. So she's freaked out as well. Any other thoughts?

I thought about cameras, but they are rarely stop anyone and are more for post murder/robbery investigations. I know they never stop Thai people from doing something bad.

[Rumblecat]

Was the letter in English or Thai..?

[FireMedic]

Thai

[slipperylobster]

Yeah...get a security cam and hang light up the area outside the front gate. Cam should be able to ring you and upload a series of photos, activated by motion sensors. Try to feign some absences, but remain secretly in the house. Collect 3 days worth of photo/video. With good lighting, you might get a profile of make and model of scooter/car and possible license plate data. Take the letter, and your photos to the police.

I would personally hide the cam, and put up several hand made decoys...painted to look like cams with lenses and wires. Yours should be wireless.

Looks like something you need fast. A few alarms and signs should help in the meantime.

[slipperylobster]

One other question...and no offense to you or your wife. Any previous/ongoing relationships going on with you (or her)? When the cat's away....???? Not saying she is guilty... but somebody might have an interest other than just the objects you may have in the house. Neighbor might have more info than they want to give.

[FireMedic]

One other question...and no offense to you or your wife. Any previous/ongoing relationships going on with you (or her)? When the cat's away....???? Not saying she is guilty... but somebody might have an interest other than just the objects you may have in the house. Neighbor might have more info than they want to give.

Fair point....We just moved here not too long ago. I had a feeling this sort of angle would come up....but I'm not worried about it.

[alfalfa19]

It's nice of your neighbor to warn you.

[desmondspencer]

The guard at the gate could very well be in on it. How then would you explain the car and bike" pacing" your place?

On a side note, my neighbours post signs in Thai script "beware of fire arms" on all gates and doors.. but we too live in a secure and safe neighbourhood not letting anyone in unless confirmed by the residents.

[Traxster]

Get another dog.....only ths time get a BIG DOG...

I doubt that a chattering yapping chihuahua would seriously deter a determined burglar.

[firefox999uk]

Quote: - ‘I live in a pretty decent area with a guard at the gate, but it still freaks me out a bit.’

Jeeeezz …I have lived in a village for nearly 5 years up here in Mahasarakham

and I only close, (not lock), my doors and windows if it’s raining.

I left that OP life style back in the U.K.

I hope every thing turns out OK and that the neighbour has made a mistake.

Have A Nice Day.

[FireMedic]

I did another check last night. Everything is locked up tight as can be and I left the lights on at the gate, drive, and back patio. It would take a ton of effort to get into this house. It's not impossible, but very difficult, time consuming, and would make a lot of noise. Most Thai criminals won't risk it for that much work or attention. If the door was left wide open, then sure. I guess I'm rattled more because I do live in a nicer area and got a little complacent.

[ezzra]

First of all make sure you have paid the premium on your house insurance and contents,

second, could it a mistaken in identity whereby someone takes you or a member of your

family for another person?

[Phoenix1312]

_{Maybe ask the neighbours to get a rego number of the car or a photo.}

[misterphil]

Stay up all night on amphetamine and when these people patrol past your house, open your gate and knock holy shit out of them with a baseball bat. Then take their motorbike off them so they cant ride past on it ever again. Job done!!!

[guzzi850m2]

If I was you I will fit some sirens with rotating red lights on each side of the house, high up so they are difficult to get to and everybody can see them.

Then have them connected to 2 call points in the house (hidden), one on ground floor and one in the master bed room.

When (bad) people see such an arrangement they will normally back off and find an easier target.

If the shit hits the fan you can push the bottom and the sirens will go off and make a hell of a noise and that should do it.

This can be done quite cheap.

On my first house I had the whole set-up with motion sensor in the living room and alarms on each door/window.

That was too much of a hassle, if a gecko walked over the motion sensor at night the alarm would go off (happened once) and sometimes my wife forgot to disarm the system in the morning and then when coming down the staircase setting off the motion sensor again, he-he.

I don't have any alarm system in my current house but may fit the 2 siren boxes with 2 call points as I am overseas working app 6 month per year and my wife are alone in the house with our 5 year old son.

[FireMedic]

If I was you I will fit some sirens with rotating red lights on each side of the house, high up so they are difficult to get to and everybody can see them.

Then have them connected to 2 call points in the house (hidden), one on ground floor and one in the master bed room.

When (bad) people see such an arrangement they will normally back off and find an easier target.

If the shit hits the fan you can push the bottom and the sirens will go off and make a hell of a noise and that should do it.

This can be done quite cheap.

On my first house I had the whole set-up with motion sensor in the living room and alarms on each door/window.

That was too much of a hassle, if a gecko walked over the motion sensor at night the alarm would go off (happened once) and sometimes my wife forgot to disarm the system in the morning and then when coming down the staircase setting off the motion sensor again, he-he.

I don't have any alarm system in my current house but may fit the 2 siren boxes with 2 call points as I am overseas working app 6 month per year and my wife are alone in the house with our 5 year old son.

That's a fine idea. I ran the camera idea past our Thai boss last night. He is going to send over the security guys who did his whole building. They have really nice camera system along with the fingerprint/code pads for the staff to come in and out. I will ask about a panic button as well.

[awayego]

I was told by an insurance agent some time ago, back in the UK, that one of the most common and easiest methods of break-in was by removal of roof tiles, even if there was wooden or board sarking underneath.

Now, I don't know how much truth there was in that, or how common it might be, but it has occurred to me before that with the typical Thai style of roof construction it might well be an easy route into a house. Ssshhh! Don't spread that around though!

Just a thought!

[96tehtarp]

Creepy.

This may not be at all practical, however consider offering a reward for digital photos of the alleged culprits in the act of casing your home. Preferably written in Thai. In a small gated community this should set the gossipers absolutely wild, and you may not ever have to pay the reward. You will get some feedback. Even no feedback is feedback.

Ask some neighbors if there have been any other break-ins in your village recently.

[FireMedic]

Creepy.

This may not be at all practical, however consider offering a reward for digital photos of the alleged culprits in the act of casing your home. Preferably written in Thai. In a small gated community this should set the gossipers absolutely wild, and you may not ever have to pay the reward. You will get some feedback. Even no feedback is feedback.

Ask some neighbors if there have been any other break-ins in your village recently.

Neighbors on both sides of me have quite nice estates.....and multiple Mercedes in the drive. The only difference between my house and theirs is they have the full block wall around and my front wall is half block/half horizontal bars....so you can see in. I doubt offering a reward for pics would have any effect, although a big sign out front would have psychological effects on any curious onlookers. But I know I'm the only farang in the neighborhood, so I am automatically a target.

[ronaldo0]

Electric fence!!

[bkkjames]

Get a shotgun. Get a cooler. Fill it with beer. Get a patio umbrella.

Wait.

[whaleboneman]

Anonymous letters from neighbours? Very suspicious. Maybe they just want you to leave your lights on at night?

[FireMedic]

Anonymous letters from neighbours? Very suspicious. Maybe they just want you to leave your lights on at night?

After a quick look around the hood at night, they all leave their lights on. It was just habit for me to turn everything off before I go to bed.

[96tehtarp]

Creepy.

This may not be at all practical, however consider offering a reward for digital photos of the alleged culprits in the act of casing your home. Preferably written in Thai. In a small gated community this should set the gossipers absolutely wild, and you may not ever have to pay the reward. You will get some feedback. Even no feedback is feedback.

Ask some neighbors if there have been any other break-ins in your village recently.

Neighbors on both sides of me have quite nice estates.....and multiple Mercedes in the drive. The only difference between my house and theirs is they have the full block wall around and my front wall is half block/half horizontal bars....so you can see in. I doubt offering a reward for pics would have any effect, although a big sign out front would have psychological effects on any curious onlookers. But I know I'm the only farang in the neighborhood, so I am automatically a target.

I live in an rural hamlet without gates. We don not lock our doors and have have no bars on our windows. However, maybe we have some common ground. My neighbors watch my back, and keep an eye on things when I'm not around. I suggest you cultivate relationships with your immediate neighbors. One of them has already handed you a note.

Other replies have alluded to the fact that you may need to scrutinize your wife's behavior while you are not around and you have stated you are not worried about that. That's OK and is your choice.

The best and most helpful advice I can give is for you to get to know your neighbors and develop good relations with them. They do not want criminal activity in their village. This is what you have in common with them and a good stating point for conversations and friendship.

Trust takes time.

[chuang]

Could it be some repo men or debt collectors cruising around...

[bkkjames]

Could it be some repo men or debt collectors cruising around...

read my mind. +1 for this option.

[FireMedic]

Another fair point.... I know they wouldn't be looking for me and she's in school full time comes home. She has almost zero social life with maybe 2 friends. She has no need what so ever to borrow money. Her family is fine and she doesn't gamble. It was her idea first to get the cameras. So if she was up to no good, I doubt she would want them. Again, I knew this angle would come up and it's fine.....

My first concern was a family member of one of the girls who have been in the house. If she were to go back to her dump hole and start singing how nice my house is, some ahole of a brother might come looking. So as of now, there is a complete lockdown of my house on any guests, whether I'm here or not. Before her friends were only allowed in if I was here, not when I'm gone.

[slipperylobster]

Here is something that worked for us. We were just renting a large property/house in Udon Thani. (Not a gated community and absolutely vulnerable.) The Thai neighbor was a very young (and small) man who worked in Iceland with his wife. His wife, unfortunately for him, spoke fluent english and befriended me and my wife. She had a farang boyfriend in her past, and grew up in that neighborhood. I suppose this man was upset about her previous boyfriend. These people built a 20 million baht guesthouse from "their lotto win" and the man kept tossing garbage onto our area (that I maintain) and would jump the fence with 5 or 6 other laborers and start cutting trees that were blocking his view. I complained directly to him about it and chased them off. Soon, his very young children would show up, with at least 10 other children and throw fireworks, break the fences and actually start fires. I grabbed a broom and a hose, sprayed them down and put out their fires. Then the fireworks came in daily for two weeks. This was an organized gang set on harassing us.

What we did:

My wife and I decided to go on a 2 week vacation to Hua Hin and Koh Phayam. Her sister had a teenage son with a scooter gang. She put them in the house for all that time and gave them permission to party. There was gang warfare going on..(no guns, they use fire crackers). Every night they would park 100 small scooters next to the house. The neighbors kids were petrified. All the neighbors asked us what was going on, and I told them we had people jumping the fence, so we needed house sitters as we vacation a bit. If things were normal again, we would not need to do this.

Things got normal again. This was a few years back. For other reasons, we have moved to Chiang Mai.

Edited September 3, 2014 by slipperylobster

[lopburi3]

First make sure dog is inside at night so nobody can poison - Chi can make as much noise as any other dog and out of sight can appear much more of a threat then they may actually be (have a very large male).

Keeping lights on is always a good idea - our community had many more incidents when guarded than since becoming part of city so do not depend much on them - often the eyes of the robbers.

Police have a program to check homes for small monthly fee (but not sure if on gated community) which might also deter - they mount a sign box on outside wall so everyone would know part of there patrol area and sign it each time. Believe they may also now offer video as noted a house down soi had police install camera with radio observing outside of his home (foreigner). Perhaps a full time maid living on property would help all to sleep better at night?

[NoshowJones]

Get another dog.....only ths time get a BIG DOG...

I doubt that a chattering yapping chihuahua would seriously deter a determined burglar.

Any noise will seriously deter a dertermined burglar, apart from passing traffic, a noise is the last thing any burglar wants, and no, I'm not one.