Thiefs in Hua Hin

[crazy88]

Dummy boxes,cameras and stickers .Great idea Do you really think the average burglar here will even notice them ? Give me a break .
I used to design and install security systems .Bright light and lots of noise triggered by relevant sensors with a phone call made to a number of your choice can be acheived for less than an lcd tv .People have posted being robbed multiple times .Why did they not install an alarm after the first one ??? I can only guess if you do not have a security system (other than the compound guard who is either asleep,in cahoots or both) then you either do not care about your possessions/safety or have nothing worth stealing .Those with firearms should ask themselves the question whether they can morally,legally and emotionally cope with shooting an intruder dead ? BTW this would cost you a lot of money no matter how in the right you are .

Crazy 88

[Super Joe]

Dummy boxes,cameras and stickers .Great idea. Do you really think the average burglar here will even notice them ? Give me a break.

I gotta agree, although as we install alarms it will appear as bias

But we've got 8 CCTV cameras around our house all on view, some on big cantilever brackets and they have those infra-red dots around them. Our two burglars didn't notice them though, this guy pictured below almost bumped his head on one of them lol



SJ

[crazy88]

Can,t really blame him SJ

15 shots of Lao Kao and 6 yabba pills later I would probably burgle myself !

Crazy 88

[Randy Cornhole]

15 shots of Lao Kao and 6 yabba pills later I would probably burgle myself !

I didn't think that was physically possible. Unless you were seriously double jointed...

[PeteC]

If one looks at the photo above, it's pretty obvious he's a sneak thief, like most here.

There were times in Pattaya in the early 90's where pick up trucks with armed men arrived, tied up the house occupants and left with everything. Furniture, appliances, entire wardrobe closets. The house was about bare after all this happened. I've told this story on here before a few years ago.

It happened more than once, and all of a sudden the media picked up on it as to why it was continuing. Turned out the ringleader was a Thai police sergeant. They only targeted houses with a farang/Thai family in it, never just Thai.

We can thank our lucky stars those days seem to be over, even in Pattaya.

If your homeowners or renters insurance policy is in English, you should see there is a distinction and a premium difference between "petty theft", like the maid/sneak thief would do, and "gang theft" like I described above.

I say what I describe above is over, but then why do the insurance companies still make a distinction between theft categories?

Scary stuff and I hope this recession doesn't resurrect it, or hope we;re not home at the time. Pete

[migrant]

Our two burglars didn't notice them though, this guy pictured below almost bumped his head on one of them lol

Probably need a sign in Thai with a big arrow pointing to the camera saying "smile your on candid security camera"

[crazy88]

Crazy 88 most certainly did not make that quote migrant .

Crazy 88

[migrant]

Crazy 88 most certainly did not make that quote migrant .

Crazy 88

Sorry missed my quote lines, I am editing, if possible.

[Chas]

Of course people in the security business would disparage any simple thing like a sticker that would tempt a concerned homeowner from investing in the full security package.

But from what I have read and heard small things DO work to make a thief move along to the next house. Besides stickers and such, these can include exterior lighting, dogs in the yard, neighbors on watch, lights on when you are not home, things on timers, mail collected etc etc . .all common sense actions any homeowner can and should take.

Of course nothing will keep out a thief who is determined to get into your home . .including ANY security system I have ever heard of short of an armed guard at the gate 24/7. ( and even then . .this is Thailand and who are his friends?)

It was just a suggestion and I still think a very good one. Hack away all you want.

I would buy such stickers if I could find them. They worked great back in the US ( my neighbor's house was broken into . .mine wasn't and the only thing I had as a deterrent was those stickers on my porch windows.)

Just to add one thing, the Thai educational system, for all its faults, appears to be able to teach people to read Thai fairly early on. Even construction workers from up north could decipher both the text and the meaning of a security sign.

[hhfarang]

They worked great back in the US ( my neighbors were robbed . .I wasn't.)

Chas,

I agree that that works. It worked for me too in the U.S. (fake security signs), but in the U.S. most thieves can read. I do not believe that would work here as most of the opportunist thieves probably cannot even read Thai and as someone pointed out are probably drunk or on drugs so they wouldn't even see the signs.

I agree with your other common sense suggestions. I have and use all of them (security lighting, dogs, etc.) as well as a full (working) security system and have not yet been burgled (knock wood!) while most of my neighbors have (some three times!).

[crazy88]

Chas

Small things can work and do .However by the time you add up the cost of all those timers,lights signs and stickers you have probably saved a few thousand baht .Possibly enough for a couple of rounds of golf .Difference is your system does not work and alerts nobody by telephone .Cut your power and no lights so you need battery backup,there goes one of those golf rounds .In most cases the burglar will have been watching you come and go and will have clearly observed that you are not there despite lights going on and off .The right dog is a good idea but easily poisoned or doped .Also not a lot of good if you are away a lot .

You state you would buy those stickers if you could find them ? How many do you want ? Happy to have my staff knock you up a design just pay for the printing materials and a box of franzia for the running around time .

Crazy 88

[richard]

Theft is growing all over Thailand due to the economic situation

Even here in the sticks it's on the increase

I went out during the night for my usual garden pee and a fag and disturbed a prowler. When I told the wife the village network went into action. The wife's brothers told me not to go out during the night as many out of work undesirables were heading back to Isaan to steal what they could.

Scary if your the only farang (prime target) for 10 kms

[Big Boy]

my usual garden pee

That should've been enough to scare him off

[Chas]

crazy ..what is a box of franzia?

And I am a bit confused about the potential thieves who had been referred to here so far. Either they are drunk or on drugs . . .OR they are carefully watching the house to see when I leave ( and perhaps part of some organized group of friends or family.)

I dont see these being the same kind of thief nor do I think that unemployed construction workers ( here or back home) are the same as someone high on yah-baa . .( Which is something I have never actually seen in my years here and just what is the behavior of someone on yah baa . . .is it a drunken state or a propensity to be violent or what?)) The point of my question here is that what will deter one type of thief may not deter another.

But I have seen drunks aplenty . .and I just cant conceive of a drunk guy robbing a house. They generally have all they can do to find the door to the bathroom!

Any actual statistics on real life thieves here in Hua Hin? Have any ever been caught or identified?

Thinking back over Hua Hin house-breaking incidents I have heard about over the years ( both here and elsewhere) . .open to correction here . . most appear to have been some kind of "inside" job . .the watching and waiting kind, the security guard's cousin, a distant relative . .perhaps housing development related somehow, perhaps with police collusion. Not the random, unemployed Isaan construction worker or drug addict or drunk.

[Big Boy]

Have any ever been caught or identified?

I asked the same question. HHFarang said he had heard from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that somebody had been caught once.

So in answer to

Any actual statistics on real life thieves here in Hua Hin?

we know of one, and Super Joe kept us amused by filming somebody stealing his washing detergent - but didn't catch him.