# Robbed !!!!!!!



## Erin (Jan 26, 2009)

Hi to you all, 
Not be on the forum in ages. Myself and husband moved over to Cyprus in March. We been having a great time settling in and love where we live. Im writing to let everyone know to be extra careful when leaving there property as our house was broken into on Friday night. 
They managed to get in through our patio door went straight to the safe and hauled the whole thing out including the shelf !!! It was bolted down with 100mm rawl bolts into the brick work !!!!
Nothing else was taken we came home to find the laptop still sitting on the couch ! Apparently this is happening a lot at the moment so be careful. We live in Tala our neighbour was also broken into on the same night. 
The police were really good they were here within 15minutes. Then forensics the following morning to take finger prints. 

Everyone be vigilant !!!


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## tackle (Mar 9, 2010)

hi erin, really sorry to hear of this, my first thought when reading your post is you mention they went straight to the safe, did they not touch anything or even move your laptop a little ?.
if this is the case then it looks like an inside job rather than opportunist, by this i mean have you had any work done recently that would have allowed people to get a good look at your security setup & safe location.
also the fact that your neighboor has been burgled as well, are the setups of your properties similar ?, are they relatively new properties & were the safes/locks etc fitted by the same people.
to rob one property in such a clinical way is rare but to do a second the same way is too much of a coincidence.
good luck, i hope you get your property back, dont let these scum get you down...........mark:rant:


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## philly (Feb 5, 2010)

I m sorry to hear you were burgled and thanks for letting us all know we live in Chlroraka now and I don t feel quite as safe as I did when I lived in Kamares

Thanks again take care


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## Erin (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks for the reply, 
No one had been in our house before hand. We only moved in to the house in March and it was my husband who fitted the safe and does all the handy work. Also the house behind us is a different layout. 
The police think that these people are breaking in and going straight to all the wardrobes to see if theres a safe. 9 times out of 10 thats where people keep them. 
So everyone move your safe !!!!!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Unfortunately with the number of people who have been made redundant by the developers etc in recent times the crime rate is rising. Rather than go back to their own countries some of these people have just turned to crime.
It is important to have good quality safety locks put onto patio doors as they are easy to open from the putside.
We had a locksmith round and he showed us how easy it is to open even the ones that you can buy in t he DIY shops which go through the centre of patio doors.
You need the ones which lock with a key not the ones which you just push in and turn.


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

Unfortunately with the ease of crossing across to the Turkish occupied side theft has become more appealing as you can easily get out of the country over where noone can find you and your loot. 

Be aware of people knocking on your door trying to sell you stuff (cutlery etc...) these are usually people checking to see if anyone is at home before they rob the place. I've had the misfortune of being fast asleep in bed when someone broke in, not fun!


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Unfortunately since joining the EU it is so much easier for people from Eastern European countries to enter and this means that we now have a lot of Romanys which is something we never had many of before. This has also added to the crime rate. 
One of the things I loved about this place in the past was the very low crime rate, but now, although we still have a relativbely low rate of crime compared to many countries it is on the rise.
For this reason I do recommend that people take whatever measures they can to protect their properties.

Veronica


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## Monty (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi Erin
Hope you are ok after that shock. I know its not very nice when it happens, my sister got burgled and after that could never settle, In the end she had to move home because of it.
I do hope it not that bad for you.

David


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## Erin (Jan 26, 2009)

Monty said:


> Hi Erin
> Hope you are ok after that shock. I know its not very nice when it happens, my sister got burgled and after that could never settle, In the end she had to move home because of it.
> I do hope it not that bad for you.
> 
> David


Thanks for all the replies, 

We have just installed extra bolts to all the doors and windows. Hopefully I will be able to settle back down as I am totally on edge. Its such a horrible feeling knowing that people have been in your home. 
Im going to invest in a baseball bat ! I know violence is never the answer but if they or anyone else tries to steal from my home again I will be ready !!! A few broken ribs will be in order !!!


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## Dave&Moira (Jul 24, 2010)

*Robbery!! This might help*

Additional bolts will help as will a pole although even it were installed correctly and you used a pole in the track the burglars could still easily get in by placing their hands on the glass door, pushing in to apply pressure then moving the glass door upwards. There’s enough room for them to lift the door out of the lower track then push or pull the glass door out or in at the bottom and there in, this is how the sliding glass door is installed. So you need to limit how high they can lift the glass door. This will not keep you from repairing or working on the sliding glass door in any way. About mid ways on the upper track drill a small hole i.e. a pilot hole for a wood screw in the track. Get about a 2 ½” wood screw a little larger than a # 2 pencil lead and screw it in the pilot hole. Screw it in far enough that it clears the glass sliding door so it doesn’t interfere with the sliding glass door opening or closing. The burglars cannot raise the sliding glass door high enough now to push or pull the sliding glass door out of the track and remove the door. Limiting how high the glass doors can be raised is the key.


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## Guest (May 18, 2011)

wtf they took the whole safe?! I was under the impression that even IF they can get the safe home (which should be very difficult with the right bolts) they are extremely difficult for a normal thief to open, but hmm maybe that was just wishfull thinking on my part.

If the thiefs in Cyprus are so comfortable in taking safes that they even leave the laptop then the whole purpose of safes are counter-productive as it just means the thief can find all your valuables in one easy-to-find place!

Sad news indeed, myself I'm worried that should someone take my harddrive AND my backup harddrive they would just make like a 100€ profit but I would lose years of my work! so I've been thinking of a safe for my backup but doesn't sound like safes are safe either.

btw baseball bats are good for one thing only: playing baseball 
but for self-defense it's horrible, it's difficult to swing indoors and even if your interior is very spacious as soon as you raise the bat to start a swing the attacker can simply jump you and the bat will turn useless as you need distance to get a swing out of it.
But luckily some of these tourists shops here (atleast teh ones I saw in Ayia Napa) have some great stuff.


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

Niklas, sounds like you need to invest in an online backup solution


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## Monty (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi Niklas
Yes, i think you definately need to check out an online solution, I suffered this once because of a computer crash, it took me ages to recover the files, it would be a bit hard if the computer was stolen, This way every thing is up loaded at the end of the day, no hassle

Regards
Monty


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Monty said:


> Hi Niklas
> Yes, i think you definately need to check out an online solution, I suffered this once because of a computer crash, it took me ages to recover the files, it would be a bit hard if the computer was stolen, This way every thing is up loaded at the end of the day, no hassle
> 
> Regards
> Monty


How secure is using an online method of saving everything?
It sounds very good but I would worry that as it is online it could be hacked into easily.
I worry about losing everything if my comp crashes. I have been thinking of getting a back up hard drive to back things up on.


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## Monty (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi Veronica
At the moment I use Virgin Media on line system which is very user friendly and comes with my internet package , before that i used Iron Mountain which had a monthly fee, 
Find link attached .

http://www.ironmountain.co.uk 
Hope that helps
David


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## ymg (Dec 19, 2009)

Hi veronica,

We use an extra hard disk drive too to make a back up monthly.
Very easy. We do not use online back ups.
Grtz Yvonne


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

ymg said:


> Hi veronica,
> 
> We use an extra hard disk drive too to make a back up monthly.
> Very easy. We do not use online back ups.
> Grtz Yvonne



Hi Yvonne, I have been considering getting a hard drive to back my files up on.

Monty I have never before heard of online back ups, you learn something new every day don't you


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## Monty (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi Veronica
Yes i know what you mean, Long term wise it is cheaper to buy a extra hard drive, For Niklas his problem was, what if it gets stolen. He has lost years of his work and you cant put a value on that. for aprox. £5 a month you can have it on secure storage. Every body to there own way, I just used to use disks at one time 
Catch up in June x


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I can see the benefit of having it saved online. I am just trying to decide which would be the best option for me.
I don't know enough about the subject to make an educated decision. 
I can't help being a dummy when it comes to computers


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## Guest (May 23, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestion, and I partially agree, but in my case my work is hundreds of gigabytes so would be a bit costly to back-up online through my cytanet 3g dongle 

I would definitely suggest you look into a backup-solution, Veronica, hasrddrive failure can happen at any time for no particular reason. 

In my case I'm not really worried as I DO have 2 backup harddrive (one which is daily backed up), it's just in the unlikely even that a theif would steal both my computer and my hidden backups drives (which are encrypted so they would have to search long and hard through the apartment just for a £25-worth equiptment), but despite the unlikelyness still pretty scary thought, so yeah I'll probably think something more up.


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## Maureen Allen (Oct 22, 2008)

*Intruder*

Yes - everyone be alert . We are also in Tala and disturbed an intruder. What we did not know at the time was that they intended to make a return trip. The next day I went to open a downstairs window and the entire lock felt out, what they had done was removed the screws visually it appeared shut but all they had to do was slid if open from outside, we now have additional security sensor lighting at the back of the house.


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## Chris & Andrea (Feb 15, 2008)

Hi Everyone ~ been reading these threads with concerned interest and yes unfortunately as already proffered a sign of the times, BUT a long way before levels of crime reach those of other EU countries. I wouldn't necessarily place all the blame on Eastern Europeans either as they tend to lean towards street crime. Burglars may be closer to home and by the sounds of it if they can make as much noise as levering a safe off a wall they must have been under the influence of drink or drugs to be so blaisé as to not being worried about being disturbed. The burglars we deal with tend to have a ready market for laptops etc and the stealing of safes would indicate a level of information as to what it contained! On a practical front how many new home owners even consider changing the locks on taking over occupancy? Don't forget how many hands your KEYS will have passed through before being handed over to you, the owner of your shiney new home. For those with patio doors devoid of multi locking systems then the fixing of patio locks has to be a must. I'm not sure what's on the market over there, but I'm continually involved in burglary reduction campaigns here in the UK, especially where students are involved. Time switches linked to lights and some form of audio devices are cheap and easy to install and a best seller are high decibel patio door alarms. Costing between £3 to £5 over here, I distribute them through Neighbourhood Watch and the local beat teams. Those unfortunate to become a victim will be given a full crime prevention package. I can send you a sample if you wish Veronica and PM you as it relates to work over there? As for computers; as mentioned it has to be common sense to ensure you have the capacity to back up your files inclusive of those precious photos. I have a simple 500GB portable hard drive on which all my important files and photos are stored. So small it could be hidden any where.
To conclude, fear of crime can be a healthy thing if it focuses the mind, but don't give yourselves nightmares, because truly you don't know how lucky you are.
Be careful out there ~ regards Chris


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