Criminals are innovative and adopt many guises to gain entry into private properties and businesses.
Posing as customers is an old trick and small businesses are especially vulnerable because if they do have a security door and buzzer, when a “customer” arrives, you have to open for them.
In the suburbs, criminals pretend to be council workers coming to check meters or claim to have forms for you to sign.
Criminals are known to watch homes to study routines and know when domestic staff are alone on the property. This is an opportunity for them to pose as delivery service or maintenance workers to con the domestic worker to open the gate.
Opening the gate to strangers is a danger, even for those begging for food. Your perimeter protection is your first line of defence, and if this is breached, things can go wrong very quickly.
Homes should have an intercom system from which you can clearly see who is at the gate and ask them what they want without going outside.
Fidelity ADT gives five rules to follow when a stranger is at the gate:
- Ask who they are and what they want.
- If you were not expecting them, don’t let them in, no matter what their story is.
- If they say the employer ordered them to fix something, the domestic worker must phone their employer immediately.
- If you don’t have an intercom system, talk to them through a window from the safety of a locked-up house.
- Keep a remote panic button with you and do not hesitate to press it to alert your security service provider if you see anything or anyone suspicious.
