[Glenn Dawes]

Hi all,

I must admit I have mixed feelings about general, none astronomy topics being discussed on IIS but I thought this was important enough to share with you all. This is a copy of an email I got at work - food for thought.

Glenn


"In case you haven't read this yet. This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology. Take extra precaution.

GPS
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football
match. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things
stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had
been stolen.


The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage
door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to
finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean up the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of
its contents.

MOBILE PHONE

I never thought of this.......
This lady has now changed her habit of how she
lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her
handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet...
Etc... Was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a
pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your
text
Asking about our Pin number and I've replied a
little while ago.'

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff
told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had
actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact
list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had
withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral :
Do not disclose the relationship between you and
the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey,
Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc.... And very importantly, when
sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them
somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came
from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places
to meet 'family and friends' who text you.

*PLEASE PASS THIS ON
* I never thought about THAT! As of now, I no
longer have 'home' listed on my cell phone."