Protecting your livestock and property.

[OzShrimp]

We would all like to think that everyone you deal with in the hobby can be trusted and don't have an alterior motive. Sadly however there are some in the hobby who are deceiving enough to  steal what others have worked hard for.

I thought i would write some tips which will better assist in protecting you, your belongings and what you have worked hard for. There is nothing worst then having someone violate your privacy and the home of you and your family.

 

Tips that may be handy in no particular order. Most are common sense.

 

* If you are breeding high value shrimp or selling anything of value avoid having your shrimp picked up from your home address.

* Always obtain a phone number from the person you are dealing with as you can confirm some legitimacy of the dealing and phone numbers are traceable by Police.

* Invest in an alarm system for your home if you dont have good neighbours make sure its back to base.

* If you are unable to afford any alarm for your home or are renting consider investing in a dummy blue light box and alarm warning stickers.

* Invest in good quality CCTV in your home covering the points of entry / Shrimp room. Dont skimp as poor quality images are useless to the Police in identifying the culprit.

* If you can not afford CCTV then consider imitation cameras for the outside of your premises and again stickers.

* If you have any concerns arrange pick up in a public place and arrive early and wait away from your vehicle. Some people can obtain your details from your roads and traffic authority through your number plate if they try hard enough.

* Record your buyers/sellers registration plate if you have concerns and record your dealings.

* Wait until the other party has left the location before you leave so that you can not be followed to your home address.

* Record any break and enter or attempt to your local Police and ensure you obtain a report number and the Police officers name  you spoke to so it can be followed up.

* Invest in a P.O Box, it allows confidentiality without having to disclose your address to anyone.

* Dont disclose any information to people you don't know. Simple things even like employment can provide vital information to a thief in regards to ascertaining times when you are not home.

* If regularly selling shrimp and allowing contact with strangers invest in a separate sim card.

* Take someone with you if you have the slightest concerns.

* Invest in sensor lights on the external part of your residence. These days you can buy solar powered LED flood lights if you dont want hard wired to save money.

* If you go away on holidays invest in in a holiday light attachment. You buy them from bunnings and you plug them into your light socket between the connection and the light bulb. It will randomly turn your light on and off at different intervals giving the look of someone being home.

* Be cautious of who you advise that you are away on holidays. This is the prime time for someone to break in to your premises.

 

* Try to avoid giving out your full name, especially if the buyer is local to your city.

* If you use a land line number, make it a private number.

* If you have used the same username or email address on various forums, do a google search to see if you've left identifying information associated with them.

* Don't discuss how often/how long you tend to be out of the house for work etc.

Edited December 31, 2014 by OzShrimp

[Disciple]

The implications of this post is very scary. I hope a real life incident did not occur for this post to have to be made..

 

but thanks Ozshrimp for the post it was something I would not have even thought about.

[Morgan]

Excellent post OzShrimp. I'll add a couple of suggestions.

 

If meeting up, make it a major shopping centre or somewhere equally central to your area rather than your local shops.

Try to avoid giving out your full name, especially if the buyer is local to your city.

Second the suggestion about another sim.

If you still have a landline, make it a private number.

If you have used the same username or email address on various forums, do a google search to see if you've left identifying information associated with them.

Don't discuss how often/how long you tend to be out of the house for work etc.

 

Sometimes just a suburb (from meeting at the local shops or mentioning it online somewhere like a classified ad) and an email address/phone number are enough for people to find your home address.

 

One of my friends works in the area of stalking and risk assessment, you'd be amazed at what people can find out about someone from just a few scraps of info.

[OzShrimp]

The implications of this post is very scary. I hope a real life incident did not occur for this post to have to be made..

 

but thanks Ozshrimp for the post it was something I would not have even thought about.

I know for a fact it has happened to members on here and I have extensive knowledge of it.

 

I havent been broken into but i have dealt with a suspicious person. I sold some aquarium stuff on ebay and mentioned that i was moving house so was an express sale. The male attended and picked up his item however was suspiciously intrigued in my life and what not asking personal questions. About a week later i received a phone call from that same person and they offered me a job due to my good personal communication skills. He would not provide any details of the job only that it paid alot of money weekly.

 

When i said no he tried questioning me about my current employment and the reasons for me moving house. Needless to say i was real suspicious of him. Thankfully i was moving house so was only on guard for 2 weeks.

 

 

I have updated the initial post with your tips to morgan except shoppign centre cause its covered in public place :), I knew i hadnt addressed everything lol my fiance got home from work :P.

When i lived in Sydney i did all my drop offs at a Macdonalds simply because i have kids i didnt like people coming to my house with the exception on a couple of occasions. But my partner also prefers not done at home.

Edited December 31, 2014 by OzShrimp

[OzShrimp]

 

One of my friends works in the area of stalking and risk assessment, you'd be amazed at what people can find out about someone from just a few scraps of info.

 

Who does your friend work for? I have looked at risk assessment if i ever leave my current job.

[warren63]

Excellent post. When I was seriously into reptiles I hardly did any transactions at home or if I did I hid most of my collection. Unfortunately there are people out there who use what they can to their advantage.

[newbreed]

I have always given my mother in laws address to post to. I am a bit paranoid about giving out these details.

Unfortunately, unless you know the buyer/seller, better to be safe than sorry!!

[OzShrimp]

I have always given my mother in laws address to post to.

 

Thats kinda funny lol, I'm guessing you dont get on with her haha ?

[newbreed]

No, I am lucky she is great!! But she's always home, so mail doesn't get left at PO overnight this way!!

[Disciple]

No, I am lucky she is great!! But she's always home, so mail doesn't get left at PO overnight this way!!

Sorry for going offtopic but I am sooo not used to seeing your name in Green. In my opinion it looks better in red

 

I must say the green colored names look pretty cool might have to upgrade to diamond member lol

[Morgan]

Who does your friend work for? I have looked at risk assessment if i ever leave my current job.

 

 

http://www.swinburne.edu.au/media-centre/news/2014/07/keep-calm-and-call-bram.html

 

I'd love to see more of this done at Uni's. It's not only needed for the victims, but early intervention like this can potentially help prevent more problematic behaviour later in life for those who receive interventions.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Morgan

[2OFUS]

A. Buy a shotgun

B. Buy a pit bull :)

[buck]

Its probably just as cheap (and safer)to have some cameras and you wouldn't have to hide a body...

[inverted]

I guess it's worth noting here that social media is the one of the easiest ways to track people down. So don't give full names don't have a face shot on social media and don't let your photos have gps tags.Keep your status private etc.

All this aside 99.9% of people have good intentions but it pays to be mindful of people acting strangely.

[buck]

Yeah if you fb message someone make sure your location is off, fb puts a map with a pin of your location with every message you send. I scared the crap out of a guy I was buying a parts car from when I asked if his adress was the one where the pin was dropped, I had to walk him though turning his location off haha

Edited January 17, 2015 by buck

[KillieOrCory]

Good post. I usually don't mind people visiting my fishroom.

 

Having said that during the design of the fishroom, I made sure there were no external doors, essentially forcing people to break into the house to get to my fish and shrimp. Also when people visit they do not get to walk into the house proper so they don't get a sense of the house floor plan. I figure anybody who is prepared to break into my place, if they are successful would go for other things of value like camera, jewelery etc rather than chasing shrimp and fish around the tanks. 

 

Plus we own a Doberman :) She has full reign of the house and yard, plus scarily quiet! You just notice her next to you staring at you lol.

 

We are also just about to install CCTV too.

 

Plus, I have anger management issues!

Edited January 20, 2015 by KillieOrCory

[GotCrabs]

 Plus we own a Doberman :) She has full reign of the house and yard, plus scarily quiet! You just notice her next to you staring at you lol.

 

 

 

[KillieOrCory]

Lol! Thats gold!

[inverted]

I got a couple of English staffordshires ..... And one of them in particular changes at night.... Also if I stick my head over the fence it's like he doesn't recognise me he can easily jump the full height of the fence( ie your face) scary crap indeed. Needless to say I don't trust him 100% but I like having him around just in case. Get em boy!

Edited January 21, 2015 by inverted

[OzShrimp]

Staffies are definitely good guard dogs, even if they don't have a bad bone in their body they still protect the family

[GotCrabs]

I have a pure bred Blue Heeler, we've always had Blue Heelers, loyal, smart and protective, bloody spoilt though, ha.

[inverted]

Awesome dogs!

[GotCrabs]

A. Buy a shotgun

B. Buy a pit bull :)

 

I'm surprised 20FUS hasn't been employed as security yet.

[2OFUS]

I'm surprised 20FUS hasn't been employed as security yet.

Been there done that mate :)

I am not allowed to have my security license anymore :(

[GotCrabs]

Yeah I worked the doors of local pubs and clubs for about 8 years, decent coin and never a dull moment.