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Why Criminals Steal
Laptops
10 years ago when travelers
were victimized the object of theft was cameras;
five years ago it was camcorders, today it is
laptops. Criminals look at laptops as a
good return on their “investment”. A
good laptop can be worth up to 5,000 dollars.
A criminal can sell a stolen laptop to an
unsuspecting used computer store or pawnshop and
easily receive up to half its value in
cash. Not too bad when you compare that to
the amount of cash a thief would get by
targeting your wallet. How much money
would they get from you, $60.00? It easy
to understand why your laptop is so desirable to
a thief. In addition to the obvious
monetary benefit, there is also a legal benefit
to stealing property vs. someone’s
money. Most career criminals know that the
penalties for a crime against property (theft)
are less severe than those of a crime against a
person (robbery) like stealing money. So to sum
it up, laptops are worth more than cash, and the penalty for stealing one is less
severe..
What Criminals Do With
Stolen Laptops
One of the easiest locations
for a thief to get rid of a laptop is selling
it on a street corner. If the crook is
brazen enough, he will take it to a pawnshop
or sell to a fence who in turn takes it to one
of those computer swap meets held on
weekends. In one of the cases I handled,
the crook would walk into a pawn shop and tell
the store employee that his sister died in an
accident and the laptop was hers, and he had
no use for it. A good crook will
then produce a phony driver's license or
identification card and the pawn will never be
traced back to him. Many people think
because laptops have serial numbers they can be
traced as stolen property. This is a false
sense of security. In real life, I have
been able to return very few stolen
laptops. As a police detective who
has investigated thousands of crimes of stolen
property, I would guess that less than ten
percent of the victims had their serial numbers
recorded for report purposes.
Used Computer Stores or
Repair Centers
Question, if you bought your
own laptop, where was it purchased or where
would you purchase it? Chances are that it
would be from some large computer store or
retail outlet. Did you know these
mega stores also sell used and refurbished
equipment? Additionally, independent
repair centers sell used equipment
too. In essence, there is quite a
large market for used, high ticket, fast
evolving items such as computers, and many
people who are trying to serve that need from
retailers to thieves.
Computer Swap Meets
Swap meets are even less
likely to be checked by law enforcement for
stolen goods. People who sell computers
at these events are unregulated and many, if not
all, do not report their sales or purchases to
the police department. The purpose for
reporting your purchases is to verify that the
property is not stolen. This is where
those recorded serial numbers come in
handy! If a crook does business with a
swap meet vendor you can be sure it is virtually
an untraceable transaction.
Insurance Statistics
The most widely accepted
source for product theft information is Safeware
Insurance (safeware.com),
an insurer, specializing computers. Safeware
creates annual estimates of computer loses based
upon projections of the claims made by its
customers (it insures one in every 1,000
personal computers in the United States). They
publish an annual report that is generally
viewed as a barometer of losses suffered by
computer users. Safeware estimates over 307,000
laptop computers valued over $1 billion were
stolen in the U.S. in 1997; an increase of 16%
from the 265,000 reported stolen in 1996. By
contrast, the theft of desktop computers fell
31% between 1997 and 1996. Safeware’s
projected annual losses may actually be lower
than the norm since people who purchase
insurance for their PC’s are usually more
careful and security conscious than those who do
not; and of course there are those who, for
whatever reason do not report the theft.
Safeware also estimates that five percent of all
machines will be stolen within twelve months of
purchase and of all machines stolen, only 3%
will ever be recovered.
Employer Responsibility
It’s
never happened to any of my employees
If you could not answer the question above, don’t
feel bad. Most Fortune 500 companies don’t
either. Interesting enough, when an
employee is issued a laptop computer for
business, they are usually given diskettes,
software books, and of course the phone number
of the Information resources department in case
they have a problem. But very few
companies provide any information on protecting property from theft while on the
road. Most companies just expect
their employees are street smart and are aware
of all the schemes and scams utilized by
professional criminalsto separate laptops from travelers at
airports, hotels, and car rental agencies.
Another reason why many companies don’t
educate their traveling employees about
preventing the theft of laptops is because it
hasn’t happened to them. Yet, it
happens. The FBI’s commissioned study of
computer crime shows that the theft of notebook
computers is the most common problem in computer
crime
By educating your employees
in laptop theft prevention strategies and
providing them simple yet effective laptop
security cables, you could potentially save your
company from countless problems down the road.
What if one of your laptops
containing all of your company's current pricing
structure, sales leads, and customer orders,
were lost and the employee who had the laptop
did not properly back up the data.
Worst yet, what if the data
fell into the hands of your competitor?
If your employees have not
fallen victim to the theft of property while on
the road, consider them fortunate, because the
theft of laptop computers, along with the theft
of briefcases and other personal property has
become a mult- million dollar problem facing
travelers.
Probably the two most
effective means of preventing the theft of
laptops is by educating the business traveler
on laptop safety awareness and by issuing laptop
security locks through the employer. An
easy way to implement the educational aspect is
to show a laptop theft prevention training
video. The video demonstrates how thieves
target laptops and gain access to valuable
corporate information. One
of the best videos on the subject is " Now
You See It, Now You Don't: Preventing
Laptop Computer Theft" which is now
available (www.CorporateTravelSafety.com). The video examines
the value of the computer, not only in real
dollar cost but also in the information it
contains, information that may be worth
thousands, even millions of dollars. The
presentation guides the viewer through a series
of potential theft opportunities while
illustrating the incorrect and correct methods
of theft prevention. Dramatic examples
show the viewer what to look out for and
how to avoid "High-Risk"
situations. The viewer will be amazed at
the vulnerability of the lap top and where the
most thefts occur. It also examines
various mechanical and electronic methods of
theft prevention as well as simple ways to aid
in the recovery process should the unexpected
happen.
Most
companies, which issue laptops to their
employees, are more concerned with providing
equipment usage information than they are with
safety. Typically, they give the employee a few
software manuals, computer disks and the phone
number to the I/S manger, for answering
questions. The employee is seldom given
information about theft prevention or provided a
lock to secure it while in the office or on the
road. In addition, by now carrying an
expensive laptop, the employer increases a
traveling employee’s potential to falling
victim to a crime. Employees need to be
taught how to best safe guard the laptop and
along with it, the often confidential
information contained inside. Specifically,
employees need to be made aware of the most
likely locations and methods criminals use to
steal laptops. Proactive safety training
can save a company thousands of dollars and even
help avert potential lawsuits from victimized
employees or from clients who’s data may have
been compromised.
Here are a few other tips:
-
There
are many products on the market
for securing laptops, one of the
most cost effective is a laptop
cable lock or one coupled with a
audible alarm. Be cautious
of cheap products. You get
what you pay for. One of the
best quality locks on the market
are the MicroSaver
Security Cable and the SonicLock,
manufactured by Kensington
Products Other
products include lock down
devices, tracking software and
alarms. These can be found using
the internet and conducting a
search for "laptop theft
prevention".
Employee
responsibility
Each
employee should be aware of the
laptop’s
value and why it is important to
protect it from theft.
Most employees feel the theft of
laptops always is not a big
thing. Employees need to
take responsibility for depends
to someone else, and that a
laptop is just something that is
an extra piece of equipment that
that have to carry around.
The employee must take
responsibility for the
protection of the companies
information, and by taking this
responsibility, they must take
the time to learn how
professional criminals
operate. Some companies
will allow employees to expense
out an insurance rider on their
personal insurance to cover
laptop theft. The very
least a traveler should do is
always use a security device to
secure the laptop in the office (41%
of all laptop thefts are stolen
from the office) and on the
road.
Insurance and
laptops
Insuring
of laptops falls into three
areas. The most likely
scenario is that a laptop is the
property of a company and
thereby is self-insured.
This means if it is stolen, the
company pays for it out of its
budget and the loss is not
reported to an insurance company
The second
most common type of insurance
would be an employee who has a
laptop cover under his or her
own personal insurance.
The insuring of computers may or
may not be covered under your
homeowners insurance and it is
highly encouraged that owners of
laptops contact their primary
insurance company. Most t
of the time computers is not
coverage by homeowners or the
coverage is minimal.
The third
type of insurance would be Third
party insurance. This insurance
is issued by a company that
primary provides coverage for
laptops and related items.
This is probably the most
extensive type of coverage on
the market and covers a wide
variety of situations, from
damage to theft. For
example if your laptop were
damaged as a result of a power
surge, this type of insurance
would cover it. The
premium for this type of
insurance is based on the value
of your laptop. It
purchases by the value of the
products when it was
purchase. I would caution
you to compare the type of
coverage between different
companies. You will be
surprised with the variations
and the particular incidents
where particular companies may
not pay the claim.
Credit
Card Insurance and Laptops
Credit
card insurance may be another
avenue that might provide
coverage. The coverage is
very different between cards,
and to be quite frank, a few
cards provide a lot better
coverage that others. Many
of these cards, fall into the “Gold
Card”
category and insure products
against theft and damage for the
first 30 to 60 days. It is
highly recommended that anytime
you purchase an electronic items
that your purchase it with one
of these cards, it may not pay
for the value of it if stolen,
but it might pay for it’s
repair if dropped.
Vulnerable
Locations
Although
the theft of a laptop computer
can occur at any place or time,
there are certain obvious
locations-- company offices,
airports, hotels and conference
centers, college campuses,
libraries and hospitals -- where
incidents occur most frequently.
So it obviously pays to pay
particular attention to your
machine at these locations. In
places such as hospitals and
libraries, laptops are stolen by
people who either have or appear
to have a legitimate reason for
being there. This may include
contractors, service persons,
custodians, delivery persons or
even vendors.
Additional
tips to avoid laptop theft
Would
you leave a bag filled with
$3,000 in cash sitting in your
car or alone in your hotel room?
Of course not. Then why do you
leave your computer sitting on
the passenger seat or on your
hotel desk while you are
out. If you depend
on a notebook computer for
school or work, having it stolen
would be a disaster. We won't
bore you with mind-numbing stats
about how many computers are
stolen every year -- we'll just
jump right into our tips.
Don't
take
your eyes off your laptop
Remember,
most laptop thefts occur at
hotels, airports, or while in
the rental car.
Criminals don't have to rob
you with a gun for your
laptop, they just have to wait
for you to set it down when
you make a call at the airport
phone booth. If you do
set it down, make sure it is
directly in front of you - not
to the left, right, or behind
you. It just take a
second for a thief to make off
with it.
Lock
it
down
if
you were to leave your hotel
room, would you leave a
wallet sitting on the night
stand with $3,000 dollars in
it? Of course
not. But you would
leave a laptop. Never
leave a laptop alone in a
hotel room without locking
it down with a cable
lock. If you do not
have one, make sure the
laptop is secured with a laptop
cable lock or audible
security cable alarm
hidden from view, or in the
room safe (if it
fits). Remember, good
crooks are good actors and
actresses. The simply
walk into your hotel room
when the maid is doing
nighttime turndown service
and says it is her
room. She tips the
maid and walk out with one
of your bags. Also be
very careful about leaving
your laptop in hotel meeting
rooms. I have seen
numerous laptop theft that
occurred when the owner just
left the meeting room for a
5 minute break. A
crook simply walks into a
meeting room during break
time in a suit and blends
in. Pretends the
laptop is his and walks
out. No one is
checking ID at the door of
your meeting
room.
Locking
Cable Tips
- Do
not leave laptops
unattended, particularly
overnight on desktops.
If your desk is in a
high traffic area or an
area accessible by the
public, secure your
laptop anytime you’ re
away from your desk.
- Do
not position laptops
near exterior windows
where they are subject
to a smash and grab type
theft.
Storage
in cars
- If a
laptop must be left in a
car keep it locked and
out of sight.
- While
riding, place the case
between the drivers seat
and the rear seat so it
won't slide around.
- Avoid
storage in very cold or
very hot weather.
Disguise
your laptop
- By
carrying your laptop
in a case designed for
computers, you
immediately alert
thieves that you have
a laptop, even before
you take it out to
begin working.
Carrying your laptop
in an ordinary piece
of luggage or
briefcase will help
deter theft.
Management
Controls
- Tractability
- Engrave
the company name/ ID
on all laptops.
- Maintain
and keep current a
list of assignees,
assigned equipment
serial numbers and
software.
- Training
- Provide annual loss
prevention training and
periodic reminders to
maintain adequate safety
and security awareness.
Written Policies and
Procedures should cover
items such as:
- The
individual should be
responsible and held
accountable for the
safety and security
of the assigned
equipment.
- The
individual should be
held responsible in
the event of loss of
unattended or
unsecured equipment.
- Require
a signed copy of the
policy statement
from all computer
assignees.
- Audit
annually, policies,
procedures and
assigned equipment
and software lists.
- Loss
investigations must
be done an all
stolen equipment. Do
not easily accept
loss, damage or
theft of company
property.
Investigate all
accidents and
publicize the
results.
Know all
of the scams
used by thieves to rip you
off.
If
you are interested in 25
other scams used by
professional thieves to
steal your property, listen
to our audio tape Traveler
Beware, An Undercover Cop's
Guide To Avoiding
Pickpockets, Luggage Theft,
and Travel Scams by
Detective Kevin Coffey. For
Information about the
book go to our
products page. For
additional information on
Kevin Coffey, along with his
company, Corporate Travel
Safety, based in Calabasas,
California, he can be
reached at 818 225-1991.
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