Sleuth
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We run a rental apartment in Palermo Hollywood that was robbed this weekend. It appears that the robbers had keys to the apartment (no signs of forced entry). We're pretty confident it was not our cleaning people, so after some thought the most likely culprit was a previous renter who made copies of the keys. Guessing what tenant it was is a bit difficult as we rent primarily to foreigners who come and leave Argentina after a week or two. I wanted to post this as a warning to others to be on the look out and consider changing locks on your doors as well.
The robbery was pretty clean and surprisingly well executed. We had a renter who went out Saturday afternoon for about 3-4 hours. When he returned home about 6pm, the doors were not double-locked as he claims he left them. Once inside, he found that they took his laptop, iPhone, cash (from a small safe they got into - simple digital password, but they may have know the default code from staying there), and all his clothing and backpack. From the apartment itself they took a 32" LCD TV, cordless phone and Roku internet TV device along with the remotes. They left behind a lower-end Nokia phone, an older stereo system, the Wifi router, the DSL modem and the remotes for these devices. They also left all his identification documents and credit cards.
The things that stood out were that they came when he was out, left behind some valuables and seemed to know the default code to the safe.
Anyhow, not much to be done about it now. He filed a police report for his insurance and we'll have to replace the missing items. The better point is that everyone who has a rental place has their photos online showing the apartment and its contents which can make it a target. I'm just hoping that this might serve as a warning for others if someone is indeed targeting rental properties. You might want to change locks more frequently and avoid renting to anyone who may be staying in the country or have friends in the country.
The robbery was pretty clean and surprisingly well executed. We had a renter who went out Saturday afternoon for about 3-4 hours. When he returned home about 6pm, the doors were not double-locked as he claims he left them. Once inside, he found that they took his laptop, iPhone, cash (from a small safe they got into - simple digital password, but they may have know the default code from staying there), and all his clothing and backpack. From the apartment itself they took a 32" LCD TV, cordless phone and Roku internet TV device along with the remotes. They left behind a lower-end Nokia phone, an older stereo system, the Wifi router, the DSL modem and the remotes for these devices. They also left all his identification documents and credit cards.
The things that stood out were that they came when he was out, left behind some valuables and seemed to know the default code to the safe.
Anyhow, not much to be done about it now. He filed a police report for his insurance and we'll have to replace the missing items. The better point is that everyone who has a rental place has their photos online showing the apartment and its contents which can make it a target. I'm just hoping that this might serve as a warning for others if someone is indeed targeting rental properties. You might want to change locks more frequently and avoid renting to anyone who may be staying in the country or have friends in the country.