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ATTEMPTED MUGGING
ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Guitarman » Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:15 am
Just thought I would let everyone know that whilst walking my large dogs this morning I was approached by a suspicious looking lady who in Spanish said she wanted to ask me a question, then asked me if I was Paco? She was persistent and very suspicious. This followed the pattern of other muggings and street robberies recently. However, I warned her about my dogs and she obviously thought the risk was too great to proceed so I avoided a possible mugging. This happened on Calle Sorolla just north of Calle Falla.
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by carolandgraeme » Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:16 pm
Not nice all this street crime. Never thought Spain would be like this! We've only been here 3 months and read almost everyday someone being scammed, burgled or a victim of street crime. Kind of makes you suspicious of anyone that attempts to talk to you. Still, I'm sure the positives about living here will outweigh the negatives and realise we all need to be vigilant I guess.
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by brandyboy » Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:57 pm
You need to have your wits about you at all times. Most of the crime is opportunist, so be careful not to provide the opportunity. We must be aware but things are not so bad that we need to be paranoid.
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Shiva » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:34 pm
brandyboy wrote:You need to have your wits about you at all times. Most of the crime is opportunist, so be careful not to provide the opportunity. We must be aware but things are not so bad that we need to be paranoid.
Agree, it is very sad to read people, imo, over-reacting to warnings like on this forum. The Quesada area is very safe, probably safer than most areas in UK that people come from. It is great to have a community like this forum where people can be alerted or put on their guard against possible fraudsters, pickpockets or whatever. That does NOT mean the place is overrun with Crime!!! Just that we have a caring, alert community that passes on information. So keep the alerts coming.. And treat as a good sign, not a bad one!
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Jan » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:36 pm
Shiva wrote:brandyboy wrote:You need to have your wits about you at all times. Most of the crime is opportunist, so be careful not to provide the opportunity. We must be aware but things are not so bad that we need to be paranoid.
Agree, it is very sad to read people, imo, over-reacting to warnings like on this forum. The Quesada area is very safe, probably safer than most areas in UK that people come from. It is great to have a community like this forum where people can be alerted or put on their guard against possible fraudsters, pickpockets or whatever. That does NOT mean the place is overrun with Crime!!! Just that we have a caring, alert community that passes on information. So keep the alerts coming.. And treat as a good sign, not a bad one!
and well said!
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by marcliff » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:51 pm
As posted on a similar thread, the police have arrested two women who have been walking into houses in this area and taking things. They have also arrested a gang of six who were robbing houses around San Luis and urbanisations in Torrevieja and around here.
It has been reported on here that those two women have been seen on several occasions so hopefully they are out of the picture for a while. Same with the gang of six and people have said they have seen them walking around.
Of course, the OP could have just met a confused woman but better safe than sorry.
It should be stressed, time and again, that most of these are crimes of opportunity. I know of one couple who were in their front garden and left the back French windows wide open. Over the wall, in the house and out again without the couple even knowing until later. Always keep your doors and windows closed especially if you can't see them.
Another couple of houses were broken into and the culprit turned out to be a locally employed cleaner who left doors ajar for the thieves to get in. In one case, jamming the doors to an underground garage area and cars broken into.
I reckon it is safe here but there are always ones around who will be on the lookout for carelessness.
It has been reported on here that those two women have been seen on several occasions so hopefully they are out of the picture for a while. Same with the gang of six and people have said they have seen them walking around.
Of course, the OP could have just met a confused woman but better safe than sorry.
It should be stressed, time and again, that most of these are crimes of opportunity. I know of one couple who were in their front garden and left the back French windows wide open. Over the wall, in the house and out again without the couple even knowing until later. Always keep your doors and windows closed especially if you can't see them.
Another couple of houses were broken into and the culprit turned out to be a locally employed cleaner who left doors ajar for the thieves to get in. In one case, jamming the doors to an underground garage area and cars broken into.
I reckon it is safe here but there are always ones around who will be on the lookout for carelessness.
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Jan » Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:20 pm
marcliff wrote:As posted on a similar thread, the police have arrested two women who have been walking into houses in this area and taking things. They have also arrested a gang of six who were robbing houses around San Luis and urbanisations in Torrevieja and around here.
It has been reported on here that those two women have been seen on several occasions so hopefully they are out of the picture for a while. Same with the gang of six and people have said they have seen them walking around.
Of course, the OP could have just met a confused woman but better safe than sorry.
It should be stressed, time and again, that most of these are crimes of opportunity. I know of one couple who were in their front garden and left the back French windows wide open. Over the wall, in the house and out again without the couple even knowing until later. Always keep your doors and windows closed especially if you can't see them.
Another couple of houses were broken into and the culprit turned out to be a locally employed cleaner who left doors ajar for the thieves to get in. In one case, jamming the doors to an underground garage area and cars broken into.
I reckon it is safe here but there are always ones around who will be on the lookout for carelessness.
Another
We would never leave a front door open in the UK so why do so many do it in Spain?!
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Scipio » Wed Feb 22, 2017 12:28 am
We must be very lucky.
We live on an urb that has had very very few of these kinds of problems in 15 years.
We live on an urb that has had very very few of these kinds of problems in 15 years.
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Reginaldo » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:30 pm
Have had a holiday home in Spain since 2003.
In first year we were burgled twice!
First time we were out on Saturday morning...probably the buiders..took a while to realise it had happened...came in thro sliding windows , easy , and left thro front door!
Had grilles fitted to all windows and doors.
Second time was 4am...burglar opened sliding window and thro grille used fishing rod to pinch all my house and car keys from the coffee table. Took my hire car!
After that had window locks fitted and a burglar alarm. Like Fort Knox!,
Since then no problems...we take all precautions, lock everything, put keys on hook out of sight..we learnt bit by bit...but we are no longer the soft touch most newbie Brits are out here!
Even so..both burglaries incurred no physical harm..in the first our passports were left..in the second the carhire company insurance covered everything.
So..Spain is still a lovely place to live...if you offer it on a plate, someone probably less fortunate will try to take it!
Oh and more recently I left my new bike secured to a ballustrade with security cable lock in my front garden.
Too much trouble to take it round the back!
Sure enough at 4am one day I heard a metallic noise...leapt out of bed..and could only scream "stop thief"...
as some bloke used bolt cutter on the cablelock, and passed my bike over the ballustrades to his mate who pedalled off rapidly.
By the time I got downstairs and opened the door, the other one was long gone!
Did not bother to call the polce.
Another lesson learnt...nobody will pinch a bike from me again!
All in all, more an amusing tale than a frightening one?
In first year we were burgled twice!
First time we were out on Saturday morning...probably the buiders..took a while to realise it had happened...came in thro sliding windows , easy , and left thro front door!
Had grilles fitted to all windows and doors.
Second time was 4am...burglar opened sliding window and thro grille used fishing rod to pinch all my house and car keys from the coffee table. Took my hire car!
After that had window locks fitted and a burglar alarm. Like Fort Knox!,
Since then no problems...we take all precautions, lock everything, put keys on hook out of sight..we learnt bit by bit...but we are no longer the soft touch most newbie Brits are out here!
Even so..both burglaries incurred no physical harm..in the first our passports were left..in the second the carhire company insurance covered everything.
So..Spain is still a lovely place to live...if you offer it on a plate, someone probably less fortunate will try to take it!
Oh and more recently I left my new bike secured to a ballustrade with security cable lock in my front garden.
Too much trouble to take it round the back!
Sure enough at 4am one day I heard a metallic noise...leapt out of bed..and could only scream "stop thief"...
as some bloke used bolt cutter on the cablelock, and passed my bike over the ballustrades to his mate who pedalled off rapidly.
By the time I got downstairs and opened the door, the other one was long gone!
Did not bother to call the polce.
Another lesson learnt...nobody will pinch a bike from me again!
All in all, more an amusing tale than a frightening one?
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Re: ATTEMPTED MUGGING
by Jan » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:02 pm
Reginaldo wrote:Have had a holiday home in Spain since 2003.
In first year we were burgled twice!
First time we were out on Saturday morning...probably the buiders..took a while to realise it had happened...came in thro sliding windows , easy , and left thro front door!
Had grilles fitted to all windows and doors.
Second time was 4am...burglar opened sliding window and thro grille used fishing rod to pinch all my house and car keys from the coffee table. Took my hire car!
After that had window locks fitted and a burglar alarm. Like Fort Knox!,
Since then no problems...we take all precautions, lock everything, put keys on hook out of sight..we learnt bit by bit...but we are no longer the soft touch most newbie Brits are out here!
Even so..both burglaries incurred no physical harm..in the first our passports were left..in the second the carhire company insurance covered everything.
So..Spain is still a lovely place to live...if you offer it on a plate, someone probably less fortunate will try to take it!
Oh and more recently I left my new bike secured to a ballustrade with security cable lock in my front garden.
Too much trouble to take it round the back!
Sure enough at 4am one day I heard a metallic noise...leapt out of bed..and could only scream "stop thief"...
as some bloke used bolt cutter on the cablelock, and passed my bike over the ballustrades to his mate who pedalled off rapidly.
By the time I got downstairs and opened the door, the other one was long gone!
Did not bother to call the polce.
Another lesson learnt...nobody will pinch a bike from me again!
All in all, more an amusing tale than a frightening one?
We have had our holiday home since 2005 and the most burglaries/opportunist thieving that we have ever heard about was in the very early days of the house building, although in relation to the amount of housing being built around Quesada in those days it really wasn't that many. However, it was sadly the naivety of some of the new home-owners that was preyed upon by the thieves, as Reginaldo mentioned above.
There was not much on the Internet to inform people in those days, although there was a small basic forum hosted by Yahoo that was very helpful to a few of us on our large urbanisation at the time. I remember barricading our doors on the first night in the new house with tables and chairs because I was so scared (I had taken the few incidents that I had heard about on this old forum and blown them out of all proportion much to my OH's rolling eyes! ). However what it did do, was make me ultra security conscious and we fitted all the security as we could at the time.
The incidents we hear about now really are few and far between, considering the amount of housing and people in the area. Although, this makes it obviously no less upsetting to those who sadly do become victims.
When we started this forum it was inspired by that little Yahoo forum and I was determined to get newbies to the area better informed (of lots of things...not just security!), than some of us were in those early days and I still think that, as Reginaldo indicated, it's better to be aware of the things that can possibly happen, than to learn the lesson after the event.
With basic common sense and good security it's easier to not become a statistic ...but keep it all in proportion, not like me on my first night all those years ago . Quesada and surrounding areas are statistically safer than most parts of Europe and the UK, as long as we don't leave our brains at the airport.
There are still some new house building in the area that could get targeted by opportunist criminals, so this topic link below is still relevant and may help some new home owners or renters :
safety-security-information-and-property-in-spain-hints-and-tips-f78/security-tips-for-moving-into-your-new-property-in-quesada-t1399.html
Jan
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