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Call the police immediately if you notice any of these six things at your front door.
Learn how burglars mark houses before breaking in and discover key signs to watch for to protect your home and alert the police.
Key Takeaways
- Burglars mark homes with subtle signs to assess break-in potential.
- Objects like stones, cards, cookies, and threads are used to detect homeowner presence.
- Recognizing these signs early can prevent burglaries.
- Immediate police notification and neighbor alerts are crucial if suspicious signs appear.
- Staying informed about burglary tactics enhances home security.
Summary
- Burglars use specific markings and tricks at front doors to identify if a house is worth breaking into.
- Common signs include crooks prongs, stones on doormats, displaced objects, and tape over keyholes.
- Burglars use cards, flyers, or plastic snippets inserted in door gaps to check if the door has been opened.
- Shortbread cookies placed under doormats break when stepped on, signaling someone has been home.
- The thread trick involves thin thread stuck between the door and frame to detect door usage.
- These markings help burglars monitor homeowners' patterns without direct surveillance.
- Police issue warnings about these tactics, especially the thread trick, urging vigilance.
- If suspicious signs are noticed, residents should immediately call the police and inform neighbors.
- Awareness of these signs can help prevent break-ins by enabling early detection and response.
- The video encourages viewers to watch additional content on deterring burglars.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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These are tricks used by burglars before they break into your home.
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Only if you are aware of them and know exactly what to look out for can you prevent a break-in.
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Before I show you exactly what this card or cookies have to do with it, let's move on to an absolute classic.
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Namely the crooks prongs, these are actually still used today.
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These are markings in front of your house that allow other criminals to recognize whether it is worth breaking in or not.
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This sign, for example, means that there is a snappy dog in the house.
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This sign means that poor people live here and it's not worth breaking in.
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This sign here means that you have something to get.
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Incidentally, there are many more signs like this, I'll just show you the most common ones here.
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Then there is also this sign which means that there is money here and this sign means that old people live here.
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However, other things are actually used today, as you will see in a moment.
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These include conventional stones.
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These are simply placed on your doormat or somewhere near your door in general.
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Because when you come home now, you notice these stones and you would put them aside.
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The whole thing also works if they are right outside your door, of course.
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Anything that shows the criminals that you have returned home or left the house will be used.
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For example, doormats are also simply turned over or any objects standing next to your front door.
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Such as flower pots or other small decorative items are knocked over or visibly displaced.
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It could even be that a piece of cellotape is stuck over your keyhole.
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But these are all things that will ensure that you would change them immediately when you get home.
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But there are also things that burglars do that you don't even notice at first glance.
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And these are usually even more dangerous as they are much harder to spot.
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I'll show you what they are now.
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But let's stick with the stones from earlier.
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These are often painted with a special color.
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You can't see this at first glance.
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It charges up in the sun or daylight and then glows in the dark.
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The burglars don't even have to come to your door.
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They often throw them from a moving car directly in front of your house to mark it if they think it's worth breaking in.
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So that they can either easily find the house again later when it's dark or when they've split up so that they can show the people who really want to break in exactly where they need to go.
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A very common trick at the moment is the thread trick.
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Which the police are currently warning against.
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We'll come to this and why you should definitely watch out for cookies in a moment.
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First of all, there is the trick with the card, for which the burglars also use other things.
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For example, a sheet of paper like this, which they don't even have to carry with them.
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But can simply tear off somewhere.
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They then take it to your front door and stick it in a specific place.
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Somewhere between the door and the seal, of course, usually not somewhere above where you can see it, but somewhere at the bottom of the door where you don't notice it so directly.
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But if you come home now and open your door, the leaf will fall out of this gap.
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This lets the burglars know that you have been home in the meantime and that the door has definitely been opened.
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However, plastic snippets that are transparent and therefore even less visible are often used for this purpose.
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These are also simply inserted here and when you open the door, they fall down again.
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This is also done with such cards.
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Usually not with playing cards, of course, but with small flyers or advertising in general.
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At first glance, it looks as if someone has simply stuck advertising between your door.
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However, this is not advertising, but also just a small tool that allows burglars to see whether you have opened the door in the meantime or not.
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Because when you get home, you would definitely remove this flyer.
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Toothpicks are often used for this purpose.
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But what exactly do harmless cookies have to do with burglars?
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In fact, many burglars also use cookies.
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This is because they are placed in a very specific place outside your front door.
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Namely by your doormat.
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Because when you come home, you naturally step on your doormat.
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In other words, the burglars grab one of these conventional shortbread cookies and place it under your doormat.
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They may even place several of them directly underneath.
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Of course, you won't be able to see it at first and you won't even notice it.
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All you have to do is come home and walk towards your door, stepping on the doormat, of course.
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The cookie now breaks under the doormat.
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And so the burglars only have to look under the doormat later when they come back, and if they see that the cookie has been broken here, they know that at least someone was at the door.
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For all these reasons and the one I'm about to show you, it's definitely worth keeping an eye on the whole area around your door.
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So that you can react quickly if anything changes.
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However, you should pay particular attention to the thread trick, as this is being used more frequently these days.
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So much so that even the police are issuing an urgent warning about it.
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A thread is used for this.
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Some very thin thread that you can't even see at first glance.
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Of course, it doesn't have a neon color like the one you see here, but usually matches the door or is somehow white or dark.
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It is now simply stuck between the door and the frame with a small adhesive, as you can see in my case.
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Again, not at eye level, of course, but somewhere further down on the door where you wouldn't even think to look, maybe even on the other side.
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But exactly what has happened now, if you open the door, the thread will of course come loose as it will be torn apart here.
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This also allows the thieves to see if you have come home in the meantime.
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With all these tricks, they often plant them beforehand, come back later and can then check whether you've been home in the meantime.
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If they have already spied on you beforehand, they can see exactly whether you have a pattern of when you come home and don't have to stand outside your home and watch you the whole time.
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So be sure to keep an eye out for these tricks at the moment and if you notice one at your front door, call the police if in doubt.
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But be sure to warn the neighbors.
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Would you like to know what else you can do to deter burglars?
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Then take a look at the video you see on the screen now.
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Click directly on it.
Topics:burglarshome securityburglary preventioncrooks prongsburglary markingsthread trickdoor securityburglary warning signspolice warninghome safety tips
