As a theft victim myself, I couldn’t help but feel the pain of friends and acquaintances who’ve lost their precious gadgets recently.
One is my Plurk friend Pau who lost his laptop and high-end cameras at the rooftop parking lot of MC Home Depot, The Fort in a span of less than 10 minutes!
Last night, Plurk was abuzz again with news of another robbery. This time, somebody recounted how some rogue peeps broke into the trunk of a car and stole a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and a Dell laptop amounting to more than P200,000 at the Podium parking lot in Ortigas.
Yogini Jane recounts how one lost a laptop through the clever workings of the Salisi Gang.
Earlier in our photography class, my seatmate also recounted how she lost her camera collection in her parked car inside BF Homes Paranaque.
Another (and a reporter at that!) was victimized by somebody who engaged him in a conversation in Greenbelt. He lost his MacBook because he put down his bag to talk. His bag was gone in a split second.
The common thread in all these is that it’s almost suicidal to leave valuable items in any part of the car these days… no matter how inconspicuous they are. It seems that ruthless thieves are now targetting gadgets more expensive than cellphones. And they are doing so upscale places in Makati, Taguig and Ortigas.
One part of me thinks if this is in any way related to the elections, but laptops will always be in-demand among students and the like. (Yes, even if the advent of cheap netbooks has made owning a laptop easier)
An even more dangerous trend: unscrupulous persons are cannibalizing stolen items and selling them by parts, where they’re less likely to be traced. Browse the online marketplace and you’ll see some ads being ran about Macbook LCD screens for sale, and being peddled for $200 to $400.
Here’s my thoughts on the matter:
1. A laptop bag almost always screams “yes, this is a laptop. Come and get me.” I would really like to have those fashionable laptop bags, but a part of me says the bag should be as inconspicuous as possible to attract thieves LESS.
2. Consider asking around for insurance for your precious possessions. I think Canon Philippines has a promo now where every new purchase of a DLSR camera entitles one to protection in case of loss or theft from Malayan Insurance.
3. Consider installing anti-theft software. Okay, the subject of my next post.
4. Get an auto free insurance quote or shop car insurance, and see if it provides for replacement of items lost in the vehicle itself.
5. Back up your files always. Because the second most painful part about losing your valuables are the files in it. We love Apple Time capsule because it is a wireless router and at the same time backs up your Mac automatically.
6. Talking to the police…. a waste of time and an exercise in futility. Am sorry to say this, and am not saying you shouldn’t ever put your incident on record, either. Am just frustrated with the fact that the police will only jot down the details and secretly consider you just a sorry statistic among the countless incidents of theft in Metro Manila. When my bag was snatched last year, the policeman who did so posted bail and was freed within 24 hours 🙁
Related posts:
The man who snatched my bag…. was a policeman!
Stolen laptops, car robberies in Ortigas, The Fort
DO go to the Police. Can’t file an insurance claim, without an accompanying police report.
Police are quite effective, when you give them enough information to work with. More on that in Anna’s next post.
I beg to disagree. Police are not so effective, based on my experience. Going through the motions with them is a waste of time, but yes we have to do that. Waste our time, I mean.
Each time I travel to Asia, I take insurance for my gadgets. Better be safe than sorry.
I guess I irritate people by saying that I do not buy those ‘expensive and cute’ gadget bags like they do simply because “mitsa pa ng buhay ng gadgets mo eh!”
bahala sila magyabang basta ako kahit sa bayong ko lang ilagay ang gadgets basta ba hindi takaw pansin eh.
and I don’t trust the police.
The way Pau’s stuff was stolen reeks of an inside job. And I have to admit, seeing how fast and brazen these theives are becoming makes me lose my trust in the security detail being assigned to malls and the like.
We’re bloggers, it’s customary for us to bring expensive gadgetry around. I worry for everyone else.
Thess, oo nga eh. There should be some form of insurance for gadgets.I don’t hear it much around here. Maybe because malulugi ang insurance companies?
Ade, that security guard should be investigated. I don’t trust security men in the same way I don’t trust the police. Sila kasi nagpapasok sa mga kriminal eh, who knows if they’re in connivance with them? Or tipping off the crooks? Whatever
My dad’s laptop was also stolen before inside his car. What the thieves did was to break the glass discreetly and they brought it back to its original position. We just found out when we’re at home after that lunch.
Two software solutions to try are LoJack for Laptops and, a free but similar service with less features, Adeona.
You can buy and install LoJack but I don’t know how far reaching and effective their service will be here in the Philippines.
With Adeona, you’re on your own on how to retreive your laptop.
Yes, I considered LoJack and Adeona for Anna’s laptop, and my own – site didn’t make me confident that they provided coverage outside of the United States.
Adeona is currently experiencing growing pains, as one of the key services they rely on is provided by an outside organization. I expect Adeona will improve in the future, as they are building solutions in-house to answer their needs.
With the rash of thefts seeing coverage in the Maynila blogs, am definitely going to follow these issues more closely in the future.