Is Crime Tourism Coming to a Town Near You?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 running rampant, you’d think that tourism would be way down.  Well, it turns out that one form of travel has been on the upswing for the past three years.  Law enforcement refers to it as “Crime Tourism” and it’s been making its way steadily south.   If you’re looking to keep traveling crooks from targeting you and yours, here’s what you need to know.

It all started in February 2019, when police got wind of a South American burglary ring that was targeting well-to-do families in Virginia.  The brazen thieves broke in through a glass patio door to make off with jewelry and other valuables totaling several hundred thousand dollars.  The crime wasn’t new to Fairfax County Police, who had been tracking a string of similar burglaries in their area for months.  However, their investigation led nowhere since the cagey thieves left little evidence behind.  

What the police didn’t know was that the thefts weren’t limited to Virginia.  The FBI later determined the thieves were linked to a nationwide gang that was soon connected to hundreds of similar heists in California, Texas, North and South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and Georgia.  What made the gang unique was their use of technology to target and surveil likely victims.  One group employed radio jammers, while another cut the power to a target, only to bring in their own generator to power drills used to crack a safe.

The FBI soon determined the thieves were being recruited in Chile and Colombia.   The crooks were provided with bogus Puerto Rican passports that were used to gain entry to the US.  Not only did this tactic hide the origin of the thieves as well as their true identities, it also made it nearly impossible to deport them since Puerto Ricans automatically have US citizenship.  Even when a member of the gang was caught, they could afford the best legal defense money could buy since their illicit business was highly profitable.  It was reported that each member routinely made between $20,000 and $100,000 per job.  This also made it difficult to track the gang’s activities, since gang members lived in luxurious homes and sent their children to private schools.

Fairfax County Detectives caught a break when a sheriff’s deputy in a suburb of Atlanta searched the luxury car of two men who claimed to be Puerto Rican nationals.  The deputy grew suspicious when he noted that one of the men was covered in twigs.  The deputy also spotted gloves and ski masks in the glove compartment even though the weather was warm.  While neither man was arrested, the deputy filed a report which became far more poignant when the same pair was arrested a month later for breaking and entering.  The lead detective in the case then filed a search warrant to determine which cellphones were active in the area of the homes that had been broken into. Two numbers matched those of the thieves who had been arrested.  That came as no surprise.  What did surprise the detective was to discover that the suspects who were out on bail were on the move.  A police surveillance team eventually tracked one of the phones to a motel in Alexandria, Virginia.  The team followed the suspect’s vehicle the next day to an upscale neighborhood.  Shortly thereafter, the police took a call from a homeowner who was on vacation in Chicago.  She’d been alerted by her home’s video security system that two men in ski masks were rifling her home for valuables.  The cops told her not to worry since they’d apprehended the thieves shortly after the break-in only to find a bag of jewelry under the passenger seat.  In total, four men were arrested, all of whom turned out to be Colombian.  One skipped bail and is considered a fugitive from justice. One was deported and the others are scheduled to stand trial later this year.  While the arrests put a stop to the Fairfax County Gang which netted more than $2 million, it only proved to be the tip of the iceberg.  It turns out that not only are Chilean and Colombian burglary rings operating in the US, but they’ve also been linked to crime waves in Canada, India, the UK, and Australia as well.

What should you do to keep your home from getting targeted? – If you want to beat thieves at their own game you need to think twice.  Today's savvy crooks use the Internet to troll for victims.  People routinely post all kinds of interesting information on social sites.  They not only gloat about their latest acquisitions, but they’ll also even post pictures of high-priced possessions.  On top of that, all too many people gladly divulge everything from their daily routines to their upcoming vacation plans on these all-too-public forums.  This means that burglars don’t have to waste time casing a neighborhood looking for likely victims.  All they have to do is friend you on Facebook.  

1. Limit what you and your family post online. –The three best things you can do to keep from coming up on some crook’s radar is to limit what you and your family post on social sites, never friend someone you don’t know, and never click on a link sent to you by anyone you’ve only met online.  Along with that innocuous-looking message or eCard can come a load of malware that will allow a hacker to access your device or even activate its built-in microphone or camera. Also, make sure you only share holiday photos after you return from vacation.  Never telegraph your intention to travel or you could come home to discover that you’ve been robbed.

2. If you want to share your latest pride and joy, do so in private. – Instead of posting photos or a video of your new car, fur, art object, or bauble, invite your friends over to see it in person.  Posting high-ticket items online is like rolling out the red carpet for thieves.

3. Consider beefing up your home security system.  – If you spend hours or even days away from home on a regular basis, odds are it won’t be long before thieves hear about it.  Installing a wireless security system or a front door camera that alerts you when someone nears your home could save you from filing a police report after thieves break into your home.

4. How secure are your windows and doors? – Most homeowners only realize how easy it is to break into their homes after they’ve been burglarized.  If you want to keep thieves at bay, double-check the condition of your home’s doors and windows.  Consider adding things like track locks and security film to windows and glass patio doors, as well as deadbolts and strike plates to front and back and you’ll make a burglar think twice about breaking into your home.

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on all your insurance needs, check out her website at http://aplusallfloridainsuranceinc.com/