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February 16th started like any typical Friday night. My husband and I decided to stay home, grill chicken and make a salad for dinner. At about 6:45 p.m., we heard some loud rumbling overhead.<\/p>\n
We walked onto the back patio, and two police helicopters were overhead \u2014 shining lights all over our property, and a recording echoed, “Police. You are under arrest. Stay right there and I won’t shoot you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I looked across the fence, a swarm of armed members of the Phoenix SWAT Team with a few dogs were circling our property. One of the guys said, “Yeah, there\u2019s a jammer right here.” He picked it up. I leaned over the patio and asked, “What\u2019s going on?”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The police told me to go inside<\/strong><\/p>\nTECH SECURITY TO-DO: LOCK DOWN YOUR SMART STUFF<\/strong><\/p>\nA SWAT member said, “Ma\u2019am, A South American gang is targeting homes to steal from. The jammer says you might have been next. Do we have permission to enter your property?” I said, “Yes!” and then he asked something like, “If we find anyone, will you pursue charges so we can arrest them?” I replied, “Of course!”<\/p>\n
I opened the driveway gates to our property and the guest house while Barry tossed the police keys to open the security gates. It turns out that when the gang saw we were home, they likely diverted their attention to the house next door. A house four doors down from us wasn’t so lucky.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The homeowner left at 5 p.m. to have dinner and got a notification his security cameras were offline at 5:05 pm. He thought the internet went down. The gang broke in and took $25,000 in cash and valuables worth $100,000. They were in and out in less than 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
How are they getting away with this?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe gang places cellular and Wi-Fi jammers around the homes they\u2019re targeting. This way, security cameras and phones are useless. A Phoenix police officer told me the gang probably noticed nothing was down in our house.<\/p>\n
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Our home\u2019s security cameras and internet are hard-wired. Even when the thieves tried to jam the Wi-Fi signals, the security camera\u2019s red lights showed they were recording everything. We also still have a landline.<\/p>\n
But how frightening is that? Your phone doesn’t work. Your cameras aren’t recording anything. On the upside, the gang doesn’t carry guns. If they get caught, they’ll spend about six months in jail before being extradited back to Chile.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to watch the action captured by my security cameras, I showed them during\u00a0a Kim Komando Today video stream<\/strong>. I am so thankful for our police force.\u00a0<\/p>\nNothing is random<\/strong><\/p>\nThe gang thoroughly scopes out homes beforehand. They drive the neighborhood and look up homes on real estate sites to get an idea of where the primary bedroom is located. They look for dogs, too.<\/p>\n
7 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER ASK SIRI, GOOGLE ASSISTANT OR ALEXA<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s not only a problem in Phoenix. This is happening all over the country. A friend was robbed by a similar gang in a guard-gated community in California. Kudos to Phoenix Police \u2014 they arrested three members of the gang who were in my neighborhood that night.<\/p>\n
Invest in tech<\/strong><\/p>\nWe built our home, so it was easy to install the wiring for the internet and almost everything connected to it for the fastest connection that also won\u2019t be susceptible to a jammer. Of course, you can hardwire after construction, but that’s costly and often unrealistic. Here are some options:<\/p>\n
\nWireless cameras go kaput with no signal. Try a\u00a0wired camera<\/strong>\u00a0for backup.<\/li>\nA\u00a0cam with SD card storage<\/strong>\u00a0is nice, too, because it\u2019ll still record if there\u2019s no Wi-Fi.<\/li>\nPut up\u00a0motion-activated lights<\/strong>. It makes it harder for anyone to sneak around.<\/li>\nA femtocell (think of it as a mini cell tower) could be enough to keep your connection if thieves drop jammers outside \u2014\u00a0T-Mobile<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0Verizon<\/strong>.<\/li>\nHave an Amazon Echo?\u00a0Away mode<\/strong>\u00a0lets you control lights so it looks like the house is occupied.<\/li>\nThis innovative gadget<\/strong> makes it look like someone’s watching TV at your house when you’re not there.<\/li>\nPut security signs on your property.\u00a0Here are two for $7.99.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGet your house offline<\/strong><\/p>\nCheck Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin for photos of your house. The more crooks know about the layout, the better for them. Here\u2019s how to remove those pics.<\/p>\n
Zillow<\/strong><\/p>\n\nGo to\u00a0zillow.com\/sellerlanding\/claimyourhome<\/strong>\u00a0and type in your address. Verify you\u2019re the legal owner by selecting your name from the drop-down list.<\/li>\nClick the\u00a0profile icon<\/strong>\u00a0and select\u00a0Your Home<\/strong>\u00a0from the menu option. Click on the tile for your home, then\u00a0Edit Facts<\/strong>\u00a0from the\u00a0Owner View<\/strong>\u00a0of the property page.<\/li>\nClick the\u00a0X<\/strong>\u00a0in the corner of the photo or click on an individual photo and\u00a0Remove Photo<\/strong>. To remove all images, click\u00a0Delete all photos<\/strong>. Hit\u00a0Save Changes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nRealtor<\/strong><\/p>\n\nGo to\u00a0realtor.com\/myhome<\/strong>, type in your address and click\u00a0Claim Your Home<\/strong>\u00a0on your home\u2019s profile page.<\/li>\nLog into your profile and go to your owner dashboard under the\u00a0My Home<\/strong>\u00a0tab. Click the\u00a0Remove Photos\u00a0<\/strong>button.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nRedfin<\/strong><\/p>\n\nAfter creating an account and claiming your home, you can make changes from your Owner Dashboard.<\/li>\n Log into\u00a0Redfin<\/strong>\u00a0and go to your\u00a0Owner Dashboard<\/strong>\u00a0using the drop-down menu under your name in the top-right corner of the page.<\/li>\nClick on\u00a0your home<\/strong>\u00a0and Edit Photos<\/strong>, then\u00a0Hide listing photos<\/strong>. Click\u00a0Yes, Hide Photos<\/strong>\u00a0when it pops up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nYou\u2019re not done yet. It\u2019s a good idea to\u00a0blur your house from Google Maps and Apple Maps<\/strong>\u00a0while you\u2019re at it.<\/p>\nSIGNS YOU NEED A NEW PHONE, LIKE, NOW<\/strong><\/p>\nPODCAST PICK:\u00a0<\/strong>Budget Ozempic, avoid return fees & online piracy amps up<\/strong><\/p>\nPlus, we’re TikTok tips that pros warn are your plants’ worst nightmare. Andrew has a wild story about getting scammed on a dating app. It’s cold outside, so here are some top tricks for staying warm with your tech. And, as always, listener letters. You won\u2019t believe what one guy called me.<\/p>\n
Check out my podcast “Kim Komando Today” on\u00a0Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.<\/p>\n
Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for my last name, “Komando.”<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Sound like a tech pro, even if you\u2019re not! Award-winning popular host Kim Komando is your secret weapon.\u00a0Listen on 425+ radio stations or\u00a0get the podcast. And join over 400,000 people who get her\u00a0free 5-minute daily email newsletter.<\/p>\n
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