Rag hanging from letterbox - burglar's sign or am I paranoid?!

[Flingmoo]

Came back from a 2 week holiday to find a grubby old microfibre cloth (like a dishcloth/tea towel type thing) hanging out of my letterbox. Seems weird to me - innocent explanation would be that someone spotted it outside our house and poked it through our door thinking it was ours (it's not)... But that seems weird and unlikely to me. Worried it could have been a burglars trick to see if we were away, I.e if the rag was still there a couple of days later.

What do you think of this? Suspicious? Or am I being paranoid? What would you do?

[NoodleOodle]

You may well be right. I'd remove the rag and ask a neighbour to check your house daily next time you go away.

Good hol?

[nokidshere]

Well if you lived in our street it would be normal! A fairly new housing estate and the letterboxes are all crap! When the wind blows they rattle like mad and the only thing that stops the noise is a teatowel poked through it!

[HeySoulSister]

Inform 101.... They will know. There might have been others

[threepiecesuite]

Yes I would immediately think it was a burglar call sign.

[SistersOfPercy]

I'm surprised these burglars know whether they are coming or going what with these dozens of `signs ' they supposedly leave.
Never did understand why they bothered pissing about leaving a sign when they could just rob the place and be done with...

[Flingmoo]

I called the local neighbourhood policing team and they said my PCSO will pop round to discuss it. Will have to speak to my neighbour and ask if she noticed anything while we were away. I forgot to tell her we were going away, next time I'll ask them to keep an eye out! There are tonnes of police officers living round here, it's also a new development.

I bet it was so obvious that we were away - closed curtains, front grass long and unmown (DH's job and he's been slack about it recently)...

Glad nothing seems to have actually happened though thank god. I do wonder what if we'd come back just a couple of days later...

[Flingmoo]

SistersOfPercy I know, I know - I do recognise how silly it sounds, and feel like a snooty paranoid nutter...!

[Ziggyzoom]

The vast majority of burglars are opportunists. They don't need to know whether you are on holiday, they just need to know whether you are in. For this, they simply look for a house that looks unoccupied and knock on the door. If someone answers they ask for 'john' or directions etc.

As SistersofPercy succinctly put it, these so called signs/codes are a load of codswallop.

Hope that puts your mind at rest.

[Littlef00t]

Surely it can't be a burglar sign as if you get post while you're away they will have to move the rag? Think you're overreacting.

[ilovepowerhoop]

maybe your rattly letterbox was annoying your neighbours. There are a few houses in my street that use tea towels to stop them rattling when it is windy

[GoldenGoat]

There were some people in my street recently selling upvc door cleaner door to door. They knocked then just started cleaning a patch & launched into their sales pitch when I opened the door. Probably hoping I'd give in and pay him to finish the job once he'd started. Could be that kind of thing?