To think I might have been burgled?

[Kittensat36]

Having a bizarre and upsetting 48 hours. Just need to vent really.

Got up yesterday morning and was preparing to leave for work when I realised that my handbag was not in the hall. It normally sits on an ottoman I have, which is about 10 feet in. I know it was there because I remember taking my phone out of it the other night to send a text

Had to have an emergency day off , expecting to find it any minute - my flat is very untidy, but I expected to find it at some point. I even checked the washing machine in case I had taken it into the bathroom and scooped it up with the washing I was about to do.

But how on earth did it happen if I was burgled? The front door was shut, the back door was locked and the only open window opens onto a secure garden (and you would have cross my bed to get in).

I have to say that my bag is not the only thing that has disappeared over the last couple of weeks. My pill container for my meds disappeared from my living room, I thought that the cats might have bapped it somewhere, but they aren't talking. A batch of paperwork is also on the missing list- a receipt for a large purchase I made recently and a prescription for flea meds. All highly useful (not), but a bit odd as laptops were in the same room and were left untouched.

A ring doorbell/cameras would have been useful and I will have to get some. But I have nothing now. I suppose that if they put something through the letter box, they might have been able to get the door open, but isn't that a bit risky in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it have been easier to get in while I am at work?

Thank goodness for my marvellous upstairs neighbour lending me some cash, or I would be really stuck.

Got to go to work to sort out getting a new workphone and getting my locker broken into to retrieve my work kit. Then sorting a new barrel for my front door lock...

Thanks for reading my rant.

Is there something you can do tonight to make yourself more secure? A piece of furniture in front of the door?

Sorry to hear this OP, how horrible.

How utterly bizarre. Got no answers,sorry,but do keep us updated as I'm intrigued.

Well how strange. How odd that it was taken but also odd that it happened to be found by someone with a connection to you. Change the locks as soon as you can.

Thanks all,

It's a uPVC door, so there's the lock and 4 bolts that slip into slots in the frame, so you can't just slip the lock with a card.

Currently, the door is locked on the inside (not keen on doing that regularly as I am the kind of person who would slam the door and THEN remember the key is in the lock inside). In addition, my shopping trolley which is filled with 4 bottles of pop and all the tins I have is propped against the door. I can barely move it on wheels

I assume that as I haven't heard a sound, whoever itbis has a keyI shall probably be kicking the door of B&Q in first thing tomorrow for a new lock (with a thumb turn so I can lock it internally)and any other things that I can fit. I want an easy exit if there is a fire. Cameras will have to be sorted when I get my cards replaced (got them all back, but they were cancelled, just in case).

I don't really understand why such silly things have been taken . Someone suggested that it might be to mess with me.... but whyTF?

Not gonna stress about it though.

Praise for my neighbours - both the one who found my bag and my upstairs neighbour who immediately offered to lend me money to get me through the weekend.

Also my banks, one got me solvent again and the other, who was hyper-speedy at getting a new card to me on a Bank Holiday.

Right that's me off to bed for a quiet night.
X

I have very bright hair and she recognised me from my work pass. It's pretty friendly round here - apart from this. The cats are famous on my road. I encourage people to stroke them. Paid off in this case.

If nothing was taken from the bag, are you sure it didn’t slide off your shoulder onto the pavement just before you got home? Or you dropped it because you were also holding another bag and didn’t realise? It happened to me before…(one bag slipping out without me noticing because I was holding several bags/including plastic shoppers in my hand)

I have changed a few locks over the years. So, OP hopefully you've seen on You Tube that before you go and buy a new one you will need to unscrew the current one, take it out and measure the three sections of it and then put it back. Otherwise you will get the wrong size lock.

All these people saying she is imagining it! If it's not that unlikely that someone random has a key and is popping in.

I once lived in an apartment where previous residents kept keys to communal areas and storage and I caught them coming and going a year later!

Wow OP, I don’t know whether to be happy or disappointed for you, knowing that you have infact been burgled, but that you weren’t going totally mad, and also that you got your belongings back. Silver linings, I suppose.

Defo invest in a camera, I have a feeling this won’t be the last time the culprit tries their luck if it appears they’ve been in and nicked stuff on a few separate occasions. Sounds like they may have a key so they’ll probably give it another go when the dust settles.

As for why they took what they did, seems pretty obvious to me - I mean the handbag is self explanatory really, but the pills/pill container may offer something an addict can use (or sell) and the paperwork may offer banking info, credit card details or info they can use to steal your identity. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That’s my theory anyway.

Absolute scumbags, anyway. I hope you manage to find out who’s behind it. And then, with changed locks and better security measures (and a report to the police too?), hopefully you can begin to feel more at ease in your home again.
Wishing you all the best.

Be wary that they might have stolen your paperwork so they have your details and could commit fraud? Just a thought.

This happened to us. DH couldn't find his phone, that he'd left in the and was convinced DC (young at the time) must have moved/hidden it. I was saying don't be ridiculous, it's where you left it.

2 days later DS (a bit of a magpie when he was young) was playing with a SIM card in his pocket. It turned out he'd found the card on the dining room table and it was from DH's phone.

They'd come in through the front door and helpfully left the Sim on the table on the way out of the backdoor, while we slept.

It was a UPVC door, locked, but not double locked becuase at the time, I was more worried about fire risk than burglary. Once we knew we've been burgled, you could see a small indent in the upvc doorframe where they'd jemmied it with a screwdriver.

How strange that they would go through the faff of taking the SIM card out. Does that stop you being able to trace the phone?

The police don’t actually advise this, if someone breaks in you do not want them hunting around, leave it for them!

Can't help thinking this is someone connected to you. It doesn't sound like a random opportunist.

OP it may be better to get an emergency locksmith round to replace the lock, unless you are very good with DIY.

fitting a new lock isn't all that difficult - don't waste your money on a expensive locksmith!

Does your door have a letter box that someone could have hooked your keys through? Sounds far-fetched but I saw this on one of this crimestopper shows once.

Stress can cause everything to seem lost. After I lost my husband, I spent a month losing everything - I found most stuff, but it’s incredibly frustrating.🙄

I do bung my bag into the safe, at night, but I leave out an old purse with £5 in it, along with an old card (long cancelled), keys that don’t fit anything, and some other useless bits in it.🙂

www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/burglars-using-fishing-rods-steal-3233433.amp

This is very wise, however a pp got told they had mh issues for stashing their bag in their wardrobe at night. God only knows what they'll make of your bedtime routine. Best get yourself sectioned 😂

Not excessive when you have been burgled. I hide my car key and put bag upstairs

It does, but the keys were in the handbag and the handbag was on the ottoman about 10 feet in (I said 12 in an earlier post).

Not surprisingly, I have been awake much of the night watching YouTube videos on how to change the barrel and it looks like a piece of cake. B&Q, here I come. Will get one with a thumb plate so I can double lock it without using the key.

As to who it is, I can only think that someone else I don't know about has a spare key from the previous owners. The neighbour who has my spare had the key to my previous flat for 3 years and this one for 2 before anything happened. No new partner and her son is much too serious to do anything so mad.

I will talk to the bank about possible fraud. They left the bank cards in the purse, so i assume they just wanted cash (hard cheese!!).

I am not sure what paperwork is missing other than the prescription for my cats and the receipt for a new mattress. If credit card bills for Miss Blackcat start coming in, we'll know.

As for pp who said she didn't know whether to be happy or sad, I'll suggest happy: I have my stuff back, I know who I can count on when the chips are down and I have the warm, fuzzy satisfaction of knowing that I am not mad.

And I thought the same about the pills - someone somewhere might be gullible enough to pay good money to try and get high on my anti-statins. Good luck to them.

Another long post, sorry about that, but if you were kind enough to comment on my update, I didn't want to leave you hanging.

Also my banks, one got me solvent again and the other, who was hyper-speedy at getting a new card to me on a Bank Holiday.

what do you mean “got me solvent again”? Was money stolen from your account?

Edit - should read the whole post before commenting!