Urban legend? Perhaps, but good GPS tip nonetheless
I’ve received this in my email inbox a few times this month: a woman’s car was broken into and her GPS was stolen. With info on the nav unit, the thieves went to her house and cleaned it out. How’d that happen?
It’s probably an urban legend, as most of these things are, but there’s a good tip to extract out of this story.
If you haven’t heard this yourself, it involves a woman’s car broken into and the thieves stole her GPS unit and garage door opener.
The thieves then turned on the GPS and tapped the “Take Me Home” button, a featured offered by many GPS units that let you preprogram your home address.
After finding out where she lived, the theives went there immediately and used the garage door opener to access an unlocked door inside. An alarm went off upon entering, yes, but before the alarm service could dispatch security personnel or the authorities (this part isn’t clear), the thieves already made off with money, jewellery, an HDTV, stereo, and more.
OK, whether or not this story is true, it raises a good point (aside from lock the door that goes out to your garage): If you like the convenient ”Take Me Home” feature on your GPS, use another address near your home instead of your own (perhaps a corner store or gas station). That way, you’ll still know how to get home from there but without putting your family or possessions at risk.
Filed Under: Breaking News > Tech Explained > Uncategorized
Tags: address, GPS, home, legend, rob, safety, stole, thief, tip, urban
TMom, is that you?
Please don’t promote fear mongering. Snopes says that there is no record of this ever happening. We’ve all had our insurance and registration in our cars for generations – both of which has our home address on it – without this being a real problem. Technically possible, yes – but not worth worrying about.
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The version I heard was that the person was attending a (insert major sporting event here) and the thieves took the car because they knew they would have at least (insert duration of the sporting event) before the owners even realized their car was stolen.
So while I agree that GPS units aren’t the only thing in a car that can give away the owner’s home address, it’s not a bad idea to make it as hard as possible. My father just bought a new car with built in GPS and the dealership gave him the same advice. Better safe than sorry
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A useless tip. The thieves can take your ownership or insurance from the car to get your address.
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I dunno, I have my registration and insurance information locked up, whereas the GPS is always on the dash for convenience.
Marc
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My Gps will not turn on unless a PIN is entered or you are at the home location. Also – I never leave it in the car and make sure I remove the holder as well.
Too many times you see the holder stuck to the dash or windscreen – big hint to thieves that perhaps there is a GPS unit in the glove box
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Good tip, Kevin!
Marc
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