Delivery drivers casing your home

When you’ve had delivery drivers up to your door, do you ever feel like they’re casing the place, looking around to see what you’ve got? I don’t hear a lot about break-ins here. Does it happen often? I’ve heard of other countries where delivery drivers are used by gangs to find what is worth stealing. I’ve had a few drivers come by who I felt were too curious, especially during busy seasons when companies outsource to the blue trucks. I always meet them outside the door, but I sometimes I have to go inside for something. One guy delivering from Carrefour was acting shifty af, trying to get a peek inside. Maybe just curious, but you never know.

I feel like I don’t hear about as many break-ins as I used to, but it definitely happens.

That’s why it’s nice to have 24 hours security guards that accept deliveries for you at the front gate!

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Push-ins? Break-ins through the window, lock-picking? You seem to have your ear to the ground, what are the weak spots?

Yeah, it’s good to have money. I live in an above average gongwu. Our back windows are barred, but the street facing ones aren’t. The RE agent laughed when I asked about that because we’re on a high enough floor it would take some fancy skills to get in from from the outside, but I could get in from the stairwell with the right tools. At least we have two strong security doors. Our lock once jammed and the locksmith practically raised the dead trying to break in.

Just be like me and don’t have a lot of shit REALLY worth stealing

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CNY is break in time. Robbers know people here stock cash for the holidays. Then they will be looking for jewelry, gold stuff. Rarely will they go for the tv or Nintendo, but laptops are a goner.

Taiwan’s robbin’ season. As I asked tempogain, what methods of break-ins are common?

They wait until you are gone and come in through a window, Spider-Man style.

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Or if they can get access to a door, they’ll bust the lock.

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Does that actually happen? I once broke into my own home by crawling across the roof of an adjoining building and through the bathroom window. But most places I’ve lived, the only way you could get through a window would be rapelling from the top floor. Or with a grappling hook. In most neighborhoods, any spider people would be in view of 20 windows at least.

Why do you think all the balconies have metal grills? Doesn’t matter if you’re on the 8th floor those boys will abseil down onto your balcony, break inside, steal anything of value, and interfere with your personal items. Ask any Taiwanese person - it happens every CNY!

Does it though? I’m also constantly told that drinking cold water will make me sick, or that foreigners don’t like spicy food. Just because everyone thinks it’s true, doesn’t mean it’s actually true. (Not disputing it - I’m just very skeptical of things that “everyone” knows, whether in Taiwan or anywhere else for that matter.)

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I was taking the piss, mate.

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Argh! I did think “Huh, I didn’t realize he’d gone THAT native.” I should have stuck on that thought a little longer.

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That’s what worries me, because not ALL balconies have grills. Most of the ones in my neighborhood, which is older on the edge of the city, don’t. I don’t have a proper balcony, but there are unprotected street-facing windows.That’s what worries me when the delivery-boys poke their noses in to see what’s here. The neighborhood might be easy pickings, and they’re looking for the best pick. Or they may just guess if a foreigner lives here, there’s something valuable. I hope they’re put off by the fact I open the door in a cheap track suit.

The new apartments don’t have grills on the balconies. Only the ones built in the 70s or 80s have them

@GooseEgg po, that’s still the wrong spelling and sounds much worse than how I originally misspelled it. The correct spelling is “rappelling”, or we could go with abseiling.

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They come in the staircase windows most gonwu have. And then break the door and have a blast.

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Must be young ones. Most older generation know foreigners do not keep large sums of money on them, do not use gold apparel and if hard pressed, do not have anything that locals would consider as wealthy, with the exception of top end bikes or camera equipment, maybe a laptop or two. But compared to a Taiwanese, sorry to say, we ain’t got what they want or need.

I remember reading Nick Kembel’s book on Taiwan quite a few years ago. He mentioned his apartment got robbed just before the book went to print, and if I remember correctly he suspected he was targeted for all of his glass, camera gear and such.