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Beware of this one. Another way to rob you.
twiley
Posts: 1,923 ✭
Hi - Just wanted to make everyone aware of this. I just caught 2 idiots trying to break into my house last night to steal my cards.
It all started a couple of months ago I received a couple of strange phone calls.
The first call was July 2010 when I lived in NJ. The caller ID showed it was a UPS store in Phillipsburg which local to where I lived at the time. A person (female) was posing as a UPS working. The person asked me about my information if it was accurate because UPS had a package for me and asked if I would be home to receive it. I never gave any of my info out. Keep in mind I grew up in NYC in the 70s so I am pretty good with catching onto scams and such. Well the said package never arrived. I wait the next day no package. I then called the number back just out of curiosity. The person who answered explained to me that nobody could have called me from that number. At this point a red flag was waved about calls from UPS if I ever received any future ones. August 2010 I moved to NC. Then Nov 2010 around thanksgiving time. I get another call. Same deal. I suspect the same woman. Asked if I would be home. I said yes I would be home. Package never came. I then call the new # from the ID which said it was a local UPS store local to me. I talked to the owner of the store assured me that nobody from that store called me. January 2011 (last month) I received another suspicious phone call. Same exact call as previous. Caller stated they had a UPS package for me and asked if I would be home to accept it. I was kind of caught off guard at the time. Was changing my baby's nasty diaper.I said yes I will be home. Package never came. Now I knew the next time I got this call I would say "no I won't be home".
Yesterday I received 4th suspicious call. Same thing. UPS wanted to deliver a package and asked if I would be home. This time I said no I won't be home. I did have plans yesterday. I had plans to meet up with a friend to go look at a BMW 733i. My plans to go look at the car fell through prior to the call. Well not even 2 hours later these 2 idiots didn't think I was home. They came up to my back window. Threw a brick through my back window and broke into my house. Well little did they know I was home. Morons climbed through my window and found a 12 gauge Mossberg staring at their faces. Police came instantly and took them away. Cops asked them why they broke into my house. The thieves admitted they came in to rob me of my graded card collection because they saw it online. There is an investigation currently to see how many more are involved. No doubt I believe the UPS calls are related to this. They were 2 kids in their early 20s. Neither of them were armed so I am kind of lucky I didn't shoot them. So are they!
Just giving everyone here the heads up on this new one. I am pissed. I had to go to Lowe's and order a new window. Right now the window has plastic with shipping tape to cover it. I am thankful I was home and did stop the robbery...
Sorry the post might be confusing I am still kind of shaken up by this...
It all started a couple of months ago I received a couple of strange phone calls.
The first call was July 2010 when I lived in NJ. The caller ID showed it was a UPS store in Phillipsburg which local to where I lived at the time. A person (female) was posing as a UPS working. The person asked me about my information if it was accurate because UPS had a package for me and asked if I would be home to receive it. I never gave any of my info out. Keep in mind I grew up in NYC in the 70s so I am pretty good with catching onto scams and such. Well the said package never arrived. I wait the next day no package. I then called the number back just out of curiosity. The person who answered explained to me that nobody could have called me from that number. At this point a red flag was waved about calls from UPS if I ever received any future ones. August 2010 I moved to NC. Then Nov 2010 around thanksgiving time. I get another call. Same deal. I suspect the same woman. Asked if I would be home. I said yes I would be home. Package never came. I then call the new # from the ID which said it was a local UPS store local to me. I talked to the owner of the store assured me that nobody from that store called me. January 2011 (last month) I received another suspicious phone call. Same exact call as previous. Caller stated they had a UPS package for me and asked if I would be home to accept it. I was kind of caught off guard at the time. Was changing my baby's nasty diaper.I said yes I will be home. Package never came. Now I knew the next time I got this call I would say "no I won't be home".
Yesterday I received 4th suspicious call. Same thing. UPS wanted to deliver a package and asked if I would be home. This time I said no I won't be home. I did have plans yesterday. I had plans to meet up with a friend to go look at a BMW 733i. My plans to go look at the car fell through prior to the call. Well not even 2 hours later these 2 idiots didn't think I was home. They came up to my back window. Threw a brick through my back window and broke into my house. Well little did they know I was home. Morons climbed through my window and found a 12 gauge Mossberg staring at their faces. Police came instantly and took them away. Cops asked them why they broke into my house. The thieves admitted they came in to rob me of my graded card collection because they saw it online. There is an investigation currently to see how many more are involved. No doubt I believe the UPS calls are related to this. They were 2 kids in their early 20s. Neither of them were armed so I am kind of lucky I didn't shoot them. So are they!
Just giving everyone here the heads up on this new one. I am pissed. I had to go to Lowe's and order a new window. Right now the window has plastic with shipping tape to cover it. I am thankful I was home and did stop the robbery...
Sorry the post might be confusing I am still kind of shaken up by this...
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awesome
Currently collecting 1934 Butterfinger, 1969 Nabisco, 1991 Topps Desert Shield (in PSA 9 or 10), and 1990 Donruss Learning Series (in PSA 10).
amazing story
Maybe it's just me, but I've never received a call from UPS/FedEx/USPS in my life.
I blew snot bobbles when you said "Morons climbed through my window and found a 12 guage Mossberg staring at their faces." That is classic. Did you notice if they had any brown stains on their backside?
Mark
T206 Set - 300/524
<< <i>I would have pulled the trigger the instant they crawled in to the house. No question. >>
That'd be one heck of a mess to clean up!
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
That was one hell of a post, twiley, I'm glad everything worked out. Have you gone through your head trying to figure out if they got your address through ebay, or some other method of card transactions? Like B/S/T card forums or auction houses? Even though I've taken many home security precautions to protect my collection, I still worry about something like this happening. Freaks me out. Pretty much anyone can figure out your home address if they simply have your name and what state you live in. I'm very happy to hear they were arrested, and I hope you can keep us updated on their sentencing. Sounds like they've been after you for a while. I hope we can do some investigating (CU-Style) so we can figure out where these guys originated, and maybe learn something from this experience. My heart is still pounding from reading that...
Doug
Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
Cleaner solution.
What gets me is it isn't worth a whole lot compared to many many other collections out there. I don't even have 10K worth of graded inventory?!!?!?
the most expensive single card I own graded isn't worth over 500 bucks.
<< <i>I have no idea how they found me. I am sure it wasn't to hard because I have all the slab cards scanned and shown on the registry. I also have an ebay store.
What gets me is it isn't worth a whole lot compared to many many other collections out there. I don't even have 10K worth of graded inventory?!!?!?
the most expensive single card I own graded isn't worth over 500 bucks. >>
Sounds like they probably wouldn't have been able to unload for very much. It's not like they could just put it on ebay. Stupid, stupid kids.
Over the years, I've read or heard about several cases where a collection was stolen and turned up sometime later. One of the problems with stealing cards is the newer ones all have serial numbers and the older ones (if they're valuable) have certification numbers. If I was a burglar, I'd target something else, but of course burglars aren't always very bright...
<< <i>Three words: "Collectibles Insurance Services".
Cleaner solution. >>
Make sure you pick the right "cleaner"...
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
Thanks for the heads up...Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
<< <i>
<< <i>Three words: "Collectibles Insurance Services".
Cleaner solution. >>
Make sure you pick the right "cleaner"...
hands down one of my favorite movies
My Registry Sets
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
Cleaner solution. >>
Make sure you pick the right "cleaner"...
>>
hands down one of my favorite movies
Besson's original La Femme Nikita was the bomb..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Glad you're OK - you handled that well - glad you had the shotgun! I'm surprised they didn't try to run - you musta scared the crap outa them!
Wow is all I can say.
Some story. With a happy ending - tho now you're gonna have to appear in court and everything - all because these jerks were idiots!
They attempted 3 times - not a charm for them!
<< <i>The thieves admitted they came in to rob me of my graded card collection because they saw it online >>
Twiley
What do you mean - they saw it online? How did they find you? IP search or something? Do you have a web with an address?
Thanx.
The one officer asked them as he was "cuffing and stuffing" them. Why did you break into that man's house. His words. "I saw he had a graded card collection online." He didn't say anything else.
I did tell the officers about the UPS calls.
BTW the police were excellent. Hands down. I am making a nice donation to the local boyz for doing such a great job.
Had a nice talk with one of them about guns. He got a kick out of my antique 30 30.
I have to say - I'm concerned about how they hunted you down?
It may come out in court...
Please let us know if you find out.
That's why I have an active alarm system, 2 large safes to keep out the squares. I'm thinking I should consider a moat, an electrified fence, some booby traps and a junkyard dog?
<< <i>You know, the ironic thing is that the easiest way to steal them would have been to just buy the cards off ebay and pay with paypal, lol. >>
So true... this really puts the entire ebay situation into proper perspective. Nothing could serve as a better indictment of the way ebay treats its sellers.
Being in Ohio I would have open fire on them once they were in my house all the way. Castle doctrine thankfully exists in Ohio. Not sure about your state laws.
Glad you are alright though.
<< <i>Glad it all worked out for you. For those of you that say he should have shot them, you better make sure they have a weapon in hand (even if it's a butter knife) if you do shoot. >>
Depends on what state you are in. Here in Texas, if you heard something come crashing through a window and you happened up on perps already in your own home, you could kill them and you probably wouldn't even get taken to the grand jury. If you did go to grand jury, you would be no billed.
I'm glad you are ok Twiley.
<< <i>Glad it all worked out for you. For those of you that say he should have shot them, you better make sure they have a weapon in hand (even if it's a butter knife) if you do shoot. >>
Nah. Pretty much every place allows deadly force to defend your home. You don't even have to prove they have a weapon or anything else - their mere presence is justification.
Tabe
Perhaps I'm off base, but UPS Stores do not make deliveries? Did the NC calls also originate from a UPS Store?
back when I lived in NYC a kid broke into my car at night. I came running out and pasted him with a tennis racket. My buddy and I handcuffed him and sat hime under a tree.
I got his license out of his wallet - needless to say he was scared sh**less. I kept his license and he promised to come back tomorrow with money for the broken window of the car. He did.
I'm too old for that bat / tennis racket crap now ... so now a .44 magnum makes it convenient to aim from my easy chair - and it's range carries anywhere to the back yard without having to get up ...
Stupid part of the whole thing is - how can thieves be sure that a collection is kept in the house - mine isn't, so why get shot over nothing ?
Sorry this happened to you.
To all of you that think you can simply shoot to kill any intruder you are both right and wrong.
First off it depends on the State (and in some cases county) you live in.
Some have what they call a 'duty to retreat law' If someone is breaking in the front, you can go out the back.
If you are in clear danger you can shoot to kill.
Even in Texas one must be in clear and present danger before they can shoot to kill. So simply
shooting someone for climbing through your window could find you facing some charges.
Bottom line, you better be under threat of life before you shoot, (or a loved one)
The authorities are going to want to know why you simply did not just hold them at gunpoint and call the police.
So NO, their mere presence is NOT justification.
Hopefully one of our Lawyer friends will chime in and put to rest this nonsense that you can kill someone
for simply breaking into your home.
I would not feel good about killing some kid over a B&E.
If my life were in danger is a different thing.
True story - my brother in laws friend had his house broken into when he was in college. 2 robbers - one kept a gun on him, the other gunmen took his roommate upstairs to search for money or whatever. My in-laws friend disarmed the gunmen with him (who left the house), went upstairs and the gunmen ended up holding the roommate hostage. In-laws friend shot and killed the gunmen saving his roommates life. Righteous kill by all accounts as the gunmen was seemingly set to kill one if not both of them. That was 10 years ago. He ended up dropping out of college and had therapy for years. I was and am not close to the guy, but not hard to see from the outside that it messed him up.
Twiley - you did the right thing by yourself...good for you. More importantly, glad you and yours are safe.
<< <i>Even in Texas one must be in clear and present danger before they can shoot to kill. So simply
shooting someone for climbing through your window could find you facing some charges.
Bottom line, you better be under threat of life before you shoot, (or a loved one)
The authorities are going to want to know why you simply did not just hold them at gunpoint and call the police.
So NO, their mere presence is NOT justification.
Hopefully one of our Lawyer friends will chime in and put to rest this nonsense that you can kill someone
for simply breaking into your home. >>
Here are the relevant provisions of the Texas Penal Code, I don't believe that it is "nonsense" as interpreted by our court system and grand juries here in Texas. (you'll have to ignore the emotion icons that are appearing, those are appearing because of the characters contained in the Texas Statutes have been converted to the emotion icons by the CU software)
SUBCHAPTER C. PROTECTION OF PERSONSSec. 9.31. SELF-DEFENSE. (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b), a person is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force. The actor's belief that the force was immediately necessary as described by this subsection is presumed to be reasonable if the actor
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 190, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1, Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2007.
Sec. 9.32. DEADLY FORCE IN DEFENSE OF PERSON. (a) A person is justified in using deadly force against another
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 5316, ch. 977, Sec. 5, eff. Sept. 1, 1983; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 235, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1, Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2007.
Sec. 9.33. DEFENSE OF THIRD PERSON. A person is justified in using force or deadly force against another to protect a third person if
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
Sec. 9.34. PROTECTION OF LIFE OR HEALTH. (a) A person is justified in using force, but not deadly force, against another when and to the degree he reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to prevent the other from committing suicide or inflicting serious bodily injury to himself.(b) A person is justified in using both force and deadly force against another when and to the degree he reasonably believes the force or deadly force is immediately necessary to preserve the other's life in an emergency.
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
SUBCHAPTER D. PROTECTION OF PROPERTYSec. 9.41. PROTECTION OF ONE'S OWN PROPERTY. (a) A person in lawful possession of land or tangible, movable property is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to prevent or terminate the other's trespass on the land or unlawful interference with the property.(b) A person unlawfully dispossessed of land or tangible, movable property by another is justified in using force against the other when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to reenter the land or recover the property if the actor uses the force immediately or in fresh pursuit after the dispossession and
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
Sec. 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.
Sec. 9.43. PROTECTION OF THIRD PERSON'S PROPERTY. A person is justified in using force or deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property of a third person if, under the circumstances as he reasonably believes them to be, the actor would be justified under Section 9.41 or 9.42 in using force or deadly force to protect his own land or property and
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.