When the school gates open for the new term, it’s estimated that students bags will contain over three billion pounds worth of their favourite gadgets. A staggering average of over £270 per school bag. Such high values intensify issues associated with loss and theft requiring students to be ever more cautious.
Schoolgirls using iPad during a lesson at a comprehensive secondary school Wales UK
To stay safe and secure, we recommend:
Students shouldn’t leave their phones, cameras, tablets, and other gear unattended, and when not in use, keep them securely locked away.
Don’t show off expensive devices, especially in public spaces. Children and young adults make easy targets for unscrupulous thieves.
Ensure gadgets are registered on Immobilise.com, recording the make, model and any serial numbers. Most importantly for phones, key in *#06# on the dialer to obtain the IMEI number and record that.
Bikes should be kept in the school’s designated areas and kept secured with a D-lock to an immovable object such as a ground-mounted loop. Don’t forget to register the bike at Immobilise.com.
Consider additional marking of bikes and other items with ImmobiTAG or high visibility warning labels – particularly important if the item doesn’t have its own serial number.
Registering your property at Immobilise.com is FREE. You can register property irrespective of any 3rd party labelling used; it’s all accepted!
For 20% off all Immobilise marking products at shop.immobilise.com, use code BACKTOSCHOOL20 at the checkout. Discount valid until 30th September 2020.
Recipero are delighted to announce the availability of the AssetWatch Checkmark. Millions of articles are already protected by AssetWatch and the new Checkmark provides a clear, consistent signal to fraudsters that our clients’ property is being actively prevented from unauthorised sale. Full integration of AssetWatch with police systems, responsible second-hand traders and public due-diligence services ensures the widest possible picture of an article’s movements.
Use cases include stock leakage detection, rental or finance default potential, forward and reverse logistics losses, fraudulent claims for non-delivery and even employee theft. Overt messaging with the Checkmark lets potential bad actors know that stealing an AssetWatch customer’s property is no easy way to make money.
AssetWatch can deliver benefits for all businesses who manufacture or sell serial numbered articles or supply goods to employees such as laptops and phones. No obligation AssetWatch trials are available so you can see the ROI before you commit.
If you’re an existing AssetWatch customer and would like to use the Checkmark please contact us or your service representative directly. To read more about the AssetWatch service or Checkmark please visit our AssetWatch page.
As a result of the pandemic, the impact on the economy has been severe but there are some positives to be found – the realisation by many businesses that remote working is both feasible and productive for parts of their workforce being one and a massive albeit temporary reduction in property crime being another. It’s much riskier to burgle a property when it’s occupied. Sadly, as we all venture out, so will the thieves and property crime of all kinds will rise quickly once more.
Individuals can impact crime by simply registering their valuables and then alerting police and traders if they’re ever stolen or lost via Immobilise.com
It’s difficult as individuals to think that we can impact crime, just as it’s hard to imagine individuals fighting with a pandemic. What we have seen though is that acting as one, working together to face a problem that affects us all is effective and does make a difference.
So it is with addressing crime. We can each take small actions to achieve big results. The key to success is ensuring that our actions are joined up.
The simple act of recording the identifying numbers, appearance and marks of your property in the right place takes a few minutes but it becomes very powerful when linked with police and second-hand property traders.
With a suspect in custody or the subject of stop & search powers, being able to attribute the property in their possession to an owner such as yourself may lead to arrest in addition to the obvious potential of your property being returned to you.
Indicating that your property is stolen on Immobilise will help the second-hand trade avoid buying your property from a thief. There are many thousands of responsible traders diligently checking every item they are offered. Turning away the seller of stolen property may not get your property back of course but it will devalue it to the thief, making the theft unrewarding and ultimately deterring the behaviour. Every check creates a footprint that puts a person at a specific place and time in possession of your property. Valuable intelligence for the police and a valuable deterrent.
User registering an IMEI on their Immobilise account. Simply dial *#06# to reveal the 15 digit number.
If you are the victim of theft and need to make an insurance claim of course having those details readily recorded will help to expedite claims. Indeed, those same records of registration and trade also help insurers to deter fraudulent claims and less insurance fraud keeps your premiums down.
Finally, when buying second-hand, do ask the trader for evidence of them having checked their purchase. If they can’t provide that evidence – that you should be able to verify independently as being valid – find another trader who will. This simple action encourages responsible trading and reduces crime.
