JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – A south resident immediately became suspicious when her neighbour’s employee at a party hire business, started asking questions that were too intricate for comfort. The woman had gone to the party hire business for quotations for her baby’s one-year birthday party.
“What time do you leave in the morning? I normally see a car leaving the home when we get to work, but I’m never too sure who is in the car. When does your mom leave for work? Does your baby go to crèche? Your domestic, does she stay with you?” enquired the noisy employee.
Mrs Hadebe, a neighbour of the man who owns the party hire business, say’s there is a trust relationship between them, which is why she didn’t think twice about using the her neighbour’s company to provide equipment for her son’s party.
Although Mrs Hadebe knew she was right to be concerned, she didn’t know if she had anything to be suspicious of.
Glenvista 5 Residents Association founder and Community Awareness Training coordinator Sarah Wissler said: “It’s important to change routines and habits on a regular basis, because you’ll never know who is watching your movements.”
Don’t tell your neighbour or employees at a business you frequent about when you go out and come back from work, what kind of work you do, how much you earn or if there’s a gun in the home.
“This information could leak to criminals who then attack the property. Criminals work with information they gather over a long period of time before they attack. Do not help them! You could easily be the victim,” warned Wissler.
Residents are warned that criminals do not always randomly pick homes to attack, some crimes occur as a result of information that residents divulge to people they sometimes feel they can trust.
