Alerts - from Mike Garden

Please inform readers that guys are going around poisoning dogs again in the Avondale area.  Our two little dogs were poisoned last night, they were obviously trying to get our electric gate motor as the gate was de railed, but they could not get in.  Please all just be aware that these callous people are around. 

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We have since had a break in and while these may be totally unrelated I thought it best to mention that there is a group targeting the Drew Road Kambanji area as our neighbour was also hit twice in the same week. Unfortunately I went to tell him imediately and he only explained his situation then. If he had told me his situation we would have been more vigilant. We woke up to find a thief in our bedroom and if my wife who is a very light sleeper did not wake up they would have totally cleaned us out. The old 70's style Double glass verandah doors are easily forced open with a crow bar even when locked. Burglas bars that are not welded on but are rivited in place are easily removed.
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Con Artist Hi Mike, I had an incident at my flat this afternoon, and thought maybe through your mailing list I might be able to recover a stolen item.
A woman con artist (well dressed and in high heels!!!) came to my flat in Avondale whilst I was away and conned her way into the flat. She was very confident such that my maid allowed her in, she sat around, had small talk even took of her shoes in the lounge. She proceeded upstairs, went into the main bedroom and actually had the nerve to use my toilet.

She asked my maid for a plastic bag because there were some books she had come to collect from me, but then told her not to worry about the plastic bag. She went into my study where I had left my laptop on the desk as I had been working on it in the morning and had just nipped out for a while. She took of with the laptop and some books. The matter is now being investigated by Avondale police. I am offering a reward for the return of the laptop, as it has a lot of personal information. The machine is an HP Proobook Core i3 Serial No. CNU1292V4L.

If anyone out there in anyway comes across this laptop, or someone tries to sell it to you, can they please contact Herbert Chitate on 0776165599 hchitate@hotmail.com

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I was shown a very convincing fake $50 this morning. It feels right but does not have the metal strip in it and the $50 numerals do not change colour. These were presented by `very respectable` gentlemen who came into a shop while the staff were busy and hid the note under a bunch of others. Hope the police can nail the rest of the gang?

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Please advise your staff that that there are some guys walking in the street that approach people and ask for change – then give them fake notes. It happened to my brother’s maid in Mount Pleasant, at Pendennis & Twickenham T junction. They asked if she had change for $100, she gave them 2 $50 notes and they gave her a fake $100.

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Northwood Rise has been hit 3 nights in a Row. NO 5 and 7 hit twice boreholes gone the first night and then tried to get to the generators the next night. They broke the bottom panels of the Dura Wall/ Last night my Gardener heard them trying to break the bottom panels of my wall, but it is plastered. It would have been interesting if they had succeeded as I do have down wires on the electric fence.

About a month ago I was lax as the alarm on my electric fence kept on going off so I stupidly turned it off. Hey Presto they cut it and tried to find the borehole pump which is long hidden under grass. Maybe you could send out a tip to get everyone to start burying their pumps under the grass to stop the thieves from locating them. I do know they reported it to the police but still see no police presence around.

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We would really appreciate getting more publicity for our neighbourhood watch in Emerald Hill.  we are a small committee trying to service a large area and really need more people willing to contribute.  We have had some really positive contributions from other areas and would be happy to liaise with other Neighbourhood watch committees and information share.  Our email address is ehnw@zol.co.zw

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Thieves using email classifieds to target their victims Beware of two guys and a woman driving a blue Honda RVR pretending to be buyers. They stole a Toshiba laptop, $500(money) and an iPhone 4s from me Saturday afternoon. Value $2500. They called from the following number +263 779xxxxxx. Woman is short and dark in complexion maybe in her mid 30′s and one of men was tall and looked very frail in health. The driver of the car seemed in his mid 40′s and was short n slim.

That was the message (you will need a login to access) one man recently posted on the popular local classifieds mailing list (opposition!). We exchanged a few emails with him afterwards and he indicated the police are trying to gather as much data as they can so they can make an arrest. He also indicated that he has since learnt there are many more users of the platform that have been targeted by these robbers.

We are glad that this guy wasn’t injured but that does not imply that the other victims weren’t because it’s common for people to resist a robbery.

Since its early years the internet has been a thriving platform for scammers, rapists, robbers and child traffickers. If Zimbabweans are losing money to con artists over the internet before online transactions go mainstream it means things may only get worse in future. Classifieds websites are a common target for unscrupulous characters. The global Craigslist, arguably the most popular in this category, has recently become a target for paedophiles offering “free” babysitting.

Some safety precautions that should be taken when meeting a potential buyer or seller. This includes meeting them in a public place such as a cafe, and not to have them pick you up in their car. And even when you meet in a public place, once has to take precaution to ensure they are not followed after the meeting. Do spread the message of awareness. How else can people trade safely?

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Pink Vitz Reports On Thursday while down in RSA my wife phoned after receiving a phone call from the police informing her that the people who conned me had been arrested and that on my return I must report to police central.

I reported this morning and gave my affidavit upon which I had to go to court this afternoon. The 4 accused have been arrested, detained and now brought before the courts. The taxi driver has turned state witness. The plain clothed policeman is a criminal and the other two are policeman with the special constabulary unit. There case has now been remanded to 6 June and all 3 accused are out on remand and told not to interfere with the state witnesses.

While there I learnt that these men have admitted to my case and where operating together with the pink Vitz vehicle. Furthermore it would appear that I am the only one that has laid official charges with the police. I certainly told the police that everybody in Zimbabwe has lost faith in the police and therefore people will not report anything. Further the police are corrupt.

However in my case I can only talk of professional police work and assistance. They have really gone out their way.

I did indicate to the investigating officer of the pink Vitz gang. He responded by telling me it is a syndicate that work hand in hand with my accused and change vehicles to achieve their victimization of people. The investigating officer asked me to assist where possible in helping them attain more evidence and affidavits against the 3 accused and hopefully arresting the outstanding members of the syndicate.

You now have my story and I am very happy for you to put it out to your email list. If it is at all possible to ask the public out there who have been  CONNED  and money taken from them to please come forward and help the ZRP. I am willing to assist where possible.