There were recently a series of apartment check thefts in Clearwater, Florida where thieves stole rent checks from the office in a multifamily housing complex. Proactive live monitoring can help detect and deter apartment check thefts, as well as other crime and damage.
One of the victims said that he was surprised when an assistant property manager came up to him and asked him for his month’s rent check.
The victim had put the rent check in the apartment office drop box. However, the multifamily housing management said that they never actually received the check. He threatened the apartment renter with late charges and possible eviction.
The incident was only one in a string of apartment check thefts in the region that hit a total of 15 apartment complexes and totaled up to $400,000 in losses from renters. The current belief is that the thieves created some kind of contraption that they put into the drop box in order to fish out the rent checks.
A number of suspects were eventually charged with the thefts including four people in their twenties and thirties. The charges were actually federal due to the fact that the crime was bank fraud.
The victim will likely never get his money back, but it’s possible that he may sue the suspects if he ever gets the chance after their federal trial is over and they receive their likely sentences.
The incident is making some people wonder about how safe drop boxes really are, especially when they go unmonitored.
These multifamily housing complexes are not clients of Stealth Monitoring. The drop box on the outside of the apartment complex office building could’ve been watched by Stealth operators.
It’s likely that events like this occur in the early hours of the morning. When operators see suspicious activity, they can activate the audible warning, call security guards, and call the local police. For more information, please contact us today to discuss how we can help protect your apartment complex or business. Visit our web site to see actual videos of criminals being apprehended in apartment complexes as well as other businesses.
