Property 101: Apartment and unit owners in Victoria urged to boost securty due to email thefts

Property 101: Apartment and unit owners in Victoria urged to boost securty due to email thefts
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

Apartment and unit owners in Victoria are being urged to be on the lookout for a new wave of crime aimed at the $1.2 trillion strata sector.

Recent reports have confirmed letterboxes outside apartment blocks have been targeted by criminals believed to be working for international crime syndicates, in a massive identity theft scheme.

And according to one of Australia’s largest body corporate management companies, it is a problem on a national scale.

Ace Body Corporate Management (Ace) provides body corporate management service to over 60,000 strata property lots nationwide.

They say cases observed by their team around the country, require a vigilant response from apartment and unit owners in Victoria.

Ace chief executive officer Stephen Raff said with the holidays fast approaching, we urge apartment and unit owners to do whatever they can to prevent letterboxes being broken into.

“We are about to come into a period where owners are away for days and weeks on end, leaving mail sitting in their letterboxes, and without a suitable response, the door is open for this issue to worsen.”

Letterbox theft has been a problem for years but NSW Fraud and Cybercrime Squad detectives say they have established direct links between international identity thieves and the large-scale theft of residential mail, and with several cases in hand of this being a national problem, Mr Raff urges authorities in all regions to give the issue proper attention.

“Stolen mail isn’t a new issue for property owners and police to worry about, but it’s the huge impact that identity theft can have in the digital age that should prompt swift action.”

“We put a call out for feedback within our team of body corporate managers around the country, and the response was astounding, as to the scale of the issue.”

“Managers in Melbourne’s Southbank precinct speak of ‘weekly’ occurrences of strange activities being caught on CCTV outside of their property’s mailboxes.

Team members in Perth are currently dealing with one building over 40 lots having their mailboxes secured after a recent break in and the list goes on.”

“There is no doubt in our mind that this should be priority number one for owners corporations in planning for the holiday period ahead, and we hope to see a real push towards seeing this issue investigated by police as well.”

Mr Raff says for an issue with such complicated links, the steps owners corporations can take are rather simple and being vigilant now will save the pain of crime affecting communities later.

“In terms of a plan the SAFER guidelines by Epsilon are the simplest and most effective ways for strata communities to protect their property and occupants from crime.

“Security audits, Adaptive design, Fool-proof planning, Efficient installation and Regular maintenance are the simple, affordable steps in this process and we encourage all communities to consider adopting this plan prior to the Christmas holidays.”

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