Nowadays almost everyone gets packages from shopping online.  Costco, Amazon.com, Sears, Walmart; it seems like almost every retailer has an online presence. More frequently during the Holiday Season there are shoppers out there who are shopping for packages left at your front door. Package thieves are already working the area and at the end of this article is a picture of a thief working near Spooner Farms and Hwy 162 , our old friend the 2001 White  4 door Honda Civic, license AAK 0463, and a couple of pictures showing a package thief with a red Dodge Caravan with rather distinctive damage.  The license number of the Dodge appears to be AIG 1656.  A friend sent me the pictures of the  woman with the Dodge from a group of Facebook pages he says is  devoted to Puyallup Crime.

This season let’s make it harder for the bad guys and girls. When you order things, try to keep up with the tracking numbers and know when to expect them.  If you are not going to be home, ask a neighbor to keep a lookout for your package.  If the item is particularly valuable, ask for the driver to obtain a signature before leaving it.

I have good high resolution cameras which record my visitors, and my deliveries.  If you don’t have a camera system at your home, or if your system produces fuzzy pictures, perhaps you might consider purchasing a wildlife camera just to record the coming and going of delivery men during the Holiday Season.  Wildlife or trail cameras, as some people call them, can be purchased for prices between $50 and $600 plus tax, however most trail cameras are less than $200. A steel security enclosure for the camera can also be purchased.

If you do purchase a wildlife camera, be sure to put it in a place where it will not be noticed.  Otherwise you might be missing your package and your wildlife camera.

On 20 Oct. a single individual driving a white 4 door Honda Civic, license number AAK 0463 entered our Neighborhood at 04:56:46hrs, drove down 136^th Ave. E., turned around,  came back, pulled into the driveway at 11712 136 Ave. E. to turn around again and parked on 136^th in front of 11701 136^th Ave. E.  The masked driver then proceeded down 117^th St. E. staying in the shadows on the North side of the road, turned onto 138^th Ave. Ct. E., went straight to 11701 136^th Ave. Ct. E. and destroyed one of the two cameras which looked out on 138^th Ave. Ct. E. He then returned to his car and left the Neighborhood at 05:11:57hrs.  The criminal was in the Neighborhood a total of 15min. 11 sec.

On 21 Oct. a white 4 door Honda Civic was observed in Shawnee Ridge.  An individual from this car was caught on camera as he came up to the porch of a home in Shawnee Ridge at 20:30:43hrs, left and came back again at 20:51:50hrs. The White Honda Civic License Number AAK 0463 was observed leaving the Neighborhood at 23:29:21hrs.  We do not know where they went or what they did between 20:51:50hrs and 23:29:21hrs when they left the Neighborhood.  We have a fair picture of the intruder at Shawnee Ridge  thanks to the cameras.

On 25 Oct. a white 4 door Honda Civic license number AAK 0463 was observed in the vicinity of Spooner Farms on highway 162.  The occupants were observed stealing packages from porches.  A lady posted on Facebook that she had pictures of the car and videos.  A copy of the picture of the car is below this posting.

On 28 Oct. at 04:51:01hrs the same white 4 door Honda Civic license AAK 0463 entered our Neighborhood and turned on 117^th St. E. where it parked on the South side of the street just before 138^th Ave Ct. E.  Two masked men exited the car, went directly to the two cameras which I had mounted on high poles looking down 138^th Ave. Ct. E. and 117^th St. E.   They proceeded to destroy one camera entirely and broke the mounting arm of the other camera. One of the last pictures transmitted by the camera shows one of the men going to their car while the other is still working to destroy the camera which looked up 117^th St. E.  The car left the neighborhood at 05:08:56hrs.  The total elapsed time from entry to exit of the Neighborhood was 16 min. 55 seconds.

Alan Manning, Rod Okazaki and I have replaced the cameras.

These crooks are targeting our Neighborhood.  They obviously have come into the Neighborhood before the 20 Oct. visit, since the crook went directly to my camera and destroyed it.  He was in the Neighborhood for 15min. 11sec. that time.  On 21 Oct. we know they were prowling around at least one home in Shawnee Ridge at 20:30hrs and did not leave the Neighborhood until 23:29:21hrs, which means that at a minimum they had to be in the Neighborhood over 3 hours.

Please be extra vigilant in the coming months. These crooks are targeting our Neighborhood and have been seen stealing packages from porches in  areas close to here.  If you see a white 4 door Honda Civic license number AAK 0463 call 911 at once and report its position.  In fact if you see any car with license number AAK 0463 call 911.  The Sheriff’s Office has informed me that druggies often swap cars and license plates as part of their operation.  DO NOT APPROACH THESE INDIVIDUALS.  THEY MUST BE ASSUMED TO BE DANGEROUS. CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Yesterday Rod Okazaki came over and asked about a car he heard acting strangely at around 0250hrs. This morning I received an e-mail from Dav Eide on the same subject.  Just a while ago I received a phone call from Rod asking me to check around 0145hrs this morning because he was certain he had heard the same car come down 117th St. again.

Reviewing the pictures I found the car in question.  It appeared that the passenger had a laptop and that they were cruising around looking for unsecured WiFi signals.  This same car was seen at 0250hrs on the 27th and again at 0145hrs on the 28th. On the 28th it stopped on 136th Ave. E. just before it got to 11728, backed up to around 11734, then left the area.  If you do not have a secure password for your WiFi you may get hacked by these people.  We could not get a license plate shot because they appeared to have some sort of blocking which made it impossible for our license plate camera to get a clear picture of the plate.  Dav and I will be searching for a way to defeat this kind of blocking in the future.

While I was searching the pictures I observed a vehicle at 0305hrs stop at  the mailboxes across from Wayne Flood’s house. The passenger got out and walked to the mailboxes.  At first I thought it was a mail thief, but after careful examination of the pictures I believe it was the morning paper being delivered.  However – remember not to leave mail in your mailbox overnight.  If you are going to be away have someone pick up your mail or stop it at the Post Office. 

This morning 25 July 2017 I received an e-mail I thought I needed to share with the Neighborhood for two reasons. (1) One of our neighbors reported a woman openly smoking crack beside the road, and the police did not respond. (2) I would like to find out if anyone took down the license plate number of the maroon Dodge pickup the fellow was using to dump trash from.  If you know the license number or know anything more about either incident, please let me know by commenting on this post or e-mailing me.

Hi Kirk, I just wanted to let you know that on Saturday morning around 10:30 there was a middle aged blonde woman sitting on the side of the road on Military between 137 and 136 smoking crack I called the police, no one came but she was eventually picked up by someone she knew!

Then this morning while out for a walk around 6:45 there was a maroon Dodge pickup at the top of Military dumping a 5 gallon black metal drum, 2 cars stopped and watched him. I’m not sure if they got his license plate, but returned a few minutes later and retrieved the drum. Glad those neighbors stopped and watched him. Anyways this is just a FYI for everyone to keep your eyes open.

The title of this piece is the first words I heard from a message on my answering machine. The voice continued to instruct me that a warrant had been issued for my arrest and I was under observation. Unless I called the number at the end of the message immediately I was subject to arrest.

My action?  I immediately brought up the NOMOROBO Internet site and reported the number.  Then I logged into the IRS site and made a report of the call.

Folks the IRS does not issue an arrest warrant, and THEN call you. So if you get a similar call, report it immediately. DO NOT RESPOND TO THE CALL. The information displayed for my call was West Jeffers OH  614-349-9741.

My Computer Consultant asked me to alert my friends to a NEW SCAM.

Your phone rings (usually but not limited to cell phones). There is usually a delay and some noise like the caller is having trouble with a headset.  A voice asks “Can you hear me now?”  The normal response is to say “Yes”.  DO NOT SAY “YES”!

The caller has information from your credit card and is recording you saying “Yes”.  Or he has several other things in mind, from selling you a resort time share, to a cruise to services you do not want. He then charges your credit card and when you dispute the charge, he plays a supposed tape from your “call” to him in which he ask if you agree to the charges and your voice is heard saying “Yes”. Your credit card company then drops the complaint and you are on the hook for the fraudulent charge.

Remember –   If the voice on the phone says “Can you hear me now”, HANG UP – Do not reply.

For further information type “Can you hear me scam” into your web browser and read the articles there.

NOTE: Just before I started writing this article I sent an e-mail to several friends advising them about this scam.  A friend in Australia replied that she forwarded my e-mail to one of her friends in Boston, who received a “Can you hear me” call just afterward –  and promptly hung up.  Score one for us!