Collection Ripped Off?

[tomclark]

Collection/Sites Ripped Off?

Got your attention?

I know several people whose entire collections of cased points were stolen while they were at work. Neighborhood kids did it. The kids that these kind gentlemen had shown their artifacts to and were friendly with. They did not get their cases back.

The GPS tagging that your camera/phone can do can show exactly where in your house you took a picture, if the tagging is not turned off. Think for a minute about what you show the world. I saw a facebook page with a large collection and the owner is blabbing about going on vacation. Criminals love FaceBook and likely some of these forums. Just takes one criminal in the parade of information and pics.

In these days it's more important than ever to maintain vigilance over your collection and information shared, especially via social media and internet. Back in the day one would worry a little about a point walking off the table at a show. Now you have to be concerned about satellites and blabbermouths and cybercriminals. Almost anyone can get into an artifact room/mancave/whatever and it's pickup and run. I am shocked at what I see people post on FaceBook and YouTube.

I've been on these forums for many years and it's never been as open and rabid, LOL.
Please Retain Stool!!!

(49 is not the last number boom)


My house has been broken into twice in the past twenty years. No artifacts missing and there was the recent/regular stuff just laying around desks and tables, LOL. Just a camera and a jar of coins. If there had been a stack of case boxes or cases on the walls I don't know if they would have taken them. The most valuable and extensive FL collection that I have seen is in it's own special built room with various features if you can get past the dogs and the owner. The entire room is like a vault, opened by invite. He won't be posting pics of his collection on any forum or social media, doesn't even participate in any of that.

Another friend has furniture with built in compartments!

Maybe we should have a thread about thefts so newcomers into the hobby understand it may be a problem if not addressed......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging

Dangers of geotagging[edit]

Following a scientific study[SUP][12][/SUP] and several demonstrative websites,[SUP][13][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP] a discussion on the privacy implications of geotagging has raised public attention.[SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][16][/SUP][SUP][17][/SUP][SUP][18][/SUP] In particular, the automatic embedding of geotags in pictures taken with smartphones is often ignored by cell-phone users. As a result, people are often not aware that the photos they publish on the Internet have been geotagged. Many celebrities reportedly gave away their home location without knowing it. According to the study, a significant number of for-sale advertisements on Craigslist, that were otherwise anonymized, contained geotags, thereby revealing the location of high-valued goods—sometimes in combination with clear hints to the absence of the offerer at certain times. Publishing photos and other media tagged with exact geolocation on the Internet allows random people to track an individual's location and correlate it with other information. Therefore, criminals could find out when homes are empty because their inhabitants posted geotagged and timestamped information both about their home address and their vacation residence. These dangers can be avoided by removing geotags with a metadata removal tool for photos before publishing them on the Internet.[SUP][19][/SUP] [SUP][20][/SUP]
In 2007, four United States Army Apache helicopters were destroyed on the ground by Iraqi insurgent mortar fire; the insurgents had made use of embedded coordinates in web-published photographs (geotagging) taken of the helicopters by soldiers.[SUP][21]

Apache Helicopters cost 18-20 Million dollars a piece in 2007!

Check out some pic's exif information with this online tool

http://www.findexif.com/

.........see what I'm talking about. some of you have GPS off, Geotagging off, some do not.[/SUP]

 

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[Tnmountains]

Tom
You really bring out some very good points ( no pun intended). With social media and google it is easy to research certain items I agree that turning off location services on your phone is a must if you use it to shoot pictures. Couple years ago you had to carry a camera now the smart phones are just as good. Adobe photo will pull out longitude and latitude and boom as you say there is your location.

When I first started posting here I showed all the landscapes in my pictures. A guy joined just to message me. He said "Nice finds and I enjoy watching your hunts. But when you show the scenery not only are you giving away your spots but you are giving away mine". Lesson learned as I went back and edited a years worth of post.

Just use common sense sites are hard to come by and what little I have I would just as soon keep. I have a hard enough time getting past my own alarms. I drive my neighbors crazy.

 

[GatorBoy]

"Please retain stool" that just kills me! :-)

 

[Bejamble]

Excellent points! In additional with the advancements of technology, the prices of home security camera setups are rather affordable and very easily to setup. Under 300 you can have a multi cam setup. I use one in my place and with any movement, it shoots snapshots to an email that is kept off location. Even if they steal the DVR I still have the photos. Not fail safe, but criminals are not the smartest folk.


Cory

 

[bci101tractors]

Without going into great detail, the lock boxes at a local bank can solve a lot of these issues, thats my plan..., have you guys ever seen that sign/sticker, "forget the dog, beware of owner" . This post reminds me of that, around here anyway.

 

[quito]

Umm, I wouldn't be too trusting in any safe deposit boxes at the bank. Not these days anyway.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I post a pic on the net and people can know where it was taken? wow

 

[Bejamble]

Umm, I wouldn't be too trusting in any safe deposit boxes at the bank. Not these days anyway.

The banks have "stolen" more money from me in the years than any other person has.


Cory

 

[Bejamble]

I post a pic on the net and people can know where it was taken? wow

If you use a smart phone (phone with internet, apps, email, kitchen sink) and have location services enable for your camera, the gps coordinates are embedded in information that is encoded in the "tag/id" of the image. Scary huh.


Cory

 

[Peyton Manning]

yep. I use a camera and post on my laptop. better?

 

[Bejamble]

yep. I use a camera and post on my laptop. better?

Much


Cory

 

[Peyton Manning]

whew

 

[bci101tractors]

Please explain...

Umm, I wouldn't be too trusting in any safe deposit boxes at the bank. Not these days anyway.

 

[bci101tractors]

The banks have "stolen" more money from me in the years than any other person has.


Cory

Then you didn't do your homework... be careful with the word "banks", stay local.

 

[Hippy]

I'll play somewhat of a devils advocate on this idea. While I agree that you should tak every precaution to secure your collection including locking things up, security systems, vaults, etc. There is also something said to having an artifact out, published, and known. If a great artifact is highly documented as belonging in someone's collection then it becomes very difficult to sell it in the normal artifact channels. Most collectors might already recognize the piece as being in "so and so's" collection and would alert the proper authorities.

I use an example from a friend of mine who had an axe stolen from him at a show. He published the axe all over the place both before and after it was stolen. The axe was missing for nearly 2 years, and one day it arrived in his mail box with no return address. While I agree this is an unusual circumstance, it is a good example of how documenting your collection and publishing it can be valuable.

Many times I hear of collections being stolen and rarely do I ever know the people whom they are stolen from. Many times they are collectors who might not be too active in the collector community or somewhat reclusive. I know there are some examples of more well known collectors getting robbed, but by and large it's usually the guy who has a great surface found or farm collection that gets it.

I'm not trying to argue, but giving a different perspective on the idea. I agree 100% that each collector should take all means necessary to protect their collections not only from theft but from structure fires as well.

Hippy

 

[quito]

Please explain...

you can't get in when the doors are locked.

 

[bci101tractors]

you can't get in when the doors are locked.

Neither can you...

 

[Tnmountains]

'If you are found here today,you will be found here tomorrow". I like that sign best or we could all get on that new prepper t.v show and build under ground concrete bunkers for our arrowheads

Doomsday Bunkers TV Show Discovery Channel deep earth bunker underground bunkers shed pods | Deep Earth Bunker

 

[NC field hunter]

you can't get in when the doors are locked.

Quito, you are joking......right?? Tom, nice post. Cool of you to warn people. I have had to lock my best stuff up in a gun safe. If any one gets in the safe or moves it, they worked for my artifacts and a couple of old fox sterling worth guns. However, a safe isn't even safe unless its a huge one. Just this past Sunday I launched my boat while police officers were swarming around everywhere. A couple of older fellas had found a small safe floating under the bridge. I had no clue a safe would float.... That's a whole different trip. Anyway, the safe hadn't been cracked and was floating. Society has robbed decent folks with decent hobbies of being able to show their hard work off.

 

[quito]

Neither can you...

LOL!!! That's right. Evidently you haven't heard that banks must allow safe deposit box inventorying by certain branches of our govt, and they do not, er I mean cannot let you know you have been visited.