Malaysians are being warned of a new method robbers are apparently using to lure homeowners into unlocking and opening their front doors, which is by turning on their outdoor taps.
Taking to the Viral Muafakat Johor Facebook page, someone in Penang shared how this method was used unsuccessfully on her and her neighbour.
Malaysian warns of a new tactic robbers are using to lure homeowners to open their doors
They wrote, “This happened in the afternoon at Taman Air Tawar Indah, Teluk Air Tawar, Penang, after Asar prayers (around 4:29 PM). I was massaging my baby when I heard a man calling from outside, his voice sounded far, like he was outside the gate.”
Due to a previous experience where a man came looking for donations, she decided to ignore the man calling out, though soon after, his voice became louder as though he had entered her house compound and was calling out from her front door.
She chose to further ignore the man and later heard sounds of water coming from outside. When her husband came home, he found that their outdoor tap, as well as their neighbour’s outdoor tap, had been turned on, leading to water being wasted as it had been flowing freely onto the road.
The man would have had to climb into their house’s compound
“Our gate was locked, and the next-door house’s gate was also locked! He indeed had turned on the tap water to the fullest. This is like a tactic to get people to come out of their houses to turn off the tap, right? The question is, did he climb over the gate to turn on the tap? Because you cannot reach the tap from the outside as there is a wall,”
“I don’t know what would have happened if I had looked outside and seen the tap running, and come out to turn it off. Maybe he was standing by next to the gate? To rob me?”
She ended her post by clarifying that she was only sharing this incident to warn others to be wary and that she had made a police report about this incident.
She also highlighted that there have been cases of this incident in other states besides Penang.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
