Mail thief in apartment block of 10 apartments... need revenge suggestions [UK]
28 replies, posted
So I've not long lived in a new apartment in central London and everything about it is pretty great... that is except for the fact that I have had over 50 letters go missing and Royal Mail have put a trace on my mail and confirmed it's getting delivered to the correct address, everyone's mail here gets posted through the front door into the lobby area. My immediate neighbor has the exact same problems and has tried the same things as I have to get it resolved with the same outcome. Other people in the block either keep themselves to themselves or the apartments are being renovated but I do understand that many others have had issues with mail.
Here are the things I have tried so far...
*Talking to Royal Mail to see if we can get our mail delivered to the individual apartments like it is supposed to be (it can't)
*Spoke to the police and gotten a crime reference number which I have subsequently taken to Royal Mail and they said they'd "look into it" with no results... our mail is still going missing
*Spoke to the landlord who cannot do anything as he doesn't own the block just some of the apartments
*We wanted to put CCTV downstairs but there are no power outlets and both me and my neighbors apartments are on the 4th floor and not sure if the wireless range is good enough, there are many places to hide the cameras though if someone can come up with any solutions.
I am not really used to the way things work in the UK and it seems like it is about 50 - 80 years behind the rest of the civilized world in terms of getting absolutely ANY problems (ISP's, phone companies, mail companies, you name it!) resolved so alas it seems we are on our own and like in the older times we have to come with our own solutions to deal with issues, in Europe mail theft is a serious crime up there with Theft but in the UK it does not appear to be crime but only civil matter with high costs to resolve. This is the only country ion Europe where I have experienced these issues and I've traveled (and lived) all over in many cities.
I would like to ask suggestions for things to try and get back at the mail thief/thieves, I have thought about the classic mousetrap in a package trick but they only seem interested in letters, we've thought about putting some sort of toxic/poison in a letter and leaving it downstairs addressed to ourselves but we do not know what to use/what would fit in a standard letter envelope. We have already used exploding dye packs but all that seems to have achieved is mess in the lobby and the perpetrator was long gone.
Results of suggestions will be posted (with pictures if applicable) in the OP
Use SmartWater, it shows under UV light, cover the letter in the water, leave it for the thief to pick up and it won't come off their clothes or hands without repeated washes, if he uses a door handle or touches something if its on his hands it will show.
Send some creepy letter about a murder or whatever to yourself and then look for who will report you to the police if they're stupid enough.
"Mail" (stick the letter in, don't put it through the postal system or some worker might open it and be stupid) sand to yourself and stick a note in there that says "Enjoy anthrax, praise be Allah, he does not forgive you".
I keep worrying someone in the other flats is going to steal my mail, I ordered a PS3 recently and I hasn't turned up and it should have by now so I'm worrying :pwn:
[QUOTE=nikomo;44627725]"Mail" (stick the letter in, don't put it through the postal system or some worker might open it and be stupid) sand to yourself and stick a note in there that says "Enjoy anthrax, praise be Allah, he does not forgive you".[/QUOTE]
The uninformed masses don't associate Anthrax spores with sand, though technically you could mix it with sand(it would however, be very ineffective since the spores have to be inhaled and inhaling sand is rather difficult on the basis of it being a large granule powder and thus doesn't float in the air too well), you'd have to mix them into white powder like a flour to cause an issue.
Get everyone to scrape together some cash and buy each apartment their own (cheap) letterbox that you can close with a simple lock. Hang all the letterboxes on the door or somewhere inside or something. Then simply glue shut the 'mail hole' (what is this called in English) in the door.
[b]Edit:[/b]
Actually, screw that. I just read that you mentioned a 4th floor neighbour, so that would be way too much letterboxes.
Also, pending proper authorization from your landlord, flat owner and maybe law enforcement, you would be able to use IP cams if your flat has any form of public wifi or internet access where the camera's would go, they'd have their own IP address you could access from anywhere with internet.
Look up hidden cameras on ebay, they are battery powered record to SD and only start recording when they detect movement. There are ones that look like ceiling mounted fire alarms, wall hooks, Aircon controls etc. We use them at my work to catch thieves.
Seal a smartphone with a tracking app installed into an envelope and leave it in a mailbox.
send yourself anthrax
that'll show them
remote explosives within envelopes.
Put some sürstromming in a letter and put it in his mailbox
[QUOTE=Zotobom;44632474]Put some sürstromming in a letter and put it in his mailbox[/QUOTE]
You heartless bastard...
[QUOTE=NickNack1234;44627914]Look up hidden cameras on ebay, they are battery powered record to SD and only start recording when they detect movement. There are ones that look like ceiling mounted fire alarms, wall hooks, Aircon controls etc. We use them at my work to catch thieves.[/QUOTE]
Actually you can do the opposite: Place a very obvious camera, don't need to be plugged, so that the thief sees it . He'll change his mind.
Bonus point: place a paper saying something like " we know you are stealing our mail, now you are being watched blablabla"
[QUOTE=draugur;44627763]The uninformed masses don't associate Anthrax spores with sand, though technically you could mix it with sand(it would however, be very ineffective since the spores have to be inhaled and inhaling sand is rather difficult on the basis of it being a large granule powder and thus doesn't float in the air too well), you'd have to mix them into white powder like a flour to cause an issue.[/QUOTE]
More importantly, since OP's already tried to pull pranks like that, the thief doesn't seem to buy it anyway.
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;44627625]Use SmartWater, it shows under UV light, cover the letter in the water, leave it for the thief to pick up and it won't come off their clothes or hands without repeated washes, if he uses a door handle or touches something if its on his hands it will show.[/QUOTE]
Tonic (like Gin & Tonic) also glows brightly under UV.
Put in a spring loaded boxing glove.
Make it where itll go off if someone opens it.
(dont open it after you do it)
or you can just do it with a Sawn off Shotgun if you are really that pissed.
Get a bluetooth / keyfinder electronic device that emits an alarm when trying to signal the location of your keys. They are disposable cheap, tiny and can be activated only when you need to. Write something to yourself and include the keyring as a gift. Use your imagination like a professional letter from a fake company giving you free junk etc. Most look like a standard keyring for good reason so he most likely will be inattentive of what it could be. Modify any traces of displaying function if you require to. Roam the corridor and activate the alarm to try and listen for the [i]key[/i] so you can find out where he lives.
order yourself a dragon dildo, they need a little satisfaction in life
Is he stealing packages or just letters?
If it's packages poop in it and send it to yourself.
You can run analog coax for CCTV very long distances, the same goes for power. Cameras only need 12/24v so you could run a 22/2 wire for power alongside the coax cable to the camera. All you'd need then is a wall wart or an ATX power supply for power.
The problem is that running wire for any distance is that it takes a considerable amount of time, especially if you have to route the wire around things. You'd definitely want to place the wires out of sight, or at bare minimum disguise them so they look like part of the building.
And if you didn't want to arouse suspicion on the wire runs, I'd only do it when people weren't around or asleep and only do maybe several yards of the run at a time to minimize the chance of someone seeing you. It'd also ensure you checked your work to make sure the wire was properly hidden.
Just an update, he's been cought!
Me and my close neighbour decided to work together on this and fill a letter with a paint bomb and we mixed it with UV paint that doesn't wash off of skin for weeks, we put loads of mail downstairs and put bits of credit card sized plastic inside as we knew that's what he'd go for, at first it didn't appear he was falling for it but the letters still went 'missing'. So we spoke to the entire block and said we'd leave a letter that once 'lifted up' would explode red criminalcather paint mixed with the uv stuff, sure enough 2 days later the entire lobby area was red, it turns out the criminal was an ex-tennant who still had a key to the lobby area. The police found him and apparently there was a number of them operating in the area.
The police congratulated me and my neighbour on catching them as they had been troublesum for a number of years. The mail now also gets delivered to our individual apartments so it can't be stolen.
[QUOTE=Chaoss86;44661111]Just an update, he's been cought!
Me and my close neighbour decided to work together on this and fill a letter with a paint bomb and we mixed it with UV paint that doesn't wash off of skin for weeks, we put loads of mail downstairs and put bits of credit card sized plastic inside as we knew that's what he'd go for, at first it didn't appear he was falling for it but the letters still went 'missing'. So we spoke to the entire block and said we'd leave a letter that once 'lifted up' would explode red criminalcather paint mixed with the uv stuff, sure enough 2 days later the entire lobby area was red, it turns out the criminal was an ex-tennant who still had a key to the lobby area. The police found him and apparently there was a number of them operating in the area.
The police congratulated me and my neighbour on catching them as they had been troublesum for a number of years. The mail now also gets delivered to our individual apartments so it can't be stolen.[/QUOTE]
Now that is how you catch a theif! ;)
[QUOTE=Chaoss86;44661111]Just an update, he's been cought!
Me and my close neighbour decided to work together on this and fill a letter with a paint bomb and we mixed it with UV paint that doesn't wash off of skin for weeks, we put loads of mail downstairs and put bits of credit card sized plastic inside as we knew that's what he'd go for, at first it didn't appear he was falling for it but the letters still went 'missing'. So we spoke to the entire block and said we'd leave a letter that once 'lifted up' would explode red criminalcather paint mixed with the uv stuff, sure enough 2 days later the entire lobby area was red, it turns out the criminal was an ex-tennant who still had a key to the lobby area. The police found him and apparently there was a number of them operating in the area.
The police congratulated me and my neighbour on catching them as they had been troublesum for a number of years. The mail now also gets delivered to our individual apartments so it can't be stolen.[/QUOTE]
I really want to know how you rigged this
Did you have to pay to redecorate the lobby area? Or was it all washable.
[QUOTE=Chaoss86;44661111]Just an update, he's been cought!
Me and my close neighbour decided to work together on this and fill a letter with a paint bomb and we mixed it with UV paint that doesn't wash off of skin for weeks, we put loads of mail downstairs and put bits of credit card sized plastic inside as we knew that's what he'd go for, at first it didn't appear he was falling for it but the letters still went 'missing'. So we spoke to the entire block and said we'd leave a letter that once 'lifted up' would explode red criminalcather paint mixed with the uv stuff, sure enough 2 days later the entire lobby area was red, it turns out the criminal was an ex-tennant who still had a key to the lobby area. The police found him and apparently there was a number of them operating in the area.
The police congratulated me and my neighbour on catching them as they had been troublesum for a number of years. The mail now also gets delivered to our individual apartments so it can't be stolen.[/QUOTE]
Of all the ways of solving this, that is a great one
The poor postman that has to visit each apartment.
Well, that is his job.
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