How a keycard helped catch a crook.

How was your weekend? Hopefully, it was a bit less eventful than mine! What could have been a nightmare had a happy ending. With all the recent media attention on youth crime, we are so happy to share our story about how a keycard help to catch a crook.

On Saturday afternoon, my partner and I decided to head out to look at some furniture shops; we left home at 1 pm and returned at 4 pm.

As we approached our suburb, we had a call from a local vet notifying my partner that our kelpie, Bubble, had been taken into them as she was found wandering the streets.

We thought this unusual as we both felt the gates were closed, and she doesn’t usually go far if the side gates are open. We typically come home to find Bubble patiently waiting for us on the nature strip or at the top of the stairs, surveying the area and waiting for our return.

When we drove into the driveway, the side gate was wide open, so we could see how she escaped, but thought nothing of it.

When I entered our home, to our horror, we realised there had been something more sinister going on. Papers were all over the floor in my office and two kids' bedrooms looked messier than usual. It occurred to us that we’d had been robbed.

After the initial shock and checking the house that no one was there, we started to look at how they had entered and also what they had taken.

My starting point was to work out what time it had happened; I looked at my phone, we have security cameras and motion sensors around the house, and my phone had notifications and five videos of three people trying to break into our home. I’d realise that I had notifications I’d missed because I was driving at the time.

Firstly how brazen! The time stamp was 3.15 pm; wow, the middle of the day; we could so easily have come home and interrupted the break-in!

The burglars had smashed the back door, it was the door that was on the list to replace, clearly, we should have got around to it. The door gave way (which is on camera!), and they had entry to our home.

Our kelpie Bubble was barking her head off, she could be heard barking, but she was also wagging her tail, so excited, trying her best to stop the break-in. The neighbours heard her, but no one thought to see what she was barking at!

Three minutes

That was all the time the three burglars spent in the house. Yes, they took some things. We were fortunate! They ransacked half a dozen draws looking for valuables; they found my wallet, my partner’s purse, my watch, a laptop and other things. Luckily they didn’t find my car key (the car was parked in the garage) we were so lucky!

So, it’s 4.30 pm, and we have no back door. I called the police while my partner found someone to fix the door.

As expected, the police directed me to an online portal to report the crime

Again we were lucky and found an incredible individual, a local handyman, Tal’s Handyman Service. He came out within 45 minutes and instructed me to go to Bunnings and buy a door, hinges and a new lock. By 7 pm, our home was far more secure than previously, with a few extra bolts to ensure it didn’t happen again.

While the door was being installed, I had a call from Tim, a Crime Investigation Branch (CIB) officer from the local police station. I told him about the five short videos; he was very interested to see them. I uploaded them to the QLD police portal and verbally discussed what had been stolen.

The only card left in my wallet that they stole, was my Revolute bank card. For those who don’t know, Revolute is an online bank with very new tech tracking technology. Tim asked me to contact my bank to ask what transactions had occurred; I noted that I could tell him. Lucky for us, the teenage thieves decided, from the pick of about five cards in my partner’s purse, they chose to use my super funky Revolut Card. Funny that. We have to thank the Revolut marketing team for their cards' colour and finish to catch the attention of the youngsters.

I logged into Revolute App and could see the burglar had used the card. They went into the local Westfield Shopping Centre and been to a few shops. I could tell him exactly the name of the shop and also the time and amount of the transactions.

Tim was quite surprised at the level of detail and the speed at which I could see the use of my card in “real-time”. Tim said most banks will probably take until Monday to see those transactions until they have these details available for them. The “real-time” transaction information allowed Tim to check the surveillance footage in the shopping centre and cross reference the people exiting each store with the video I sent him.  

On Sunday at 2 pm, less than 24 hours after the break-in, I received a call from Tim; the QLD police had arrested the group's ringleader, and he was in custody! Refused bail, as he was a repeat offender. They knew the identity of one of the others, were pretty confident of the identity of the third individual, our house had already been fingerprinted, and was confident all would be in custody by the end of the day!

Our belongings were apparently in a stolen car that the police were trying to locate, so we hope to have them returned. What’s also important, is two other houses were also burgled in the area, and our tech will also help those owners have their belongings returned as well.

Later in the afternoon, I made two calls. The first one was to a friend, Cliff. Cliff had shown me his security cameras twelve months ago and had inspired me to install the cameras after the recent wave of youth crime. The next call was to Matt. Matt is a friend and CEO of Revolute. I just wanted to let him know the information his system was instantly able to provide gave the police enough data to find the suspects and make the arrests within 24 hours of the incident occurring.

Yes, their cards helped to catch a crook.

So, what did we learn?

I installed another camera yesterday and secured the new door with two additional deadbolts! Ultimately, it shows how having the right technology and information can quickly lead to a great result. Knowing the group's ringleader was behind bars within 24 hours of breaking into our home was a fantastic relief to our neighbours and us, and I’m sure to the other two houses which were also affected. Knowing his friends would be joining him very shortly reduced our anxiety.

This experience taught me that we need to embrace whatever information is available. In this case, we had video, with an app with the recorded data that I could easily upload to my computer to upload to the police portal and also transactions with “real-time” recording meaning the police could identify the individuals leaving each shop without a mask on or shielding their faces. This allowed us to turn a very distressing event into a position of empowerment, instead of feeling like victims of crime but as a valuable members of the community that aided in an arrest of a known repeat offender. We could go to sleep feeling safe and secure in our homes again. To us, it was a win. The community is just a little bit safer because of our action to educate and empower ourselves with the latest tech in cameras and banking.

Motivated to make some changes?

The Expatriate always tries to make sure all information is accurate. However, when reading our website, please always consider our Disclaimer policy.