Although magpies are renowned for their uncanny ways of being attracted to shiny objects, burglars actually tend to have the same “magpie syndrome” when it comes to jewelleries. With a constant increase in demand and price, jewelleries are no doubt burglars’ favourites. In order to protect your valuables from those snatchers- both burglars, and magpies!-   make sure that you keep your ‘bling bling’ safe.

1. Of course, a sturdy safe offers great protection for valuables and requires almost no maintenance.
2. It is equally important that you leave the safe door closed, either with a combination dial lock, an electronic keypad or a biometric lock, just like you would keep your house doors safe but with even tighter security.
3. At the same time, ensure that your jewellery is not left in the open and attracts those ‘magpies’.  Keeping any belonging in plain sight can actually tempt passers-by, hence imagine if the effect of a sparkly object, seeking to be seen…
4. Avoid keeping your jewelleries in obvious places such a jewellery boxes on a dressing table, or in the sock drawer or even in the bedroom; professional burglars are clever enough to know your hiding places better than yourself!
5. Then, purchase a “false-bottom container” to protect your valuable belongings and keep them in realistic places while ensuring they are not mistakenly thrown away if they appear to be empty.
6. Even if it is recommended that you do not let your precious belongings scattered around the house and kept in the safe, it is also an advisable option to keep your most valuable belongings in a higher security safe such as a bank safety deposit box, especially if you do not use them often.
7. Moreover, upon buying your jewellery, keep the documentation, such as receipts, valuations and certificates so that you can provide these to substantiate your claim in the case of a burglary. In the case of heirlooms or gold purchased abroad, it is highly recommended to get a jewellery valuation done.
8. Another sound possibility is to photograph your jewellery, similar to how you do so for other highly valuable objects in your house.
9. Finally, avoid posting signs about your absence from home that may invite intruders. They will not take long to find your valuables, and will mostly prey on those considering their small mass and go undetected on the streets.
10. As a traveller, keep your valuables on you at all times rather than packing them in your luggage and simply do not carry them with you when you go to places such as the garden/beach/pool, where you will undeniably have to take them off anyway.

Any step taken to make the theft of your jewelleries more difficult dissuades opportunistic burglars from making you their victim.