Warning!!! Intermarche

[tricky]

Yesterday. (Sat). Three people were bumped into and pickpocketed In Intermarche. One had a wallet stolen, the other a phone and car keys. They all identified the culprits as being two very large ladies. Possibly gypsies. It happened to them all within a few minutes of each other. The gnr apparently know who they are but they were also spotted in town again today. Please be careful if you are here

[Gary/Gaynor]

Thank Tricky...will make sure handbag in well secured around the front of me and no wallets in back pockets. Always good to be on the look out.
Gaynor

[Aldo]

What a shame!
CVO appears to be attracting a lot of bad sorts. I used to feel very safe here but the recent burglaries and pickpocketing, its a bad image for the resort.
Hopefully the GNR will address.

[ceh]

Just returned from a week in cvo where we noticed there was quite a high gnr presence ie down by square etc. my favourite was the gnr guy on beach patrol on his motor bike down at Albandeira-saw him on more than one day

[tricky]

To put it In Perspective again. Our local tesco has loads of pickpockets and we apparently live in a very affluent area and I know Bruce w. Has had problems in his local asda

[pickwick]

Problems in ASDA? What, no roasties? Hold the front page!!!

Pickwick

[Aldo]

Crime in CVO appears to be on the up.
There have been many break ins recently including my own place. Its such a shame and not similar to at home. The tourists are here for a well earned break, some have saved for a couple of years to enjoy two weeks in the sun.
I, too live in an alledgely affluent area, but feel safer at home than on CVO at the moment. My daughters arent keen to come over now after our incident so the villa will be empty in August when they usually come across.
Lets hope I am the exception.

[HampshireRich]

Crime in CVO appears to be on the up.
There have been many break ins recently including my own place. Its such a shame and not similar to at home. The tourists are here for a well earned break, some have saved for a couple of years to enjoy two weeks in the sun.
I, too live in an alledgely affluent area, but feel safer at home than on CVO at the moment. My daughters arent keen to come over now after our incident so the villa will be empty in August when they usually come across.
Lets hope I am the exception.

We seem to see this every year just before the start of the UK holiday season - Aldo and Shanagarry have both suffered break-ins which are dreadful experiences (I've suffered it at home in the UK and it still makes me angry even though we have now moved house!) but if I remember there were reports on this forum this time last year about crime in CVO. There will be scallies (as pato calls them) or worse people in the CVO area taking advantage of anyone they can - you don't have to be careless to suffer. But I still feel that CVO is one of the safest holiday areas in Europe for those of us who just come for a couple of weeks or so. If you are an owner, then obviously the odds of something happening to you does increase as you are in effect there all the time, even if your property is empty, but I feel the crime rate is not any worse than the UK.

To be an example, personally I have had stuff stolen from my car twice, the house has been broken into, cars have been vandalised at least 5 times, a brick through the window of the house, cash stolen, mobile phone stolen. My bother-in-law has been beaten-up for no reason, 2 quad-bikes stolen, various tools stolen - and so it goes on. CVO is still safe but be alert and don't make it easy for the thieves - though I do fully understand Aldo's feeling at the moment.

[DaveW73]

They must have been busy Saturday, our friend had her handbag taken!
2 women who were straight out the door into a waiting car. The security just watched them go and the GNR started looking into it yesterday!!!

WATCH OUT!!!

[tricky]

Sounds like the same two women from the week before. And by all accounts the security guard was useless too. What is he actually there for?

[keela]

The highlighting of the two ladies helping themselves to other people's possessions is something everyone should be aware of. I have posted this information onto Facebook this morning so that people who aren't Carvoeiro dwellers or come onto this forum are in the know. Forewarned is forearmed.

[Silki]

The latest unfortunate saga. Yesterday around 12 noon my elderly neighbour did her usual shop at Intermarche. She had a trolley and her handbag was safely secured onto the trolley. During her shopping she was approached by a tall, fairly stout man who spoke to her in German regarding choice of kitchen rolls! She answered him in German though she thought he was probably of Eastern European origin. She also remembered seeing him at Intermarche on other occasions. Thinking no more about this she continued shopping and eventually went to the checkout and paid by her Multibank card, a bright yellow Millenium Bank card.She had previously tried to get some cash from the Multibank machine which was empty of cash. She didn't notice a smaller man, dark haired sleeked back. Outside she saw both men together near to the trolley depot, in fact one of them was pulling and pushing the stack of trolleys and she happened to say to them not to be impatient. Later in the day she did her book keeping for the day and found that her card was missing. She phoned to Intermarche but no card had been found. Obviously she cancelled her card. This morning she went into the Bank and discovered that after her purchase from Intermarche two withdrawals of €200 had been made from the Caixa Geral Depositos cashpoint machine. A further €100 was withdrawn by the card being used at a shop. An employee of Intermarche kindly took her to the Police station in Carvoeiro where she made a statement describing the two men in quite good detail so hopefully they will be apprehended! During her time at the Police station she learnt that the Intermarche security camerasdo not work for some time.The Poliice also told her that similar incidents occurred at Lidl and also at Aldi's. Not sure what we can all do about this, it seems to be going on frequently and the Police and the security men at the shops don't seem to be able to get on top of it. Take care everybody.

[HampshireRich]

How do they get the cash out without the PIN?

[steve]

Before chip and PIN the necessary information could be extracted from the magnetic strip on the back of the card using a suitable bit of electronic kit. The banks' public line was that the cards could not be used without the PIN and they therefore used to say that the cardholder must have been negligent, thus denying liability. Technology has moved on and possibly there is a way of cracking chip and PIN cards. A more low tech explanation is that one of the men watched her try to draw cash and noted the PIN.

[HampshireRich]

..... A more low tech explanation is that one of the men watched her try to draw cash and noted the PIN.

Hence the need to be careful - however, that machine is always crowded with people and it is difficult to hide your PIN from all angles - the best advise would be not to use it.