A Few Home Security Notes

Our Forest Estates Block Watch Patrols have been patrolling the neighborhood at night, and have reported a few safety concerns that we want to pass along to our homeowners:

Garage doors left open - This is an open invitation for a thief to walk off with your belongings, and even enter your home!  Please be sure to keep your garage doors closed at all times, unless you are outside nearby, especially after dark.

Ladders extended and leaning against the house near a window or entry -  Again, this is an easy means of access for a potential break-in.  Bad idea.

Garbage/recycle bins left on the curb - Leaving your bins on the curb for a day or two after pick-up communicates to a would-be burglar that you are not at home.  Be sure to bring your bins in off the street in a timely manner.

We will continue to post areas of concern that our patrols identify.  Of course, we are asking ALL of our homeowners to always be on patrol as you go about your routines in the neighborhood. If you notice other areas of a security concern as you walk thru the neighborhood, be sure to let us know so we can get the word out to everyone else. Thanks again for being the 'eyes and ears' for a safe community!

Forest Estates Homeowners' Annual Meeting - Nov 7, 2013

All Forest Estates homeowners are invited to the Annual FEHOA Membership Meeting to be held on Thursday, November 7, 2013 at the Nativity Lutheran Church, located at 17707 140th Ave SE, Renton, WA  98058.  If you are not able to attend, please print, and fill out the proxy (don't forget to sign and date it), and return it to:  FEHOA, PO Box 59236, Renton, WA  98058.  Alternatively, you can scan it, and email it to TheBoard@forestestateshomeowner.com, or hand-deliver it to any FEHOA Board member. 

Also, we do have openings on the Board, so let us know if you would like to get involved.  

October Monthly HOA Board Meeting this Thursday, Oct 17

This month's HOA Board meeting is scheduled for this Thursday evening at 7pm, at Nativity Lutheran Church located at 17707 140th Ave SE, near Fairwood Plaza in Renton. Though this is a meeting of the board's directors to discuss and decide issues relevant to our Forest Estates neighborhood, all homeowners and members of our association are welcome to attend. 

Homeowners: Be Alert!

Neighborhood Break-In

Last week we had a break-in in the neighborhood. The perpetrators broke in through a back window, stole a computer, and left thru the front door, escaping in a waiting white car.  After the break-in became known, another homeowner nearby reported that a couple of teenaged young men knocked on her door, asking for someone named ‘Alex’, saying they believed he lived there.  When the homeowner began asking for a description of the boy and a description of the home that ‘Alex’ had apparently given them, their answers were vague and evasive, raising the homeowner’s suspicions.  She took note of the car they drove away in; it was a smaller model white vehicle,....quite likely the same vehicle that was seen as the get-away car. 
 

If our suspicions are correct, the ‘bad guys’ are canvassing the neighborhood, knocking on doors in order to identify a house where nobody is home, and then targeting that one.  Criminals have used this strategy in the past here in Forest Estates, and it appears they are trying it again.  Our homeowners need to be well aware, and take the necessary safety precautions.  If you would like someone to perform a security assessment of your home, just contact your Block Watch Captain for information.
 

Attempted Identity Theft

This past week, another homeowner reported that she received a phone call from someone who said he was working with a company that works with Microsoft.  He told her that they had been receiving ‘messages’ generated from her computer, indicating it potentially had a ‘virus’.  He directed her to go to particular website, and then to give him her password so he could access her computer to fix the issues.  Fortunately, she didn’t give it to him. 

Please know that Microsoft, or any other company, would never ask for a person’s login information.  Those who have fallen prey to these types of scam report that the caller sounds very convincing, but within an hour of revealing their login info, their identify information is compromised, even to the emptying of bank accounts, and unauthorized use of credit cards.  If you receive a call that seems to be suspicious, hang up, and call the FBI (www.ic3.gov).  Remember to NEVER give your personal login information to anybody.