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Thursday, October 10, 2024

How safe are safety deposit boxes? They're not as protected as you may think

A Montreal-area woman believes carelessness and lack of security at her bank are to blame for the alleged theft of $20,000 in cash from her safety deposit box. 

Irina Broido said she and her father opened the box in 2009 to keep important documents, jewellery and money. She eventually became the principal user when her father became too ill to leave the house.

*****

I've never had one and don't know if any of this apply here in the States.

26 comments:

  1. Probably just the FBI...

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  2. To answer your question, yes it does apply in the states, like when the effbi stole millions incl. jewely and gold out of a bunch of safe deposit boxes in Los Angeles just a couple years ago. Victims there are still trying to recoup.
    You're better off stuffing your mattress.
    -lg

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    1. ^^^THIS
      It's just a variation on carrying cash and having it taken, "Because we think it is the proceeds of drug dealing." And then it is up to you to prove it wasn't and sue to get the cash/property back. Civil forfeiture is just "legal" Gov't theft.
      Steve

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  3. Inside job by a bank employee.

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  4. I call bullshit! Ive used them for years there are two different keys needed to open the box you have two and the bank has theirs, it requires both and you have to sign a card and the signiture has to match. besides if you have one most employees already know you on sight. also try telling the bank you cant find your keys you have to have a company come by and drill the box to get it open and you pay. the problem is when two people are on the box one eventually needs money and there is the problem.

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    1. Yes it does. I hate trying to decipher an otherwise intelligent comment.

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    2. Poor format aside, basically correct. Can't be opened without BOTH keys unless you drill the lock out, so the story is a bit suspect. As far as what you can keep in them, anything (since there's no record) but that also means that all the bank is doing is renting a space, not providing insurance. You'd be better off with a fire resistant box sunk into a basement wall or floor in a hidden location - but most people don't stay in one house long enough for that to pay off.

      In passing: insurance for jewelry isn't worth it either. Most insurors will charge about 10% of the assessed value (which is usually high anyway) per year. Do the math. You've probably paid full replacement value in 7-8 years. Just self-insure.

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    3. I haven't yet met a locksmith who couldn't pick a lock or for that matter make his own key from scratch. It's actually pretty cool to watch.

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    4. And there are great gizmos for amateurs. I saw a Bluetooth camera on a key blank. Stick it in and look at the pins directly. Cut the bank key, bring your ultrasonic bump key and steal everything.

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  5. Safe boxes are pretty cheap. But the bank or gov can open them if they choose. I keep one as an off site backup for a disk drive with all my files on it.

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  6. The bank investigated and to the surprise of no-one found themselves not guilty of anything.

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  7. For a reasonable amount one can buy a watertight and fireproof home safe. We upgraded last year. It's the size of a mini fridge. It's bolted to the house and has a mechanical combination dial ---no batteries or electricity needed.

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  8. My dad had a safety deposit box way back when, he's been gone 40 years now, and a bank employee would have to unlock the first lock then they would leave and he would use his key to finish unlocking it.... I don't remember a card but they may have been one..
    With all the cameras and federal snooping into our lives now I believe it's better to have a home safe, anchored to the floor or wall studs and no fucking electronic lock. A good old fashioned tumbler/dial and or key combination...
    Fuck the federal assholes
    JD

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  9. Far better to bury it in a cache. The trick is finding a place to bury something where it will never be accidentally discovered. For me, the answer is underneath power transmission towers. They are resilient landmarks where nobody digs underneath them, and they have their own service roads accessing them in remote areas. Towers will last in place for over 100 years. And creating a treasure map for others to follow directions to it (if you so choose) is pretty simple and even a moron can count how many towers in X direction from Y crossroads.

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    1. It's under the Big w

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    2. Great flick! "I'm coming for you Mama!"

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  10. Never trust the bank. When they lock down for whatever reason you are SOL Same for your convenient E pay on the 'smart' device when the electricity is off.

    Chutes Magoo

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  11. ANYTHING you put into a " bank " goes into a ' trust,' meaning you NO LONGER " OWN " it. This includes your savings, checking & ' safe ' deposit accounts. You become the "beneficiary." The trustee, THE BANK, can do whatever it wants with it - aka - mommy can take away your cookies if she deems it in your best interest, or hers. You want proof ? LOOK at the signature line on your personal check with a magnifying glass -- it is not a "line," it is micro-printing that says ' authorized signature ' over & over again, which is only necessary if you don't actually own it anymore. Pretty effing sneaky, huh ?
    I had " property " in a private safe deposit company in Las Vegas called Sovereign Security. I moved out of state just before government stooges raided the place {allegedly FBI} and stole everything in the place. The commenter above is right, your mattress is safer.
    People also think they " own " their house if they paid it off & have the Title. READ THE TITLE -- on the 2nd or 3rd line you will be called ' the tenant.' You have merely become a renter under different contract terms. It has been suggested that the only way to truly own your property is to get Allodial Title and / or Land Patents. Check with a lawyer.
    blueray

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  12. sorry about the puncuation. Home safes are good only if they are hidden in the walls. if its out in the open they will just put a gun to the head of who ever is home and I guarantee you the safe will be opened. Make sure even the children have the combination no sense they get beat up over your being stubborn.

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    1. Secrets are only secrets if you keep them to yourself. Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead, but a seance or Theresa Caputo from that TV show will get the secret if the other peraon is already deceased.

      The only way to protect a secret is to kill yourself in a Faraday Cage on a Lay Line during the 3rd Friday the 13th of an even year.

      Maybe.

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    2. Lay line - I just had a mental image of a line of hookers :)

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  13. Safe deposit boxes are not safe. And you have very little recourse when the contents of said box magically disappear. The biggest most expensive bank heist in history was committed by the FBI who raided all of the deposit boxes in an institution netting themselves as much as $100 million in cash, jewelry and other valuables. This happened several years ago and to date none of the victims have seen restitution. And none of the criminals pinned to Federal badges have been charged for the theft. So if you can't control it 24/7 it's not yours.

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    1. Michigan Missy had a brother was a junkie in Vegas. Brother had same name as his father who died, brother calls michigan bank, sends a copy of his ID and signature name which is the SAME as the deposit box account BANK OPENS BOX MAILS 10k OF BEARER BONDS TO JUNKIE IN VEGAS WHO THEN BUYS ENOUGH DOPE TO GET A SUSPICOUS OVERDOSE WITH HELP FROM "FRIENDS" No recourse, no.

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  14. Badges are aiming points

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  15. Interest rates were total shit for a long time, but it still beats the zero dollars she was accruing on that money for 15 years. And money in your bank account IS insured in Canada, up to $250,000. So as long as you don't say anything bad about the Prime Minister or donate to anyone who opposes him, your money should be safe.

    Also someone tell this idiot reporter that it's a "safe" deposit box.

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