Posts Tagged ‘Home Security’

5 Simple Steps to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Monday, February 4th, 2013

Dumpster DiveHelping you secure your valuables in quality safes is our primary business, at the same time we want to do what we can to help you stay safe in other areas as well.  Home safes, jewelry safes, and gun safes are an important part of your big picture security plan.  It is also important to protect your good name, your personal identity and your personal valuables.  Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totaling upwards of $50 billion.  That means, 7% of all adults have their identities misused resulting in approximately $3,500 in damages per person.
How do identity thieves steal your personal information?  It could be as simple as dumpster diving; looking for old bills and documents that you haven’t properly disposed of, or as complex as people working in trusted positions such as medical offices or government agencies taking your personal information and using it in inappropriate ways.
While you can’t put all the elements of your personal identity in a security safe, there are ways to protect yourself and your information.

  • Read your credit reports, every 12 months you are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide credit companies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion).  Visit Annual Credit Report to learn more about this.
  • Shred all documents that show personal information on them before you throw them away.  Check out Shred Wise to learn more about shredding options.
  • Install and USE a home security system to keep the bad guys OUT!
  • Don’t respond to anyone or anything asking for your personal information, and make sure if you are putting personal information on the web that the website is encrypted. Look for “https” at the beginning of the web address, the “s” stands for secure.
  • Don’t send information over a public wireless network to any website that isn’t full encrypted and secure.

If you are a victim of identity theft, immediately call one of the three credit reporting companies and post a fraud alert.  The first company will then contact the other two companies to ensure the your account is flagged at each of the agencies. Once the alert is posted it will remain there for 90 days.  You may also file a complaint, aka an FTC affidavit, with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).  Take this affidavit to your local police department and file a police report.  These documents combined comprise an identity theft report: for more information visit the FTC’s Identity Theft web page.

Six Most Effective Safety Measures to Protect your Home from Mishaps

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

Are you planning to go for a vacation? Or perhaps you stay outside home for long hours and sometimes even for a couple of days and get worried over your home and family’s safety? To have your home safe from dangers like future break-ins, fire break out and also to restore your peace of mind, here are some tips you may find most helpful:

As reported to KUSA, the media channel based in Denver and also according to the local reports from Times-Picayune, Colorado and New Orleans police are taking the burglary offenses most seriously and providing the residents with effective tips to prevent such mishaps.

1. Protect your Vacation Home: Use Home Security Systems

Colorado police is especially emphasizing on the home security systems to help protect your home from those stealing hands. Automatic timers on laps can be really effective to create the illusion of your home remaining occupied when it is actually vacant.
Here, any kind of home automation system can come to your big help. With the provision of auto-adjusted lighting system you can preset the time for your lights to go on and off automatically. Even from outside home you can arm or disarm the security system.

2. Install Audible Burglar Alarms & Buzz

And as we are told in brief, the local police of New Orleans have recorded a 13% raise in the burglary rates and strictly prescribed the residents to install an audible security alarm. Most importantly, the advertising of these anti-intrusion alarms come as a favorable deterrent for burglars.
As is the case with yard sign and window decals. These safety equipments scare away the thieves informing them your home is under supervision. Moreover, to your assurance, the current FBI report states that 9 out of 10 convicted burglars have admitted they would avoid stealing from a house that has a monitored security system. So when your home is under professional monitoring, the intruders get a clear threat on how dangerous it can be if they ever try to sneak into your house.

3. Other General Tips to bar away Intruders

For further safety tips, you can follow some basic guidelines to have your vacation home full proof from burglary.
• Have your daily subscription cancelled while you will not be home. You can either receive them on mail after coming back or can just discontinue the service temporarily. Otherwise the piling newspaper in front of your door gives the potential thieves clear indication of none is home as of now. Or, you can ask your neighbor or friend to collect them for you every morning and get them while you are back.
• If situation permits, you can leave your car in the garage so that it seems like someone is always home. For this you can hire a taxi or rent a car to reach your holiday destination or up to the nearest airport.
• You can ask a friend or neighbor to sleep at your place while you are away. Keep the arrangements for food and snacks sufficient so that they do not need to leave the house unprotected to arrange for some.
• Also make sure you have plugged off your landline and answering machine while you are gone. When the messages keep on popping up on the answering machine none to receive them, the burglars get clear idea of you absent from the house.
• Avoid sharing your holiday plan with friends or relations where you may be overheard. And most importantly, do not share your personal detail on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. The tech savvy burglars take the easiest way like getting information on these sites and them making your vacant home their soft target.
• Emphasize upon locking all your doors and windows properly. Seal all the places that might be crawled under and don’t forget to check the locks if they are working properly. Moreover, install professionally monitored door and window sensors.
• It would be best if you go for professionally monitored door/ window sensors. The sensors come up with loud alarm sounds detecting unrecognized activities at the entrances. That will inform your neighbor of the potential risk and also the person you may have asked to sleep over at your place.

4. More Easy Tips to prevent Burglary

How does it sound if say “plan to burglarize yourself”? That means find the loopholes in your residential safety management that may have escaped your notice earlier. That way you can get into the mind of a potential burglar too – in how many ways he is planning to rob you off.

Lock up your house properly even while going out for a short time. Many thieves can just walk into your room through an unlocked door or window and cause you go minus with some of your favorite possessions. Also, change all the locks when you move to a new home to avoid potential risk.

For effectiveness of alarm system and anti-intrusion arrangements, conceal the wiring. It will be better if you go for wireless security systems. A professional burglar searches for the places from where he or she can disconnect the security system. Here, professionally monitored home security systems will be an apt choice for your home, especially the motion monitors.

The wireless PIR motion monitors help you keep watch on all parts inside the house right from the rooms to hallways to stairs. The sensors detect unauthorized movements – the burglar moving inside the house and come up with loud alarm sound. As they are wireless the intruder does not get any chance to deactivate them easily.

5. Electrical Safety Tips & Fire Prevention

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says annual average of residential fire because of electrical malfunction is 165,380 that become fatal to more than 900 people, injuring around 7,000 people and causing nearly $1.7 property damage.

To help you protect your home and loved ones from such disaster, Denali Alaskan Insurance, ‘the Independent Insurance Agents & Broker of America (IIABA) and the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI)’ provides you some most handy electrical safety tips:

• Check if there are any loose-fitting plugs on any outlet that can overheat and generate sudden sparks.
• Never do this mistake as removing the ground pin or third prong to make a three-prong pug fit into a two-conductor outlet. That can cause an electric shock.
• Don’t push a plug if that doesn’t fit into an outlet.
• Keep away from overloading outlets with too many appliances using multi plugs. The overflow of electric energy can burn out the wires and cause sudden flame.
• Change any missing or broken wall plates.
• Ensure there are safety covers on all unused outlets that are within reach of your children.
• Look out if there’s any hot or discolored outlet wall plate. This may be a sign of excessive heat emission at the connections.
• Make sure all power and extension cords are in good condition, not worn or cracked.
• Do not place cords on people’s way, under carpets, rugs or furniture. Put the cords at safe distance from your close ones.
• Extension cords should only be used occasionally, not as means to permanent household wiring.
• Make sure extension cords and electrical equipments are listed by an independent testing facility such as Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), CSA, ETL or MET labs, and are accurately rated for their assigned use, both indoor and outdoor.

6. What to Do if your Home Still Catches Fire?

Now comes the most important question. Assume if after maintaining all these guidelines still there is a sudden flame because of technical malfunction at your home. What will you do? Especially when you are not even home and can’t call for help?

So go for professionally monitored heat and smoke sensors. The sensors can detect excessive heat and heavy smoke at once. Be sure to safely store your critical papers in a fire safe. To your further knowledge, even a heavy smoke can cause a well built person to get suffocated to death. To give such chances a miss, fire and smoke sensors ring the emergency siren instantly.

You see, with effective home security tips and reliable professional help by your side, be it keeping the burglars at bay or preventing a fire irruption – everything becomes easy. Once you take the right precaution, your home and family can not get harmed by any means.

To have your home and loved ones safe, first of all you need to know the needful measures as they are introduced in brief in this article. Then it becomes just a matter of your little care and time. Besides, once you subscribe for the residential safety service that meets all your needs, you are your own king in the realm called home. So, create your safe heaven in panic room right away!

Fire Season Appears Normal, REALLY?

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

House Fire

“Fire Season Appears Normal, For Now”, reads a recent headline in the Orange County Register. The term “normal” sounds ok to me. Normal, not great, not bad, just normal. But, as I began to read the article I realized that in the case of fire season in Southern California, normal isn’t such a good thing. Fire forecasters predict several large wildfires in the region during Summer and Fall, as is typical. What’s more, meteorologists go on to explain that the potential for fires will continue to grow as summer progresses. Changing weather conditions that occur as we get further into summer bring higher risk of blazes. Yikes! It’s time to think seriously about protecting our valuables in a fire resistant home safe .

We’ve all seen the effects of the Southern California wildfires. You may have been lucky enough to be spared personal impact and have only witnessed these fires on TV. Or you may feel this very personally, having been one of the many fire victims. Either way, you know that these fires are very real and extremely dangerous. Thousands of acres and hundreds of homes, not to mention lives, are destroyed each year by wildfires. Homes are often burned to the ground with only their safe for the home still standing.

Although there is little we can do to prevent these wildfires, we can do our best to prepare ourselves and protect our possessions. Owning a fire safe for your valuables and important papers is a good step in the right direction. A good home safe will give you a bit of peace of mind knowing that key documents and valued heirlooms have a fighting chance even if the rest of your house doesn’t.

In addition to using an in home safe, having an evacuation plan can literally be a life saver. The plan should include specific instructions on the fastest exit route for each room in the house. Document the escape routes and review them with all members of your household. Be sure all of the people are able to get out quickly, your critical documents will be safe being left behind in your 1 or 2 hour fire safe.

An out of state contact person is another important idea. Identify a close family member or friend who lives in a different state, as your emergency contact person. Make sure all members of you household have their number handy. In case of an emergency local communications may be overloaded with only out of state calls able to be made.

Fortunately we live in a day and place where fire service is fast and effective. While we trust that our local fire authority will respond quickly, it makes sense to be prepared. Preparation includes protecting our valuables in a fire resistant fire safe, documenting an evacuation plan and educating family members on that plan and an out of state contact. For assistance selecting a quality home fire safe call Maximum Security Safes at (800) 538-0600 today.

Thieves Outwit Alarm Systems

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Home Burglary

A recent run of home burglaries in Texas suggests that thieves have learned to outsmart residential security systems. With knowledge of typical installations crooks are able to quickly enter the home, gather their loot and escape. When home safes are in use, protected valuables are secure while other items are easily snatched up.

Police indicate that homes are being broken into through back doors and windows. This way crooks can gain entrance without passersby seeing them. Once inside the thieves stay to the back of the house avoiding any visibility through front windows. Staying out of front rooms also means they are clear of locations where motion sensors are most frequently positioned.

There are plenty of valuables to be found in bedrooms, offices and family rooms that are often located in the back of homes. Should they run across a security safe, they may try briefly to open the safe but any quality safe will hold it’s own. Burglars will quickly move on to more accessible items.

While an alarm system will deter some burglars and shorten the stay of others, a home security safe will provide you that last line of defense that can make all the difference for the heirloom jewelry you look forward to passing on to your granddaughter.

When shopping for a good home safe consider one that provides quality burglar and fire protection. Simply the word SAFE on the box is not enough. A plastic interior is a sure sign of a safe to avoid! At a minimum look for a safe that is certified by Underwriters Laboratory as a Residential Security Container (RSC) and also includes 1-hour of fire protection.

The experts at Maximum Security Safes would be happy to consult with you by phone or in person in our showroom. We can help you select the right home safe for your specific needs. Call Maximum Security Safes at (800) 538-0600 today!

7 Most Common Causes of House Fires

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

house fire

House fires, not something I want to think about, but they are a real possibility. The National Fire Protection Association reports that there are as many as 400,000 house fires every year in the United States. It isn’t something we should ignore. With our most valued possessions at risk, the old adage, prepare for the worst and hope for the best, is a good approach. That means, take precautions to prevent the most common causes of house fires, and consider a home safe to protect key valuables as your last line of defense, just in case.

A recent National Fire Protection Association report indicates the most common causes of house fires. Below is that list and suggested precautions.

Cooking. The #1 cause of house fires, accounting for 42% of reported incidents, is cooking. Open flames from the stove and intense heat in the oven easily result in a fire when unsupervised. Most often food or cooking tools catch fire and quickly lose control. While giving up cooking all together may be a bit extreme, paying extra attention and never leaving the kitchen while preparing food is an easy way to reduce this risk.

Christmas Trees. Every winter families all around the world bring large trees into their home to celebrate a beloved holiday. However, Christmas trees can easily become a significant hazard. Dry tress combined with strings of lights quickly turn into fire sticks. Before placing the tree in your home cut off an inch or so from the bottom of the trunk, removing any dead wood that would prevent the tree from soaking up water. Be vigilant about watering your tree, keep it hydrated! Also be sure to turn off Christmas lights when you go to sleep at night. Or, avoid the risk altogether by getting an artificial tree!

Smoking. Smoking is the source of many of house fires leading to almost 1,000 deaths a year. Lit cigarettes accidentally dropped on any number of household items can quickly become large fires. Only smoking outside will reduce this risk significantly.

Candles. An estimated 18,000 house fires are caused by candles each year. Most of the incidences are due to negligence. Leaving a lit candle unattended can quickly lead to a fire. Numerous flammable materials in the vicinity of a candle can easily catch fire. Reduce this risk by trimming the wick of your candle to help limit the size of the flame, or use battery operated candles.

Appliances, Heaters, Children Playing with Fire. Other common causes of home fires include over use of appliances, home heating, and children playing with fire. Faulty or over-used appliances can easily cause a fire with just a few sparks. Heating systems, especially space heaters and wood stoves, can ignite household items nearby. The curiosity of young children can also lead to threatening fires. Playing with matches, lighters, and candles led to 56,300 fires between 2005 and 2009. Keeping these items out of the reach of children and educating them about the importance of fire safety can help reduce this risk. In the event that a house fire does occur a home safe, in particular a fire safe for the home, will keep important documents and precious valuable safe while you focus on getting your family to safety.

While we can’t eliminate all potential causes of house fires there are some basics that are well worth keeping in mind. Take these precautions and consider purchasing one of the many home safes to protect your most important valuables. Safes for the home are an excellent barrier for items of both monetary and sentimental value.

10 Steps to Protecting Your Home During Summer Vacation

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Beach Scene

Summer is here and many of us are looking forward to getting away for a break from the pressure of work and school. Any time we are away our homes are more vulnerable to burglars. Knowing this certainly doesn’t help us to the transition from the stress of everyday life to a restful, relaxing vacation.

The good news is, there are a few simple things we can do to protect our homes and our valuables allowing us to more fully enjoy vacation. While securing your valuables in a quality home safe or gun safe is a good step in the right direction there are a number of other helpful things you can do to protect yourself.

Generally, making your home appear that there is someone living there is a big step in the right direction.

  1. Invite a trusted college student to house sit while you are away. Students often appreciate the opportunity to get away from home for a week or two and sweetening the pot with a bit of cash in exchange for watching over your home, watering plants and/or caring for animals is a great investment.
  2. Put your newspaper and mail on hold. If you are concerned about alerting the paper delivery person consider cancelling the paper and restarting it when you get back in town. Piled up papers in the driveway are a sure sign to a prospective burglar that this home is a hot target.
  3. Park a car in the driveway. Ideally one that will come and go. See if a neighbor is willing to park in your driveway at night when they come home from work.
  4. Install one or more motion sensitive lights around the exterior of your home.
  5. Put multiple inside lights on timers, going off and on at different times.
  6. Add a radio or TV on a timer as well, the sound will be an excellent deterrent.
  7. Make sure your yard is mowed while you are away. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, splurge and pay someone to do it for you while you are away.
  8. If you trust your neighbors, let them know you will be away with the dates you will be gone and a contact phone number in case something suspicious occurs that you might want to know about. Be sure to let them know if you expect anyone to come to your home while you are gone or they and you may be alarmed unnecessarily.
  9. 9. If you don’t already have one, consider a home security system that will notify you and local law enforcement if there is an unauthorized visitor enters your home.
  10. Secure your valuables in a quality home safe or gun safe as your last line of defense against burglary and fire.

At Maximum Security Safes we are concerned about the overall security of your family and valuables. We recognize that the home safes and gun safes we sell are just the last line of defense and that there are a number of other important security measures we all should take. Consider the steps above and before you leave home check out our educational information and selection of home safes and gun safes at Maximum Security Safes or call us at 800-538-0600.

Jewelry Safes and 8 Other Tips to Protect Your Jewelry

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Diamond ring for jewelry safe
Jewelry safes protect personal jewelry from damage, theft and fire. The key characteristics of a home jewelry safe include an interior that provides well designed, velvet lined organization for your jewelry and a safe itself that provides verified burglar and fire protection. Third party verification by a reputable testing agency ensures that the protection that you expect is indeed the protection that you are getting with the jewelry safe that you purchase.

In addition to jewelry safes there are several other tips to consider to protect your jewelry. Damage to jewelry is very common, but fortunately proper attention and care can limit if not eliminate the likelihood of damage.

  • Remove jewelry before playing sports, swimming, gardening or doing difficult chores around the house. Be sure to put it in a safe place, your jewelry safe.
  • Don’t leave your jewelry on an open surface such as a counter, near a sink or in a public area.
  • Jewelry should never be put in your pocket, it just isn’t worth the risk. Instead take the time to put it in a safe place, your jewelry safe.
  • Be careful when removing gloves as jewelry can easily become snagged or lost.
  • Personally inspect your jewelry regularly for missing stones or damaged prongs, especially immediately after you bump or catch your jewelry.
  • Periodically have your jeweler inspect your jewelry, especially the items you wear often. A jeweler can detect and repair small problems like a loose prong or faulty clasp before something is lost.
  • Consider insuring your pieces of most significant value. You may find that the cost to insure is reduced if you store your jewelry in a quality jewelry safe.
  • Using a home security system is always a good companion to jewelry safes. The sign on your lawn or window may cause the thief to pass by your house and if they do enter they will know their time is limited.

My daughter’s friend recently found her mom’s diamond, lost 2 ½ years ago, in the backyard at their house. It had already been replaced, at full cost. I had two of my mother’s rings stolen years ago when our home was burglarized, they were never found. Family heirlooms lost forever. The moral of the stories is take precautions with your jewelry before this happens to you. At Maximum Security Safes we have a full selection of jewelry safes and safes of all types and sizes with most items in stock for quick delivery. Check out our jewelry safes on the web or at our Santa Ana showroom this week!

Inside the Mind of a Burglar

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

My family home was burglarized when I was a teenager, but that was a long time ago. It’s easy for me to get complacent after so many years of feeling safe. We don’t have a lot, but we do have a few special things that I would hate to have taken. Some of these I keep in our home jewelry safe most of the time. Other items I put in when we are away from home on vacation. Our jewelry safe is great for all kinds of valuables. Because it has burglar and fire protection I can keep our important papers in it as well as jewelry, silverware, cameras, photos and the like.

Getting inside the mind of a burglar can alert us to ways we can protect ourselves. Taking some basic precautions along with installing and using a good home security system and a jewelry safe or other good burglar resistant safe will go a long way towards protecting us and our valuables.

Thoughts from the perspective of a burglar…

  • You live in a “safe” neighborhood where you don’t even need to lock your doors. Thanks for making it easy for me to make myself at home.
  • It’s a beautiful spring day and you leave the window open. Just what I need for a quick entrance.
  • Don’t have time to set the alarm but think you’re safe because the house is all locked up. I won’t hesitate to break a window to get in. It may get your neighbor’s attention for a minute but if he doesn’t hear it again he won’t give it another thought.
  • I love when I can see right in through your windows, it gives me a sneak preview of what I can pick up when I visit.
  • Yes, I really do notice those newspapers collecting in your driveway. I may even put a gardener’s flyer on your door to see when you take it down.
  • Do I look familiar? I was at your home last week delivering your new sofa, cleaning your drapery, or painting your home.
  • Today I’m carrying a clipboard, tomorrow I will carry a rake. I enjoy dressing the part of anyone but a thief.
  • Loud dogs or nosy neighbors, either of these often keep me away.
  • It’s great when you post your vacation on Facebook, sometimes I am able to look up your address.
  • Think you’ve found a great hiding place for that jewelry? Sorry, I won’t hesitate to look in clothes pockets, sock drawers, medicine cabinets or inside the piano, to name a few.
  • I don’t have time to break into that home jewelry safe, but I will take it with me if it’s not bolted down.
  • Though it has been many years since my family home was burglarized I will always remember that terrible feeling. The knowledge that someone had come into our home and gone through our personal belongings is awful. That coupled with discovering they had taken the special ring my mom passed down me made for an experience I don’t want to have again.

    Call or come by Maximum Security Safes and let us help you protect your valuables.

    www.maximumsecuritysafes.com
    (714) 550-4123 (800) 538-0600
    1415 E McFadden Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705

    Burglaries Lead to More Safes for Home

    Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

    Police in communities across the country are alerting homeowners of a rise in home burglaries. It is time to do a home security evaluation and consider a quality home safe to secure your valuables.

    Over the past few months there has been a significant rise in the number of newspaper articles in which police warn homeowners of an increase in home burglaries.

    Police report a rise in home burglaries. San Ramon, CA 11/09
    During the holidays home burglaries increase. Richmond Hill, GA 12/8
    4.5% increase in burglaries over last year. Omaha, NE 11/09
    • The list goes on….

    Police urge homeowners to secure their homes and protect their valuables. Safes for home are one significant piece of doing just that.

    Our current economy is the major factor contributing to this increase in home burglaries. However, this time of year makes us particularly tempting targets due to earlier darkness and the influx of cash and gifts in homes as a result of the holidays.

    We all need to take security more seriously, especially right now. The first step in that direction is to check your home for safety. Check out the Home Security Checklist from the National Crime Prevention Council.

    The next step is to lock up your valuables in a burglar and fire resistive safe from Maximum Security. Call us today at (800) 538-0600 or locally at (714) 550-4123 and we will help you find just the right home safe for your needs.

    Big Box Safes – They May Cost You More than You Expect

    Thursday, July 31st, 2008



    Purchasing the “least expensive” security safe may require a more careful examination than you realize. Let me share with you a real life story of a customer of ours. Like so many of us this gentleman knew he needed a safe but didn’t have time to look into the decision carefully. So, he did what many homeowners and small businesses do, he bought a safe from a big box store that he had seen for months and knew was a “great deal”. A few months later the lock malfunctioned and he couldn’t get the safe to open. In a hurry to get to his valuables he grabbed a screw driver and within five minutes was able to pop the door off the “security” safe. The hinges were spot welded onto the body of the safe with only two small dots for each hinge. In this case his only loss was the cost of the safe – others may not be so fortunate.

    At Maximum Security Safes we provide expert consulting by phone or in person to help you select the best safe for your needs. As a safe specialty store we buy wide variety of safes in volume and operate with very low overhead so we can offer highly discounted prices. For our Southern California customers we have a large showroom just off the 5 and 55 freeways in Santa Ana where we have on display a selection of over 100 different safes. We can help you quickly identify what safe will provide the protection you need at a price you can afford.

    Call us today so that we can help you protect your valuables. If seeing is believing stop by and see with your own eyes the “great deal” of a security safe gone bad (donated to us by our customer above); you will no longer be tempted to make the same mistake this gentleman made.