Cuenca Ecuador: Three Recent Crimes Against Expats

Blog Post from Gringopost.com

1. I was robbed
Two days ago, my El Centro apartment was robbed during the hours of 10:45 and 11:30 AM, while I was at the dentist. They had to have already scoped out my place and knew when I left my apartment (creepy to think I am being watched), most likely previous workers, who figured out how they could get back in during broad daylight when the businesses below could see them enter and leave. They also had a copy of the key to my door. I lost an entire pack full of about $10,000 worth of Canon cameras, lenses, and photography equipment, besides other valuables. If anyone tries to sell you Canon Cameras (7D, 5D, G9,) or any expensive Canon lenses, please contact me or the police who have my equipment on file.

I am not hopeful I will see my gear again, but it never hurts to try whatever it takes to recover what is rightfully mine. Also, never think it can’t happen to you because your place is so secure. I thought the same thing and it did. Warning: Don’t leave your home unattended when workers are there, and be watchful at who is eyeing your place and things and who has access to keys to your place. These are not workers I knew and hired – but ones sent in by my landlords. Also, I’m not looking for anyone’s rant or opinion about my circumstance – I just want to warn others to be careful and pay attention.

Linda
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MindStorm • 2 days ago

2.
Also, we were broken into (also in an apartment in Centro) 2 weeks ago. In our case, they ripped the iron gate right off the hinges. We had thought it was secure, so had not locked the heavy solid wood door behind it while we went to lunch. Back in an hour, found the door ripped off, and two Mac laptops plus a Canon f2.8 70-200 lens (very expensive lens) missing.

In our case, it is obvious the person only took what would fit in a backpack, so he could walk out and nobody gave him a second look. Otherwise, we would have lost more…

— we were just told last night by a friend (also in a Centro penthouse) that someone climbed on their roof, cut a hole in the roof, and hauled out the booty that way. Not only loss of goods there, but a heck of a lot of roof damage…
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Mary • 2 days ago

3.
Hi, sorry to hear that. I’ve been wanting to share my experience before and I think now is the perfect time. I’ve been in Cuenca for 11 months now and so far I have had 3 burglaries. The first one I was having lunch in a place on 12 de abril Ave, my mistake was to hang my purse on the back of the chair, when I was going to pay my check my purse wasn’t there. The second time was on my way to the common grounds at about 7pm, I was crossing the bridge from 3 de noviembre to Gran Colombia and a guy searched on my pants back pocket for a cell phone, thank God I realized and ran fast to Gran Colombia cuz since he didn’t find any cell phone he went to the corner and was waiting for me again to do God knows what despite all the traffic. The third time was last week on Primero de mayo, I loved jogging there, I used to go very early in the mornings or at 5 or 6 pm but that day I went at 11am, a guy approached to me with a screwdriver near Tres puentes asking me for my cell phone which fortunately I had left at home, I showed him my empty pockets and let me go. I was very scared, thank God nothing happened. In short, sadly Cuenca has not been as safe as I used to believe, take your precautions, never be too confident. READ FULL ARTICLE AT GRINGOPOST.COM

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