Bid to fight crime at malls over festive season

Shoppers need to ensure they know where help can be found

THE SA Council of Shopping Centres, the Consumer Goods Council of SA (CGCSA) and SAPS have collaborated to combat organised crime at shopping centres over the festive season.

CGCSA’s head of consumer goods crime risk initiative, Graham Wright, said the festive initiative would include more police visibility at malls across the country.

“The programme will focus on combating crimes from robberies, burglaries to shoplifting,” he said.

Wright said with more people buying goods at malls this time of the year, the annual programme was to ensure shoppers’ safety.

But the onus was also on consumers to be alert while shopping.

Tyger Valley Shopping Centre spokesperson Lareta Blom said shoppers needed to make sure they knew where help was by checking where security staff members patrolled in case they needed them in a hurry.

“Keep a close eye on your kids when you arrive at the mall. Point out the security staff and tell them to ask only these people for help if they lose you. Make sure they know your cellphone number so that security can call you.”

She added that shoppers should also check their cars were locked before walking off and try the door handle to ensure they were properly locked.

“Take parcels back to the car regularly and put them in the boot. Don’t leave anything visible inside the car as it might lead to a smash-andgrab,” said Blom.

Keeping your handbag safe was also important at this time of the year. Blom said people should shop with a zipped-up sling bag, especially in a crowd where pickpockets thrived.

“Be careful using wi-fi in public places because some hot spots don’t encrypt wireless data and this could lead to identity theft,” said Blom.

Evert Smith, from Deloitte’s computer and security department, said consumers preferring to do their shopping online should also be cautious at this time of the year with gangs of cyber criminals infiltrating networks and stealing money and identities.

Smith said many people were often oblivious to the fact that they had been scammed due to the sophistication of some of the tactics being used.

“In many cases it is often just a matter of a user not having updated their security software, or that they use outdated software that had security flaws which have since been improved in an updated version. Only buy from reputable online stores.

“Do some research on freely available sites like Hellopeter and Mybroadband and make sure what the site offers can actually be delivered.” nicolette.dirk@inl.co.za

@ladynikki2