Your valuables are important to you. Make sure you keep them safe from fire, theft and a myriad of other potential disasters. Isn’t this the marketing slogan that banks use to sell safe deposit boxes available at their bank locations ? The box size you rent depends on the amount of valuables you need to protect.
However are your valuables really safe ? A recent article in the newspaper stroke me and I want to inform our blog readers about this information if you missed the article. This is important !
Renting a Bank Deposit Box for Your Valuables
Nowhere else is your money, your jewelry or important documents safer than in a bank deposit safe, right ? At least that is what the banks want you to believe. A newspaper article revealed that a policeman Alain T. in Brussels said 40.000 euro disappeared from his bank deposit safe at the bank BNP Paribas. Another lady at the same bank said 80.000 Euro of jewelry has disappeared.
In 2013 Alain T. placed money from his grandmother in the bank deposit box and great was his surprise when this box was empty when he opened it again 1 year later. The bank deposit box was locked as usual…
According to the contract the customer has an insurance against theft but six years later Alain T. hasn’t seen any euro from the bank…. This theft incident doesn’t seem to be alone as more and more bank deposit box owners in Brussels and Flanders start to report similar theft from their boxes.
A nurse reported that 80K euro of jewelry was stolen from her box in Anderlecht, a restaurant owner saw 55.000 Euro disappear out of his box, a dentist lost almost 58.000 Euro…all a big mystery that doesn’t get solved.
Although all those people are victim of theft, the bank treats these incidents as if the people themselves emptied their boxes. A police investigation has resulted in nothing…that’s no surprise. And the bank says it can’t communicate with the media about this. Of course, imagine if all customers with a bank deposit box would hear about this…
Are you really insured if something happens is the key question ? Banks commit themselves contractually that they refund the owners in case of burglary, fire or water damage. If there’s clear evidence of burglary, the victims do get a refund, although this amount has a ceiling. Check in your contract what the maximum refund is. This is different for each bank.
However you will need to prove the content and value of your bank deposit box with photos, bills or other purchase documents. So be prepared for the worst. Make an inventory of all your bank deposit content and don’t keep that inventory in the box itself.
But what does the rental contract also say ? In small letters, the contract also says that you can NOT get a refund for “unexplanatory disappearances”. And this is here the case.
Alain T. opened his own research and came in contact with the Italian security expert Adalberto Biasiotti. He warns already for years about Eastern European people who specialize in opening bank deposit boxes without leaving a trace. Check out the following two YouTube videos
See how simple it is to decode a bank deposit box key or look up the tool Lucky Locks on the internet.
“Eastern Europeans rent a box under a false identity to have access to the bank deposit boxes room. Once inside, they open the box of their neighbours or another one.” says Adalberto Biasiotti. The theft is mostly discovered months or years later as most customers don’t check this box frequently. Camera surveillance in this room is not present and is not allowed.
As you can see from the video above, special kits most likely developed by Bulgarian secret services, are available for purchase on the market.
Final Words
Last couple of years renting a bank deposit box became less popular. At two banks in Belgium the numbers of box rentals decreased with 7%. In 2018 there were still almost 300.000 bank deposit boxes rented out at the two biggest banks. In total the estimate of rental bank deposit boxes at all Belgian banks is around 500.000. That is MANY BOXES ! Imagine all the valuables at risk there…
If you know that renting a deposit box at a bank costs you between 45 and 67 euro per year, you know that this is a 25 million euro business for the banks. The key question you have to ask yourself, is “Are my valuables really safe after reading this ?”. Personally I don’t think so. I would never keep money or jewelry in a bank deposit box. But that’s me. I never trust banks. Do your own due diligence. End of this blog post.
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Source : Nieuwsblad
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