Wireless Surveillance Cameras | Inexpensive Fake Security Cameras

Inexpensive Fake Security Cameras

Every now and again, it’s easier to “phone it in” rather than do the real thing. Sometimes, the pay off is the same as had you really applied yourself to some endeavor or another. The same can hold true in the wireless surveillance camera world, with the only drawback being that it’s tough to measure the results in effective deterrence between legitimate security systems and the illusion of a security system. Confused? Don’t be. We’re going to talk a bit about fake security cameras today.I’m a big fan of magic tricks and love to entertain my nieces and nephews, making things disappear and reappear with just a little sleight of hand. Almost every trick depends on misdirection, making the viewer believe they are seeing everything when, in fact, they are seeing nothing that you don’t want them to see. As long as the kids remain young and gullible, I continue to get away with what they can only conceive of as real magic.

Unfortunately, crooks aren’t all stupid so putting on a wizard hat and threatening to turn them into frogs if they trespass on my property won’t accomplish much. Contrary to what their brazen acts may lead you to believe, though, they are a fairly skittish breed. What that means is that burglars like to weigh their risks and, given two potential payouts of near equal value, will always go after the one that exposes them to the least amount of risk. It’s for that reason that I’ve always advocated the message that you don’t need to turn your home into a fortress to be safe. You just need to present a less inviting target than your neighbors.

When a crook cases a neighborhood he’s looking for clues to a good payout. How well-to-do is your neighborhood? What kind of car is in your driveway? Are there empty electronics equipment boxes waiting for trash pickup and implying you’ve recently purchased some expensive goodies? How well kept is your yard? If you leave your garage open, what kind of goodies do they see inside?

If all the clues are inviting, the next step is to assess risk. What hours do you keep? When do you get home from work? How visible is your home from the street and from your neighbor’s homes? How well lit is your property? Are there places such as bushes they can hide while they work on breaking in? Do you have signs up proclaiming you’re protected by a security company? Do you have surveillance cameras?

Now addressing all those other things is beyond the scope of this article, but I do want to discuss fake security cameras because they really do add tremendous value. While the ideal solution would be professionally installed and monitored surveillance cameras, many people are simply priced out of the market. Fake security cameras are a magic trick designed to present the illusion that your home is obscenely well protected and not worth the effort, thereby prompting the crook to move on in search of softer targets. As with any magic trick, if you botch the illusion or misdirect, your audience will see right through your trick, so it pays to do it right.

You see, a criminal can never really know for certain if the footage from your camera is stored in-house or fed off-site. If it’s recorded in-house, he can simply make a point of stealing the recording device that’s capturing his work, denying you of any proof of the crime. He can make an educated guess, though, and if the juice is worth the squeeze, may still take the risk to get at your possessions if he thinks the likelihood high that the footage is stored onsite.

So what hints does a crook look for and what can you do to make your fake security camera appear to be as authentic as possible? Start by being reasonable. A modest home in a lower class neighborhood is not going to have four or five high-end cameras protecting it. It either screams gang-run-meth-lab or totally-fake-cameras. Neither is a message you want to send. Obviously, an upper class home in an upper class neighborhood could get away with multiple cameras covering every possible angle, but if you’re rolling in cash already, you should probably spring for the real thing anyway.

Pay attention to the details. A security camera without a cable coming out of the back of it won’t fool anybody. Sure, maybe it transmits its signal wirelessly, but it has to get power from somewhere, right? A box with a lens isn’t convincing. The best fake security cameras will always look like they are wired in some way.

An illuminated LED won’t hurt either. A camera with an illuminated LED (LED = light emitting diode but just think of it as a small light) accomplishes two things - it draws attention to the camera (in case your criminals are near sighted) and it presents an illusion of powered authenticity. Good fake cameras generally come with a blinking or steady-state LED powered by batteries which, due to the low power requirements of LEDs, don’t need to be replaced often at all.

As a final tip, reinforce the message with the placement of a professional security sign. Avoid using made-for-fake stickers or security signs if possible. A savvy criminal will recognize them as fake on sight but will believe a big name like Brinks. Contact a friend or neighbor who already has a legitimate security company monitoring their property and ask them if you could pay them to order an additional yard sign and window stickers on your behalf. Some security companies may sell them to you without requiring an actual system installation but most will want you to buy more than just their signs.

A friend of mine, the kind of guy who could sell refrigerators to Eskimos, actually went so far as to request an appraisal and estimate from a legitimate security company. After the representative did her walk through and provided him with a price, he advised that it was far more than he could afford but that he’d like to buy some signs from her. She declined until he pointed out that it would be free advertising for the company and that he would sing their praises to his neighbors, possibly bringing her some legitimate sales. The representative agreed and provided him with front and back yard signs as well as window stickers. True to his word, he actually got her two legitimate contracts in his neighborhood in the months that followed.

The point of all of this is that you can do a great deal to deter criminals with the use of a fake security camera, but that you must invest a bit of common sense in your approach for the best results. Fake security cameras, in and of themselves, are just a start. Pulling all the pieces together sells the illusion and leaves a potential criminal with a decision to make. Does he risk it on what appears to be a very secure dwelling, or move a few houses down to what are clearly easier pickings? 9 times out of 10, he’ll make the smart move and leave you alone.

Filed Under Fake Security Cameras, General Home Security |

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