1. Put the lights on
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The first thing you should do if you hear that there is an intruder in your home is to put the lights on. Put on as many lights on as possible so that the intruder immediately knows the house isn't empty. It will also mean that there are fewer hiding spots for the intruder to hide in. The more exposed that they feel, the more likely they are to leave your home sooner.Original content sourced from Femanin.com
2. Lock the door
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Of course, the most important step to do as SOON as you hear any unusual sound or any sign of an intruder is to stay in your room and lock the door to protect yourself as you do not know who this person is. If you have somebody with you, make sure that they are also in the same room as you and that nobody under any circumstances opens the door and exposes themselves to the intruder.
3. Audibly call the police
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If you have your cell phone to hand, which we often do, then call the police. The sooner they can arrive, the better. So as soon as you have secured yourself inside the room, then call the police and inform them that you have an intruder inside your home and you do not know if they are potentially dangerous. Do this audibly, so that the intruder knows the police will soon arrive and it will scare them away!
4. Stage a conversation
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Another technique to scare away an intruder is to stage a conversation. Pretend that you are talking to somebody else so that they do not think that you are alone, as when there are multiple people in a house it is more likely to deter the intruder sooner, than if there is just you alone. Or, if you really are with somebody else make it known! Have an audible conversation to make them aware of whether you are alone or not.
5. Shout and make noise!
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The noisier a situation is, the more dangerous it is for the intruder as noise attracts attention and attention alerts people. So, if you shout and make noise the intruder knows that people are likely to come and help or to see what the matter is. So they are more likely to leave if they hear noise, rather than if you stay silent. Shout or make noise and raise a commotion to make them leave.
6. Use a security app to alert people
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There are some security apps that you can download on your phone that allow you to inform people when you are in trouble. If you have one of these apps and you are connected with people then use it! Technology has some great uses in helping security-wise to keep you protected. So use it to alert people to your situation so that they can get help for you.
7. Use a loud instrument
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Any kind of device within close and safe proximity to you could be used to cause some noise which could scare the intruder and get them to leave your house. So whatever you can find, if you've got a drum kit in your room, or something you can bang, a whistle or whatever it is that can possibly make a loud noise this is going to be very disconcerting and make them flee your home!
8. Walk loudly with heavy footsteps
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When you hear an intruder in the home it's extremely frightening and it can make you want to stay as still and silent as possible. But this may make them think you are not alone so they may feel as though they won't get caught. Once you've locked your room paced the room with heavy footsteps to let them know that somebody is in the house and they need to leave before they get caught!
9. Use a smart device to create noise or speak
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Now with the power of technology, we have capabilities that we once could never have dreamed of. For example, now you may be able to communicate from your phone to your tv and switch it on, or use your Alexa or likewise to switch on a device. If an intruder hears the tv switch on or hears your voice from a speaker then they are going to be seriously spooked.
10. Tell them you have a panic button
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So we do not advise having any kind of conversation with the intruder. You need to stay as far away as possible from them to stay safe. But you could say loud and clearly that you have a panic button and you have pressed it and alerted the police who will be there shortly. The last thing an intruder wants is to be found by the police - so it could be an effective way to make them scarper.
11. Create a loud bang or commotion
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As we said before, noise is something that an intruder will want to avoid as much as possible. And not only that, but statistically there is so much more property intrusion when nobody is home, or they assume nobody is home. So the chances are that this intruder isn't aware you are home. So create a huge commotion and scare them away and show them you're aware of their presence.
12. Use a voice recording if you feel threatened
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Many people who are home alone feel super vulnerable and are terrified at the thought of an intruder. Surveys have shown that women who are home alone tend to feel more vulnerable than a man, and more unable to deal with an intruder. And, generally, intruders may feel more threatened when they hear a male voice. And so, for people in this situation, one method is to play a male, imposing-sounding voice from your phone!
13. Call your dog
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So according to police, dogs are a huge deterrent for intruders because they cause a lot of noise and the intruder does not know how the dog will react with someone entering their home not allowed. So if you have a dog, call your dog and they will know something's up immediately and start barking which will frighten the intruder and hopefully may them exit your premises!
14. Speak confidently and assertively
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If you want to speak to alert the intruder that you are home, make sure you speak in a very confident and assertive way. This way the intruder feels threatened by you, rather than them realizing you are the one feeling threatened by them. Try and keep your voice from shaking and sounding imposing - despite how hard it feels and how much you feel the complete opposite!
15. Stay on a phone call
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Whether you're home alone or not it's a good idea to alert somebody outside, as well as the police of what is happening. They can stay on the phone call with you and when the intruder hears you chatting they know that there are multiple people who now know that someone is unlawfully trespassing and someone is bound to arrive at any moment which they will want to avoid!
16. Avoid confrontation!
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The main thing NOT to do when an intruder is in your home is to have a confrontation. You do not want to be anywhere physically near the intruder because you have no idea of what the third person is capable and a confrontation could be extremely dangerous ad you cannot predict this person. Instead, stay far away. You also do not want to aggravate this person if they are potentially dangerous.
17. Use an automated speaker system
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Nowadays cameras with speakers are super common and people also have speaker systems in which if they use an app on their phone their voice will come from the speaker. So use this to your advantage! The intruder will not know where you are, whether you are near them or even if you are recording them. So if they hear your voice come from a speaker they will leave!
18. Play a recording of an alarm
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You may not have an alarm system, or you may not have an alarm close to you that you can press - but they don't need to know that! In fact, fool them into thinking the opposite. Google a security alarm on your phone and play it as loud as you can. Hopefully, it will have the intended effect! Even if the intruder questions it it isn't real, the element of doubt and the sound alone will spook them!
19. Set off your smoke alarm if you don't have access to your home alarm
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Another possibility to make your intruder leave is to set off your fire alarm! You may not have a house security system, but each room SHOULD have a fire alarm or a smoke alarm. And of course, in the absence of fire, they will not be sounding but you can press the button manually. This loud alarm will make the intruder think that they have triggered your security.
20. Express that you're armed
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This tip to try and make your intruder leave is only something you should even consider doing if you are truly safe, in a safe room or a room with a secure lock. Otherwise, you could aggravate them and make things a lot worse. If you are safe you could try alerting the intruder to the fact that you are armed in an attempt to scare them off your property - even if it's not true!
21. Pretend that you have CCTV
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Usually, intruders now come covered up with hoods or masks to avoid the possibility of cameras, yet they do not usually think that there will be cameras inside, and they do not like it if they cannot see where the cameras are. They will of course be scared if you tell them you have CCTV because while they know you could be bluffing, they'll also know that it would not be uncommon for people to have today.
22. Pretend that you're sick
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This one is a little bit far-fetched but it's worth a try. You could pretend to be super sick or infectious by staging a loud cough or fit of sneezes in the hopes that they are scared to catch something from you, thinking that you are contagious. It's definitely not a guaranteed method, but you never know, your intruder may be scared of catching a horrible cold or virus!
23. Inform them that they're being recorded
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Loudly inform this person that they can see them and they are recording them. If someone feels watched, it is very unsettling - even for the person who is intruding on your home. If they believe they are being recorded combined with these things such as the police being called then the most likely outcome is that whoever this person is, they're going to want to get as far away from your house as possible.
24. Don't reveal yourself
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When you have an intruder it is hard to know the intention behind why they are in your home in the first place. Are they there randomly? Was it targeted or is it just an opportunist? Do they want to take your valuables or are they there because of some personal disagreement they have had with your or someone who lives in your home? For this reason, it's safer NOT-to reveal yourself!
25. Pretend to call your neighbor and say they're arriving soon
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One of the benefits of the majority of houses is that they have a close neighbor. This often puts intruders off or makes them more wary and skittish because they realize they are surrounded. However, even in the case of not having a neighbor, you can still pretend to be having a conversation with someone who could be driving to your house that very second!
26. Play a recorded conversation or dog barking
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Sometimes it may not be wise to speak if you have an inkling that this intruder knows you personally and may recognize your voice it could be safer to play a recorded conversation on a random voice changing/ masking app! Or, play a recording of a dog barking to alarm them. This way you can make it sound threatening even if it is just you alone in your room!
27. Follow the law requirements
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Even though you have an intruder in your home and they are breaking the law, don't break the law yourself. Make sure that you do not break law requirements! If not, no matter how unfair it may seem (they broke into YOUR home) you could find that you face repercussions. So stick to the lawful advice to ensure that you are protected physically, but also by the law!
28. Never unlock your door!
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Under no circumstances must you unlock your door. Each of us has a different response when we are under stress, for example, the flight or fight response kicks in, and some of us want to run as far away from the situation as possible, while others want to face the head-on. In terms of an intruder, the latter is never something we should do. Don't even open your door to check when you think you have gone.
29. Stay calm and try not to panic
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Okay, it sounds easy to say 'stay calm and try not to panic', and it's probably the last thing you want to hear if you are in this situation because it's not so easy when you have an intruder stomping around the house. But really it is important. The more calm you stay, the more you can think clearly. It is when you panic and act on emotion that you may make rash or hasty decisions.
30. Wait for emergency help
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One of the main and most important things that you can do to do to make your intruder leave is to leave it to the professionals. The important thing is that you are anybody in the house is safe. And so you can make the intruder aware of your presence but under no circumstances should you expose yourself out of the room you are safe in. Wait for the police who will be with you soon!
31. The best ways to keep your home safe against intruders: get lights for your drive or garden
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Keeping your home safe inside is very important, and the interior is what most people focus on in terms of locks and upgrades - but remember about lighting up the outside of your home, too! The more lights you can put outside your home - especially motion-detecting lights around blind sports - the more this will serve as a deterrent for anyone trying to sneak up.
32. Keep eyes on your home even when you're not there
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Smart security these days is full of amazing options for being able to keep an eye on your home, even when you're not there. If you're worried about your home being empty and vulnerable when you're away, use video feeds and cameras to connect to your devices or use apps while you're away to check in on the state of your home and what's happening.
33. Have a security alarm that's visible
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Having a security alarm in general is a key step, but having one that's very visible is a great deterrent for people eyeing up your home. If wannabe thieves can see that you have a security alarm installed, they're going to be less likely to try and break in in the first place, rather than trying it and then having the alarm go off! So the more visible you can make it, the better.
34. Don't forget about security around your gates or fences
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When securing your home, you might focus a lot on the front door and windows - and rightly so - while forgetting about the entry points to your property further afield, especially if you have a huge garden or yard, when it comes to the outside gates, fences or hedges. If they're not secured properly, or built high enough, someone could easily get in.
35. Be careful with your spare keys!
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We know that most people like to keep a spare key outside their house as a backup, like under the mat or in a flowerpot, and it's nice to think you live in a safe enough community to do this. But if you care about home security, you probably shouldn't be hiding your spare key anywhere a passerby could look for it - especially because they're likely to look in those places!
36. Always find a way to see who's at the door first
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Never open the door when you're not expecting anyone, or even if you are expecting someone and you haven't checked if it's them first! Video doorbells are the most obvious choices these days for front door security to check who's knocking. Failing that, you can get glass fitted somewhere on your door to see through, get a spyhole, or even poke your head out of a window first to see who it is!
37. Make sure any outbuildings are secured, too
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If you have any sort of building outside your main home, like a garage, shed, summerhouse or storage, then make sure all of this is secured too. This is not only because of securing the valuables that you store in them from theft, but also because if someone can get inside them, they might decide to hide and wait for an opportunity to get into your home.
38. Secure your garden items
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If you've spent a lot of time and money on creating a relaxing garden space, complete with chairs, sofas, tables, accessories, fairy lights... anything at all, then you also need to think about securing these items, too. You're obviously just going to leave them outside when you're in the home, but these are still valuables that could be storing, so you might want to think about packing them away or securing them down to the ground.
39. Get bike storage, too!
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If you're a cyclist and have expensive bikes kept at your home, too, these can also catch the eye of wannabe thieves, especially if you usually just leave them outside your home, in your garden or in view. Bike storage is a great thing to have in your garden if you're serious about having (and keeping) bikes. It can be a specific bike store, or just put them in your garage or shed.
40. Don't forget to secure your car
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If your car is parked outside your home, whether on the street or on the driveway, this can also be a beacon to wannabe intruders. Not only can the make and style of your car draw attention to your property (if it's showy and flashy) but if you keep valuables in it, this can make it more likely to be a target for thieves breaking in - and they may want to get into your home, too.
41. Gravel is a great thing to have
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We know that gravel isn't as attractive as grass, but if you want your home to be more secure, gravel is one of the best things you can have in your outside space because it's so loud and crunchy! Intruders are going to be less likely to try and risk it because every single footstep is going to be heard on gravel, so there's no way of them sneaking up on your property!
42. Use plants as your home's bodyguards
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If you're looking to have plants outside your home - especially tall trees or shrubbery around the front and back doors of your house - then you might want to consider more 'aggressive' types of plants - and by that, we mean more spiky or thorny, like holly bushes or cacti! This can be a great deterrent for thieves who definitely don't want to risk trying to hide near those things.
43. Try to keep valuables out of sight
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You work hard to pay for nice things, so it's understandable why you'd want them out on display to show them off. But if you're keeping very expensive items in view of your windows, like on the sill, or even near your front door where it can be viewed through the letterbox, it's just going to be temptation for intruders who can see what you have that's worth stealing.
44. Keep your keys away from the front door
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Most people keep their keys near the front door, as it's the logical place, either in a bowl or on a hook. Even if you think your key hook is far enough out of reach of someone sticking their hand through the letterbox, these days intruders get very creative, which includes using magnets they can put through the letterbox to get your keys. So you might want to keep your keys elsewhere!
45. Always make it look like someone is home
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Make it look like you're home when you actually are (so don't sit in the dark for whatever reason) but especially make it look like someone is home even when you're not! The best thing to do in regard to this is keep lights switched on in different rooms, and you might also want to close blinds or curtains, or even play music at a low volume or keep the TV on.
46. Upgrading windows and locks is a worthy investment
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Upgrading your home's windows can get very expensive, and we know that sometimes it's something you think you'd rather not pay for. But if you have old windows, maybe single-pane and without a proper locking system, this just means they're a vulnerable point for intruders being able to get into your home. If you can afford to upgrade your windows, you can get double or triple glazing, secure locks and even extra features like shutters.
47. Survey your own home for possible vulnerabilities
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You should take a regular walk around your home - especially the outside - with the sole purpose of looking at the condition of everything, and checking for any issues. You need to view your home not as its resident, but from the viewpoint of an intruder, so you can see how a wannabe thief might think about you not having a security light outside, or that dodgy window that won't shut properly!
48. Don't forget about your attic
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A lot of people can forget about the security of their own attic space - and don't even get us started on some of those horror stories of people breaking in and living in attics without the homeowners knowing! If you have a huge attic, there might be access points you didn't know about, especially if it has an attic window, or maybe even accessibility through holes in the walls if it's an older structure.
49. Think ahead about deliveries while you're away
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If there's anything you get delivered regularly, like food, subscriptions or even milk the good old fashioned way, think about what you're going to do with that while you're away for longer periods of time. If any packages or deliveries are piling up outside your door, it's going to be an obvious flashing arrow of 'HEY LOOK NOBODY IS HOME!'. So put your subscriptions on hold!
50. Get to know your neighbors
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It can really help for security in the neighborhood just to get to know who lives next door. This makes it more likely they'll keep an eye on your house for you during their everyday routine, and when they know you a little better, they'll know your own normal routine and when things look a bit off. Not only that, you can ask them to keep an eye on your home when you're on vacation.