Thieves Talk: Where NOT To Hide Your Valuables

Every year about 600 homes are burglarized in Washington County.

And most of us believe it will never happen to us.

But just in case, we come up with some hiding places for our "stuff."

But if you ask those "thieves," our hiding spots don't work.

Statistics show that the crime of burglary is rare in rural areas, but is still holding strong in the urban areas. Salt Lake City, Ogden and Orem/Provo are tops on the statistical list for burglaries, with St. George coming in fourth in the state.

The rate of burglary in Utah is about 1 home invasion per 250 homes per year. That doesn't sound like much, but with Washington County having roughly 75,000 homes, that's 300 burglaries in Southern Utah every year.

So we got on Reddit and asked former/current thieves the most likely places they would look to find cash, jewelry, guns or other valuables.

The crooks were extremely forthcoming, enabling us to compile a list of the most common places we hide things, often times thinking these are extremely safe places.

They are not.

These thieves actually found it humorous that many homeowners believe thieves won't look in places like under the mattress or in stored luggage.

Said one thief: "Those are actually the first places I look. I don't like to stay in one house for more than a few minutes, but people are so predictable. So I know where to look quickly. If it's under lock and key, I often won't bother, unless it's like a small safe that I can just take with me."

Bad places to hide valuables (according to thieves):

1. Under the mattress
2. In the toilet tank
3. In the underwear drawer
4. Portable safe
5. Medicine cabinet
6. Vases
7. Office drawers
8. The freezer

They also confessed that they do look for signs that the homeowner is not there.

"We look for signs they're on vacation -- no lights on all day, mail building up, grass growing longer, things like that."

Don't be an easy target. According to the thieves themselves, these are the worst places to hide your valuables:

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