Townsville crime: Thieves take photo of sleeping mum to unlock phone
While a Townsville mother slept, brazen thieves broke into her home, snuck into her bedroom, held her phone over her face to unlock it and went on a spending spree.
Townsville
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WHILE a Townsville mother slept, brazen thieves broke into her home, snuck into her bedroom, held her phone over her face to unlock it and went on a spending spree.
The criminals broke into the home by jimmying open their front security door and then used multigrips to bust their door handle.
Burdell couple Danielle and Raiar Cordwell woke up on Wednesday morning to find their Hyundai Tucson and other belongings missing.
“Both our wallets had been taken, my car keys, my house keys, all gone,” Mrs Cordwell said. “Then I was like I’ll go get my phone call the police. Then I realised that my phone had been unplugged on my bedside table, which when we thought about it (the thieves had) been inside our bedroom while we were asleep. They’ve walked past our kids in their beds.
“They’ve pretty much watched us sleep, to make sure we were asleep and then taking the phone from the table, which was literally … 10cm away from my head.”
The thieves then photographed Mrs Cordwell’s face to override her phone’s facial detection lock. The phone had baby photos of her youngest child and access to her bank account.
The thieves went on to spend over a thousand dollars of her money using the phone and attempted to transfer $10,000 from their savings account.
Mrs Cordwell, who moved from Melbourne a year ago, said she no longer felt safe in her own home.
“They’ve taken away privacy, our safety. We’re only new to Townsville and we’ve never felt unsafe before,” she said.
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The couple’s stolen car was seen driving through multiple suburbs. It was later found torched near Thuringowa Dr and Dalrymple Rd.
“Initially when you’re driving past it I was just angry,” Mr Cordwell said.
“I just wanted to cry. The reality of not getting a car back and being able to have a family car again. It was just heartbreaking for us and then we have to start from scratch again.”
Alerts from the couple’s banks alerting them to unauthorised transfers and pings from the phone finding app compounded their distress.
Mrs Cordwell said her bank alerted her to a $1427 transaction and attempted $10,000 transfer.
“To know that they were in my bank accounts and seeing your money and trying to take it was really scary,” she said.
Police are investigating the brazen crime.
Originally published as Townsville crime: Thieves take photo of sleeping mum to unlock phone