Notice from the Cyprus Police:
Owners and shop staff are transferring daily money to their store cash, both during the opening hours and during the closing hours of the store. Any carrier of such funds is a possible target of robbery, and the chances of victimization are increased when the preventive measures taken are inadequate.
In addition to the efforts made by the Police, the following is a set of preventive measures that can be taken by the owners and the staff of shops who take such a transfer to and from their shop.
1. Avoid transferring money at night time, since in the dark the conditions are favorable to the perpetrators and make it easy for the money transporter to be targetted.
2. It is preferable to make more than one transfer with smaller amounts of money during the day.
3. Avoid using motorcycles and mopeds when transferring money.
4. We recommend using a car, having the doors and windows closed all the way. There is always a danger when we are sitting in our car, for example at a photo-controlled junction when the red traffic light is on, anyone on board to open the car door and steal the bag / briefcase where we have the money we are carrying.
5. We seek, whenever possible, to be accompanied by another person of our confidence in the transfer of money. Check your insurance cover as your insurer will likely stipulate the number of persons who should accommpany any money transfer and a breach of this will invalidate your insurance cover.
6. We use briefcases specially designed for this purpose and we place them in the car in a place that is not visible.
7. We pay special attention to our actions when loading / unloading money, if possible in a space covered by closed monitoring circuit and with adequate lighting.
8. Before we leave, we make sure there is no suspected person or vehicle in the area, which we also do when arriving at our destination and before we get out of our car.
9. Before we reach the place where we transfer the money, we are alerting a person of our confidence to expect us.
10. We do not disclose to other persons that we are transferring money, nor the amounts or the place to which we will transfer them.
11. During transportation we are alert and observant and inform the Police of suspicious persons and vehicles without delay on 112 or 199 telephones. We do not disclose to anyone that we are transferring money, the amounts or the place to which we will transfer them.
12. We do not keep large amounts of cash at our private residence. If we do, the money is placed in a safe suitable for the amount of money in question. We also do not publicise to anyone that we keep cash at home, nor keep it in full view of anyone looking in the window. We also take all the precautions outlined above when we approach, enter and/or leave our residence.
