A chain letter being spread by e-mail that claims to offer a “wonder key” capable of opening 99 percent of all locks in the world has sparked concerned after a string of Taipei City thefts.
Some locksmiths, who said they would never compromise their professional ethics by selling such keys to the public, said that such tools, when used maliciously, pose safety concerns.
A string of thefts in Taipei City’s Da-an (大安) and Wenshan (文山) districts and in Sindian (新店), Taipei County, have reportedly involved “wonder” keys, with locks and doors left intact by the intruders.
Police said that the perpetrators appeared to be trained users of the keys, which they believe were produced by professional locksmiths. They also said the thieves have mostly chosen doors with cross-shaped keyholes.
As picking a lock can take a long time, most thieves smash locks or break doors or windows to gain entry to a home or office, police said. Only thieves with training in locksmith techniques bother trying to open locks, they said.
After consulting several locksmiths, police said no one “wonder” skeleton key could open any variety of lock, but said that criminals with the right training and right set of tools could easily handle most locks.
Locksmiths are allowed to produce lock-picking tools for work-related purposes, the police said, but nonprofessionals should be warned that buying such keys online is a violation of Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
Violators may face three days in detention or a fine of up to NT$30,000.
Though the keys are marketed as spares in case a person has misplaced or forgotten their keys, the police called the e-mail pitch dubious, as the advertisements presented the “wonder key” as “capable of opening an array of locks.”
The ad also offers details on copying regular keys “in case [a replica] is needed.”
The police said that there was no reason for a nonprofessional to own skeleton keys of any variety as they can have spare keys made.
The police also said the ads warned customers against illegal use of the “wonder key,” but the sellers had no way of checking the intentions of buyers.
The ad’s warning was designed to cover the sellers’ backs, police said, a typical trick on the Internet. Some Web sites also try to veil discussions about illegal activities with disclaimers calling the sites “academic discussions only.”
Such sites may include information about ways to commit suicide or hack computers, or explain home-made bombs and date-rape drugs.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS