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Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

nytimes.com

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Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#121

Post by OJFord »

tabulatouch wrote: post #77
drexlspivey wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone with a gun can still force you to open it.

You need a second "honeypot" safe to handle that sotuation.

'Not this one, I'll open the other one for you.'

Honeypot safe only works if the real one is well concealed. So then it's only worth having if it's somehow known/assumed that you have a safe at all. (Otherwise just leave it well-concealed and you can say 'I don't have a safe, there's some cash in my wallet and a little jewellery in the bedroom' just as effectively as 'Here is the safe it is definitely the real one'.)

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#122

Post by OJFord »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #74
noaoh wrote: post #65

I was thinking of putting my social security card + the master password to my bitwarden account in a safe deposit box. Good to know that's not a good idea.

Just spend a few hours making and scattering "horcruxes".

Shamir secret sharing is a rigorous way to do it. Maybe for this purpose just spreading catenable chunks and some duplicates would be fine though.

(It would 'just' mean one being discovered weakens the overall password, if the finder knows what it is. With SSS knowing any less than all of the shares doesn't reveal any part of the secret.)

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#123

Post by jtbayly »

mulmen wrote: post #112
rdevsrex wrote: post #107

This makes me wonder if simply burying what you have is a better option. One of my long standing goals is to buy some raw land for hunting and camping, like 50+ acres. I could easily bury several caches of valuables, that only my immediate family knows about, and let nature regrow over it. I mean, what are the chances that a rando stranger is going to be in the middle of nowhere with a metal detector?

“There’s money in the banana stand.” Don’t take your cell phone with you when you do the burying. And only tell your family about it with hand written notes. And make sure they know not to look up any information related to the caches. And that they know to never speak of the caches near an internet enabled device. Also, don’t disturb the ground in any visible way. Just comparing google maps satellite imagery is enou…

Better take some sort of GPS device, though. Otherwise you may never find it again. Who was the British chap that buried a bunch of silver before WWI and never found it?

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#124

Post by ozim »

carlosjobim wrote: post #113
yellow_lead wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but many people have buried their money and later found it deteriorated beyond use. Make sure to use some good containers if you go that route :)

Gold. Nobody buries paper money.

"Narcos" might not be fully factual - but I think Colombian drug cartels were burying cash.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#125

Post by mdip » 

    > Banks increasingly regard safe deposit boxes as more of a headache than they’re worth. They’re expensive to build, complicated to maintain and not very lucrative.
I think this article answers the question as to "why". I remember about 15 years ago the bank by my house opened up and passed on an offer that people who opened one of their high-deposit checking accounts would get a Safe Deposit Box for free. At the age I was, I really had nothing of particular value to store there and it seemed like a silly thing to get but I was curious.

Reading the leasing agreement, the bank made it very clear that the "Safe Deposit Box" provided far less assurance that my (non-existent) valuables would be protected than they would in a good safe in my home. The paperwork reminded me that purchasing insurance for the Safe Deposit Box[0] was a necessity and the bank would not be liable for losses.

It's basically a product where the entire thing the customer wants to buy, security at the expense of convenience, is precisely what they are not selling you "despite the name". To make up for that problem, apparently, my local bank thought it'd be best to give them away to people, like me, who have no use for one. Of course it's not lucrative! People who would be willing to pay a reasonable sum of money to protect their assets aren't going to rent a Safe Deposit Box with a "your stuff will probably be there, but get insurance" guarantee.

[0] Do they make Safe Deposit Box insurance or do you add those valuables to your homeowners? I never found out.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#126

Post by mdip »

Ekaros wrote: post #109
Spooky23 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best normal option is a locked container with a relative. In scenarios where there is a particular risk or a lot of money potentially involved, store important documents with an attorney.

Fire proof safes aren't that expensive. They probably don't stop physical attack, but are good enough in semi-trusted environment and cover for two of the important risks, fire and water invasion.

The "not very expensive" ones are also not very fire-proof, unfortunately.

A family friend learned this the hard way when a sizeable amount of cash went up in flames and his $300 Sentry safe was a melted mess, the contents forever lost.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#127

Post by ghaff »

noaoh wrote: post #65

I was thinking of putting my social security card + the master password to my bitwarden account in a safe deposit box. Good to know that's not a good idea.

I haven't had a physical social security card since a wallet was stolen 40+ years ago and I've never needed it.

And there are various approaches to safeguarding passwords that don't involve writing it down in one place.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#128

Post by GuB-42 »

scorxn wrote: post #17

The end of the article made me wonder: are museums insured for theft? Maybe they could offer safe deposit boxes :)

But are museums good targets?

Let's say you steal a famous painting worth millions, how are you going to resell it? These are unique pieces, people will know you are selling a stolen good or a fake, no way around it. And the illegitimate owner of the painting will have a hard time enjoying it too, if you show it off, you will get a lot of unwanted attention. In the end, it is a great way of pissing off many people, probably not a great way to make money.

Maybe you can steal and remelt gold items, but still, I don't think that museums make such good targets, not fungible enough ;)

Safe deposit boxes on the other hand often store easy to resell valuables like cash and gold. I fact, I think it would be a terrible idea to put these in museums as it would make them more attractive targets.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#129

Post by ghaff »

massysett wrote: post #101
dmoy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's like democracy - safe deposit boxes are the worst form of security for small things, except for all the others. If you have land in the middle of nowhere you can bury shit in the ground. But that's not a realistic option for most people.

Come to think of it though, burying it in the ground is an option even if you have a little city lot. Would have worked out a lot better for the guy in this article. It’s safe from many hazards and casual crooks. One problem is keeping it dry.

Waterproof boxes are pretty bombproof and you could always nest them. That said, I wouldn't have a lot of confidence burying something in an urban environment. And, even if you're out in the country someplace, it's probably best reserved for things you want to keep physically safe long-term without frequent access.

Re: Safe deposit boxes aren’t safe (2019)

#130

Post by LastTrain »

OJFord wrote: post #121
tabulatouch wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need a second "honeypot" safe to handle that sotuation.

'Not this one, I'll open the other one for you.' Honeypot safe only works if the real one is well concealed. So then it's only worth having if it's somehow known/assumed that you have a safe at all. (Otherwise just leave it well-concealed and you can say 'I don't have a safe, there's some cash in my wallet and a little jewellery in the bedroom' just as effectively as 'Here is the safe it is definitely the real one'.)

Your time would be better spent preparing for the day you will be hit by a meteorite.
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