Fake Dunkin' Donuts Employee Sneaks Into Stores, Steals Purses
If you live in Fall River, Massachusetts, and work at one of the town's Dunkin' Donuts stores, watch out for fake employees! A woman has been walking into the DD stores dressed in an employee uniform and going into the back, where she promptly steals real employees' purses. When confronted at one of the stores, the thief told the workers that "she was there to pick up beans for another store and a note should have been left on the manager's door." When the employees went to look for the note, she left.
We'd love to know what sparked this ballsy, somewhat foolhardy crime spree. Is she an angry ex-employee? An aimless youth who stumbled upon an old DD uniform at a thrift store and hatched the world's smallest Brilliant Scheme? The ghost of DD workers past? All we know is, since you can't tell this thief apart from real DD employees, your best bet is to tackle anyone wearing a DD shirt when you go in to grab your coffee or donuts. Or at the very least, squint suspiciously at the person behind the counter and say, "I'm on to you."
"Dunkin' Donuts disguise used in theft" [The Herald News] (Thanks to R!)
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Comments:
Does not look like a youth.
Not ONE comment, SteveDave!! HOLD YER TONGUE!!
How dare this woman give my favorite coffee shop a bad name. I will follow your sound advice, Chris- I will hunt this person down, and she will pay...
Yes. (Raised eyebrow, Rubbing hands together diabolically)
She will PAY.
She is smarter than the hobos who used to wander into our office building from the street and pretend to be employees, so they could go into offices and steal purses. At least she bothered to put on a uniform and try to pass.
This is the most idiotic sort of crime; one where you can't possibly run and live off the spoils and you're incredibly easy to track down given security footage. All she's doing is making life difficult for minimum wage workers. Bravo.
@ajlei: Well, my only experience at Dunkin' Donuts was when the guy ringing me up asked me to marry him and held up a mini-donut, grinning.
I haven't been back.
That's most crime. As far as this goes, she's probably not doing that bad as long as she can pass off the goods. It might be as long as an entire shift before they discover the theft. You can do a lot of damage on a credit card in a few hours if you have things set up already.
If she's stealing them just for the cash inside, then ya, it's chump change. Selling off the identity and using the charge cards...well, that's a living wage right there.
@unobservant: Also, I don't know what kind of jobs you guys have worked at, but I wouldn't necessarily consider "note on the door" a valid reason. Shouldn't someone have called the bean-less store to confirm before letting someone in their back room?
Also: personal attacks aren't made better by saying something's "cool". You don't know me.
This is a common tactic used against big box retailers. Put on a shirt that looks like the work shirt there, walk into the back, put something on a hand truck and wheel it out to your car. People tend not to pay attention when you look like you know what you're doing.
@verucalise: Your favorite coffee shop in the franchise agreement tells potentional franchisee's how to never pay income taxes by continuing to transfer ownership to another foreign owner on a regular basis?
Stealing wallets of minimum wage workers is not exactly a get-rich-quick-scheme.
@ludwigk: That reminded me of one of our system analysts when the meltdown hit.
He placed a printed sheet of paper with "If you want to keep your job just pretend to know what you are doing and don't stand out". Of course, this was right in front of his manager's office, he told me when He saw it, he chuckled for a few minutes before asking him to take it down.
@IfThenElvis: Yeah, my wallet was stolen from the storeroom when I worked in a highway rest stop. They got $8 and credit cards that I immediately canceled.
* Warners, NY Thruway milepost 292 westbound
@ajlei: You basically attempted to validate your first comment by saying something completely different in your second.
You attacked the company where the robberies occured. Does that make sense? Yes, the employees may have lacked some sense but why is this the company's fault? Also, they were the parties affected by all of this as well. Show a little sympathy at least.
That is pretty petty.
@DjDynasty: I do not look at things by that standpoint. If I had to boycott every business with those practices.... Besides, you are not a reliable source of insider information. Proof, please.
Nonetheless... their coffee is divine.
This happened at the bookstore I worked in. Someone stole my debit, credit and gift cards from my purse in the back but didn't steal the actual purse, which I was really grateful for. They probably saw me put them back in my bag after my lunch break. I got my money back, but I still felt so unsafe.
My manager refused to put added security in the back, totally convinced I had just lost all of the cards from my wallet. Yes, idiot manager, I totally went and spent over $500 dollars in a KMart in Philadelpha, while I was STILL ON MY SHIFT THAT NIGHT.
@ajlei: "Also, I don't know what kind of jobs you guys have worked at, but I wouldn't necessarily consider "note on the door" a valid reason. Shouldn't someone have called the bean-less store to confirm before letting someone in their back room?"
I know in my town alone there are 4 Dunkin Donuts franchises and they are all owned by the same person. One of the branches carries all the supplies for themselves and the other three. There are constantly people picking up supplies at the main branch. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is common practice elsewhere also.
Hum.... I still have a Pizza Hut shirt and cap somewhere around here...
Oh wait. Everyone at Pizza Hut is poor as sin and I'd probably get more pregnancy tests than cash by stealing their purses.
Ahh, Fall River... I'm surprised that this was not in New Bedford!
Beans....
Ah! _Coffee_ beans.
I was thinking frijoles and was wondering WTF DuDo's carried that had beans in it.
Try our new Boston Baked Bean Donut! Now even beanier!
I absolutely hate it when people go into a store and steal from the EMPLOYEES instead of the STORE.
Steal from one, and it looks bad on a spreadsheet and/or is insured.
Steal from an employee and they might not be able to buy dinner/make rent.
WTF? Dick.
@ajlei: My point is that your ambiguous one-line judgement of Dunkin' Donuts is likely to draw just as much ire as would a judgement (implied only for the sake of argument) of people with tattoos and/or those who use them as their avatar.
And not only did I not sarcastically state, "ajlei's Zelda tattoo: the height of classy," but I also did not, in fact, say that it was cool.
I tend to reserve my praise for people who don't throw out sassy one-liners and then get all defensive when they're light-heartedly challenged.
Ah, Fall River. How I love thee. -.-
This is why all stores should have lockers for each employee and locks for each one. Unless someone wants to try to walt in with boltcutters, I don't see this security measure as being complicated or expensive.
This is especially the case for some stores that don't have official shirts, like the Gap. You basically just have to find a busy time so you are less likely to be noticed and you have to dress in similar clothing.
I know the girl that was robbed, and yah, she's pretty much okay now, but she couldn't even afford to get the locks changed on her apartment. she's a 20 year old college student living with her boyfriend. Heres the real sob story, Her engagement ring was in the purse... dunkin has a policy where she couldn't wear it there.
Hopefully she spends some of the money on the great Azorean food that can be found in Fall River, MA.
I don't know about advocating people to tackle anyone who wears a Dunkin' Donuts uniform, Chris.
@unobservant: Well, this has blown way out of proportion. I shouldn't have made that initial comment but my entire experience of Dunkin' Donuts has been based on a disgusting and creepy 50-60 year old man leering at me as a child and asking me to marry him because if I lived in his country I would be such a pretty bride.
I am not making this up, I am not exaggerating.
So I apologize for attacking Dunkin' Donuts as a whole. I have always just viewed it as the sketchy convenience shop version of the donut world.
I never understood why people don't leave their wallets, purses, cell phones in their cars during this type of work. In a restaurant I worked at I could have ripped off $600 worth of cell phones, and purses/wallets because everyone put it in the same spot. I was trained for another job that if someone is not looking at it every minute there is a good chance it will be stolen. I have never had a problem with theft because of that advice.
@henwy: She'd make a lot more money stealing/selling ingredients. Not that I condone that sort of thing, but for sake of argument . . .
@Radi0logy: After working for the Hut for two years, I can say you are not entirely incorrect.
We actually had a girl get money stolen from her purse in the back, though it was more likely from another employee than someone off the street.
@TEW: Folks working at DuDo's might not drive to work, so they might not be able to lock stuff in their cars.
@TEW: Where I worked, it was more safe in the back around other employees than left in my car. However, you're right: the best way to keep it from getting stolen is don't bring it or carry it on you. Not so easy for women with large purses, I understand, but for me, it was no problem waiting tables with my wallet in my back pocket.
@pecan 3.14159265: I like the idea of providing lockers, but I can see employers (smaller ones) not having room or not having enough lockers for certain shifts. But there ought to be someplace in a workplace that's reasonably secure for employees' stuff.
@Alexander Saites: Lots of places in this area, your car windows will be smashed in if there's a hint of anything valuable in your car. Some retailers provide lockers for storage, but you're not assigned one and you have to share. If you lock it with a lock while in the store, you need to take the lock home with you. Most people don't bother to go out and buy a lock for that.
Well, I think I can trace the source of the idea back to Carrot Top. During his act during the 90's, he advocated and would demonstrate how to put on a Domino's uniform, and run into a Domino's and tell them that you were from the other store, and ran out of $20's and needed some Stat.
--->Radiochief - like there is really much of a difference between Fall River and New Bedford.
Both are run down towns with a lot of crime. These are two towns I avoid like the plague if it is night time. Unfortunately, due to my line of work, there are times I have to travel into the heart of each any where from 11pm to 3am.
Crappy towns.
@ajlei: "I have always just viewed it as the sketchy convenience shop version of the donut world."
I wish I was on the donut world right now.
@thisisasignin: He can let go of his tongue when he agrees to be civil about DnD. Then, I will be civil about Wawa coffee. ;-)
@Antediluvian: They can keep it in their car, or underneath the cash register where it is hidden from customers but the staff can keep an eye on it.
There are plenty of cabinets around DnD. Find a relatively small one, and put a lock on it. Most DnD's only have 3-5 staff on at a time. Only bring what can fit in your pockets, money, bus pass, ID... downsize. Or else, staff can bring their things in at their own risk if they don't have a proper place to secure it.
(Definately NOT blaming any victims here... but just ideas for readers if they are nervous about their own workplace and don't have their own lockers)
I used to work at Dominos Pizza. One day a guy showed up in a Taco Bell uniform and said that he was there to pick up change. Occasionally, a fast food place would run out of change. If it is a Sunday or holiday then the store would have to beg other places for change. If the place had enough they would generally sell the begger what they need. Sort of an unwritten rule. This guy had a list requiring quarters, dimes, and ones. Over a hundred dollars worth of change. We had it and the manager there was putting it together. He asked this Taco Bell guy for the money to cover this. The guy then told a story about how they could not give the money now but would bring it back later. The manager stopped and said he could not give the change like that. The Taco Bell guy started to get nervous and tried to explain it one more time. Our manager said he was going to call the Taco Bell and talk to a manager over there. The Taco Bell guy started walking for the door. He hit the road and was gone. We checked with Taco Bell and discovered that someone with a uniform from them had been going around to other places scamming like this. One place actually fell for it.
Dunkin' Donuts: the height of classy.