The biggest shoplifters aren’t who you think they are. A study found that Americans with incomes over $70,000 were 30% more likely to shoplift than those making up to $20,000. Why? Because they feel they deserve it more. [More]
crime
Spike In Thieves Stealing Entire Central AC Units
By 7.6.11
They work silently, leaving no trace behind. A Chicago neighborhood is on alert after the number of thefts of air conditioning units have jumped sharply in recent weeks. The robbers are after the copper inside, which they can resell for scrap, a favorite quick money-making method for drug addicts. But they’re not just cracking open the units and plundering the pipe, they’re lifting the entire central AC unit. [More]
Extreme Couponer Arrested For Stealing Coupon Inserts
By 7.1.11
Some people really don’t even deserve the label “extreme couponer.” We should just call ’em “jerks.” The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a woman in Texas was arrested for buying just one newspaper from the vending machine but then taking all the coupon inserts from all the newspapers inside. [More]
Walmart Releases Video Of Vigilante Jumping On Robbers' Hood
By 6.23.11
Walmart has released CCTV footage of the shopper who jumped onto the hood of a car full of would-be beer shoplifters in an attempt to kick in their windshield and stop them from speeding away with their pilfered lager. [More]
Car Theft Dips To Lowest Level In More Than 40 Years
By 6.23.11
As a line of criminal work, car thievery isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to added security measures, including technological advances in vehicle security systems and more effective law enforcement, the U.S. car theft rate has braked to its lowest rate since 1967. [More]
Do Not Body-Pierce Kittens And Sell Them As 'Goth'
By 6.16.11
Cats are born equipped with defiant attitudes, night vision, and claws, so it doesn’t take anything more to make them “goth.” At least I always thought so. A Pennsylvania woman with kittens to sell had different ideas. She gave the animals ear and neck piercings, docked their tails, and then pierced their tail nubs. Why? She thought it would look “neat.” Then she listed them on eBay for $100, until PETA and the local ASPCA noticed and came calling. She was convicted of animal cruelty, and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed her sentence and conviction on the grounds that no one could possibly be stupid enough to think that this was a good idea. I paraphrase. [More]
Xbox Gamer Allegedly Tricks SWAT Team Into Investigating Rival's Home
By 6.2.11
An online gaming disagreement turned into a nightmare for a gamer who refused to do the bidding of a person he spoke to over Xbox Live. The victim alleges a rival somehow discovered his name, address and phone number, then falsely reported a murder-suicide at his home, causing a SWAT team to descend on his home. [More]
Laptop Thief Caught Thanks To Spy Program, Twitter, And Eventually, The Oakland PD
By 6.1.11
After Joshua Kaufman’s Macbook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, he notified the police. Due to budget cutbacks, Oakland PD don’t respond to many non-violent crimes anymore like burglary, grand theft, and car wrecks, so initially they couldn’t help him. Then Josh activated a tracking program on it called Hidden. Like other similar programs, it gave him real-time remote access to his computer, letting him take pictures using its webcam and capture screenshots. He set up a Tumblr to post them, his story went viral, he gave the tracking info to the police, and they ended up trapping the thief and getting the laptop back to Josh. [More]
Theft Of Pittsburgh's Iron Trash Cans Allegedly An Inside Job
By 5.31.11
After a police investigation, the mystery of where fifty of the city of Pittsburgh’s metal trash cans ran off to has been solved. The culprit wasn’t who Consumerist readers suspected. The cans were installed through a partnership with Lamar Advertising, and the man arrested for trying to recycle them just happens to work for Lamar. [More]
ATM Repairman Accused Of Swapping Out Cash With Funny Money
By 5.27.11
An ATM repairman who is suspected of trafficking in counterfeit money stands accused of using ATMs as, well, ATMs for his criminal purposes. Authorities say the man swapped out $200,000 of genuine cash in exchange for his faux green. [More]
Alleged Walmart Shoplifter Goes On Violent Rampage After Being Asked For Receipt
By 5.27.11
This is a textbook example of how not to behave when asked for your receipt at a store’s exit. According to the Bradenton, Florida police, a 22-year-old woman tried to leave a Walmart with 43 items she hadn’t paid for, worth a total of $211. When asked for her receipt, she went on a destructive rampage, causing more than $1,000 worth of damage to merchandise. She also punched and spat on store employees, and hit a manager with a bar stool from inside her cart. Police officers discovered marijuana in her purse, and she has been charged with, among other things, aggravated assault and battery. [More]
Swords Are Not Acceptable Utensils At Pizza Hut
By 5.26.11
There is a time and place to pull out a sword when you are threatened, and that’s when you are He-Man and Skeletor unleashes an attack on Castle Grayskull. On the other hand, if you happen to, say, be inside a Louisville Pizza Hut and get in a heated argument, just keep that sword in its sheath. And ask yourself why you felt the need to bring it to the restaurant in the first place. [More]
City Paid $1,000 For Iron Trash Cans, Thieves Sell Them For Scrap Metal
By 5.26.11
Back in 2009, the city of Pittsburgh paid $250,000 for 250 elegant iron trash cans weighing more than 200 pounds each. Critics of the mayor called it a waste of city funds at the time, but they are very nice-looking. Now 20% of them are missing, and it took police and the public works department four months to figure out where they’ve gone. They were hauled off and sold for scrap. Update: Theft Of Pittsburgh’s Iron Trash Cans Allegedly An Inside Job [More]
Why Money Launderers Love Prepaid Debit Cards
By 5.25.11
Gone are the days when it was necessary to transport briefcases full of cash across borders. Now all money launderers need to do is pack a wallet full of prepaid debit cards. [More]
ID Theft: Fix Some Fraudulent Accounts Before Correcting Legit Ones
By 5.25.11
One of the side effects of someone using your identity to open up a bunch of accounts and leaving you saddled with the bills is that your credit history gets trashed, which means you get victimized a second time over as your real creditors jack up your interest rates and take other adverse action. Your bank account could even get frozen, making you late on some bills. But before you go plead your case to get your credit restored with them, you’ll want to fix some of the fraudulent accounts first. [More]
Thief Took Shoplifting Orders Via Text Message, Stuffed Shoes In Pants
By 5.24.11
After a suspect shoplifter was arrested, police seized his cellphone and made a startling discovery, FOX 41 reports. Reviewing the entries on the phone, the found orders and special requests from people, who sent him shoplifting selections via text message. However, his method of secreting the merchandise was decidedly lo-tech: he was caught allegedly stuffing shoes down his pants and trying to walk out of the store without paying. [More]
How (And Why) A Pack Of Twitter Vigilantes Recovered A Stranger's Stolen Laptop
By 5.13.11
A guy was able to hunt down his laptop after he lost it by using a program that gave him remote access to it, tracking its location and taking screenshots of the person who was using it. He even got the guys name after watching him log into Skype. Problem was the laptop was in New York City and the owner was traveling in Canada. So he began live-tweeting his predicament and the Twitterverse rose up and rescued his laptop. [More]
