Alisa was robbed on the subway a couple of weeks ago, and now someone else has contacted Apple about replacing the phone due to a software malfunction. Alisa found out about this because her email account is still associated with it, but neither she nor the police can persuade Apple to return the phone to her once the other party sends it in for replacement. [More]
crime
Customer Knows Her Stolen iPhone Is Being Sent To Apple, But Apple Says They Can't Return It
By 12.31.09
Stores Worried About Employees Using Gift Cards To Steal
By 12.31.09
Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.
Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.
28-Year-Old Pleads Guilty To Stealing Over 130 Million Credit And Debit Card Numbers
By 12.29.09
Albert Gonzelez pleaded guilty today to “conspiracy to engage in wire fraud for his role in stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems,” reports Boston.com. [More]
Best Buy Enters Customer's Home Without Permission
By 12.29.09
Michelle says that she explicitly told Best Buy’s delivery guys that she was 8 minutes away and that they were not to enter her home (her teenage son was there alone) until she arrived. Guess what she saw when she pulled up? [More]
Giant Supermarket Wants To See Your Receipt After You Get In Your Car
By 12.23.09
Big box retailers checking receipts is old news. How about getting the suspected shoplifter treatment at a supermarket instead? Even better, how would you like having a security guard knock on your car window, and tell you that you’re on private property when you tell him you don’t have to show anything? [More]
Here's A Walmart Perp Walk In Action
By 12.21.09
Maybe attacking, restraining, and physically marching off suspected shoplifters is the new “Stop, thief!” for Walmart employees. Here’s video footage of an actual event that happened in a New Jersey Walmart last Friday, shot by our own GitEmSteveDave. [More]
Alleged Walmart Shoplifter Dies After Being Tackled
By 12.21.09
Walmart’s loss prevention tactics took a morbid turn over the weekend at an Atlanta location, when a suspected shoplifter was tackled by two security personnel and a customer, and then died for mysterious reasons. [More]
Sonic Manager Arrested For Cooking Meth At Work
By 12.15.09
Last week, police arrested a shift manager at a Sonic in Cape Girardeau, MO–it’s about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis, TN–after they found him with a big pile of meth supplies in the restaurant. According to Slashfood, he’d come back after the place was closed and tripped the burglar alarm. When police showed up at 1:57 AM they found the man in his Sonic uniform “allegedly attempting to whip up a batch of meth.” [More]
Update: Accidental "New Moon" Taping Felony Charges Dropped
By 12.11.09
The felony piracy charges against a woman who accidentally taped a few minutes of the film “New Moon” while taking videos of her sister’s birthday party have been dropped. The incident occurred at a theater in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, and Cook County prosecutors announced today that they have dropped the case. [More]
What Makes A Person Good Scam Bait?
By 12.9.09
We all like to think we’re basically scam-proof, and that our reason and skepticism will protect us from even the most talented hustlers. More likely, we just haven’t encountered those hustlers yet. [More]
Starbucks Barista Written Up For Chasing Down Tip Thief
By 12.7.09
If some jerk grabs the bills from your tip jar, you’re supposed to just stand there and take it, but one Starbucks barista was having none of that. She chased the thief until police eventually caught him and charged him with robbery by assault, a second degree felony. [More]
Crazy Customer Makes Death Threat In GameStop, Gets Hauled Off By Police
By 12.3.09
A man in Michigan grew so angry that GameStop wouldn’t take back his Xbox without a receipt that he threatened to kill someone and went to get something from his vehicle. The GameStop clerk called 911, and “Four Troy police officers, armed with rifles, stormed into [the] Oakland Mall store” and subdued him. He had an illegal stun gun on him but no firearm. [More]
Charged With Felony After Taping 4 Minutes Of "New Moon"
By 12.3.09
The Sun-Times is reporting that a 22-year-old Chicago woman has been arrested and charged with a felony after taping 4 minutes of “New Moon” during her sister’s surprise 29th birthday party. (Update: the charges have now been dropped.) [More]
Police Drop Theft Charges Against Pub Non-Tippers
By 11.23.09
Police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are withdrawing charges against the two college students who refused to tip at a pub last month, says The Morning Call.
Police: Gang Was Killing People For Fat, Attempting To Sell It To Cosmetic Companies
By 11.21.09
Police in Peru say that they’ve caught a group that was allegedly killing people and harvesting their fat to sell to Europeans who wanted it for cosmetics.
Should Yelp Remove Reviews By Non Customers?
By 11.20.09
Lehigh Pub, the restaurant in Pennsylvania that had two patrons arrested for not tipping, was blasted on Yelp in the past 24 hours or so by angry readers. Many of them weren’t customers, but heard about the arrests in the news and came to vote down the pub. As of this morning, it had an average of one star out of five.
Watch Out Criminals: That Craigslist "Customer" Might Be The Police
By 11.20.09
The Chicago Sun-Times says that three men have been charged with “stealing cash and property at gunpoint from victims thinking they were meeting to buy televisions and other electronics advertised on Craigslist.” The suspects were arrested after police saw “suspicious” postings on Craigslist and contacted the sellers posing as an interested customer.
North Pole, Alaska, Forced Out Of Santa Letter Program
By 11.19.09
New security rules have proven too complex for Alaska’s post offices to bear, so they’re ending their participation in Operation Santa, the 50-year-old program where letters addressed to “Santa Claus, North Pole” are answered by volunteers. The program will continue elsewhere, reports the Associated Press, but when I called the USPS to find out where letters should be addressed I was told parents should contact their local post offices for information.
