Legitimate businesses create video ads to promote their products, so why shouldn’t companies that can provide you with the supplies to commit crimes? Here are some videos where sellers of the tools of the ATM skimmer trade show off how their products work, in case you’ve always wondered how to insert and remove a super-thin ATM skimmer. [More]
crime
Two Women Steal Merchandise Worth $7,000 In 1-Minute Sunglass Heist
By 6.19.15
How long does it take to scoop up $7,000 worth of merchandise from a Sunglass Hut store while employees aren’t looking? According to this surveillance video released by the police in San Francisco, about just over a minute. Two suspects working together were in and out of the store in that amount of time, slipping pricey merchandise into their tote bags and then zipping out the door before employees could stop them. [More]
Police Seek Man Who Ran Out Of Kohl’s Store With Sneakers Stuffed Down Pants
By 4.27.15
Here at Consumerist, we’re fascinated with the various things that shoplifters have removed from stores by shoving them down their pants. We’ve seen people accused of using this method to steal meat, seafood, puppies, more meat, more seafood, and a chainsaw. Police in New Jersey seek a man who shoved three pair of women’s sneakers down his pants at a Kohl’s store. [NJ.com] [More]
Police Seek Woman Who Stuffed $1,140 In Electronics Inside Her Skirt
By 4.24.15
A dress with a flowing full skirt is a great fashion choice for a hot day, so the woman who walked into a RadioShack in Florida dressed that way back in February didn’t really stand out. No one really noticed the full skirt of her floral dress…not even when she and her shopping companion began cramming electronics under the skirt, into some kind of criminal crinoline with pockets. [More]
Suspected Walmart Shoplifter Kicks Through Ceiling, Tunnels Out Via Air Ducts
By 3.20.15
We never imagined that the world’s greatest criminal masterminds would bother to shop-lift from Walmart. Yet a suspected shoplifter at a store in Alabama made an escape from the store worthy of a terrible spy movie. He was captured on surveillance camera climbing up into the ceiling, navigating air ducts, and then kicking his way down through the ceiling near the store exit. [More]
Police Officer Chases Shoplifting Suspect Into River, Then Rescues Him
By 3.11.15
Back in July, we shared the tragic story of a man being pursued for shoplifting from a mall in Maryland who hid in a drainage pond and drowned. A shoplifter in New Hampshire was saved from a similar fate by a police officer who is also a veteran of the Marines…but she was also the officer who pursued him to the river. [More]
Police: Drunk Drivers Poured Water On Road After Crash To Make It Look Like Ice Caused Accident
By 2.16.15
What kind of awful person deliberately makes a road icy in the winter? The kind of person who does it to cover up a drunk-driving accident. At least police in New Jersey busted an alleged icing scheme cooked up by two men accused of driving while intoxicated. [More]
Crooks Extract Cash From ATM Using USB Port, Smartphone
By 1.8.15
ATMs are giant boxes filled with cash that sit on every street corner. Of course crooks will try to gain access to the money inside, using everything from forklifts to explosives. Here’s one method that you my not have anticipated, though: some savvy crooks gained access to an ATM’s ports and connected a mobile phone to it, planning to make it spit out cash. [More]
Florida Man Stuffs Chainsaw Up Shirt, Tries To Bicycle Away
By 10.31.14
A few years ago, we shared the story of a bold shoplifter who thought that nobody would notice if he stuffed a chainsaw down his pants and tried to make a break for it. Someone will notice, as it turns out. In Florida, police say that a man tried to commit a similar crime this week, only with the chainsaw stuffed in his shirt. He did not succeed. [More]
Intruders Massacred 920 Chickens With A Golf Club, No One Knows Why
By 10.2.14
Two weeks ago, an act of vandalism and animal cruelty occurred in a shed housing chickens belonging to meat producer Foster Farms. Someone entered a farm through a hole in the fence and clubbed 920 chickens to death for no clear reason. [More]
Thief Steals Forklift, Tries To Break Into ATM With It
By 9.10.14
Some people would steal an industrial forklift from a construction site, and that would be the extent of their crimes. Forklifts are expensive, after all. Just sell the forklift and call it a (criminal) work day. Yet one criminal in Florida aspired to more. He or she apparently stole the forklift, then turned it to a greater purpose: stealing an ATM from a bank. [More]
Bakery Robbers Demand Cash, Get 2 Doughnuts Instead
By 8.5.14
Early this morning, a pair of would-be bakery robbers walked into a bakery and demanded $20. The person staffing the counter, who happened to be the bakery owner’s 79-year-old mom, made them a counter-offer of two glazed doughnuts. They accepted. [More]
Why Do Criminals Love This Walmart So Much?
By 7.31.14
The Walmart on State Route 436 in Casselberry, Florida is very popular. Unfortunately, it’s popular with a demographic that retailers don’t want to attract: criminals. Specifically, shoplifters. Some very talented shoplifters, like the man who allegedly removed 18 televisions from the store while dressed as a woman. [More]
Terrible Person Steals Jar Of Donations For The Jimmy Fund
By 6.17.14
Stealing a tip jar is pretty low, but do you know what’s even lower? Stealing a donation jar. Possibly even lower than that is stealing a donation jar for children. Children with cancer. Yet someone in Massachusetts did just that, stealing a jar of donations for the Jimmy Fund from a bar. [More]
Do Not Set Bird Seed On Fire To Distract Walmart Staff From Shoplifters
By 4.4.14
Shoplifting is a crime, a scourge in the retail business, and very, very bad. Do you know what’s worse than than shoplifting, though? Setting the store on fire to distract store security while your companion shoplifts. Now a Minneapolis woman has been charged with two counts of arson, and the Walmart store where this happened sustained six-figure damage. [More]
Does Less Cash Mean Less Crime?
By 3.28.14
This might seem like a completely backwards question, especially when you consider the recent mega-breach of credit and debit card numbers at Target. But it could be that the wider adoption of credit cards and electronic payments contributed to huge decreases in crime rates in the United States in the 1990s. [More]
Two Terrible People Robbed Girl Scout Selling Cookies Outside Of Grocery Store
By 2.11.14
We all eventually learn the difficult lesson that the world is out to get us and our small electronics. One young girl in Florida learned this in an unfortunate time and place: two men took off with her cell phone while she and a friend sold Girl Scout cookies in front of a grocery store. [More]
Before Handing Over $9,000, Make Sure TV Salesman Really Works At Sears
By 2.4.14
When someone approaches you with a deal that seems irresistible, sometimes there’s a good reason why. For example, the person offering you a truckload of televisions for $900 each when they retail for $3,000 may not be a legitimate representative of the electronics department at Sears. [More]
