Sure, Consumerist has covered many a story of a thief who tries to get away from store employees by biting into arms and occasionally chomping off the odd finger. We’ve also heard several tales of would-be thieves and bad customers using pepper spray to get their way. But an alleged shoplifting duo recently combined the two tactics while attempting to steal from a Pennsylvania Macy’s. [More]
theft
Would-Be Macy’s Burglar Pulls Ploy From ‘Home Alone 2’ Handbook
By 1.29.16
The things that work in the movies, don’t always – or almost never – result in the same outcome in real life. Just ask a would-be thief in Oregon who tried to pull a Home Alone 2 ploy to rob a local department store. [More]
Wisconsin Police Recover Second Load Of Stolen Cheese
By 1.29.16
We can all rest easy tonight, safe in the knowledge that cheese that was once ripped from the arms of its rightful owner has been safely returned. Wisconsin police say they’ve found a second load of stolen cheese, worth $90,000, that was pilfered last week. [More]
Some Jerks Stole $160,000 Worth Of Cheese In Two Separate Thefts In Wisconsin
By 1.25.16
UPDATE: Police have recovered $70,000 worth of that stolen cheese. [More]
Identity Theft Company LifeLock Once Again Failed To Actually Keep Identities Protected, Must Pay $100M
By 12.17.15
Five months after federal and state regulators accused identity theft protection company LifeLock of violating a 2010 settlement in which it paid $11 million for allegedly using false claims regarding effectiveness of its services, the company has been ordered to pay $100 million in penalties and refunds for once again misleading consumers. [More]
Hide Your Stuff, Lock Your Car: Black Friday Is Also A Pretty Big Day For Thieves
By 11.25.15
Black Friday is not only a big day for shoppers, with stores throwing open their doors early (or staying open all night since they opened on Thanksgiving) and the mad marketing blitz of discounts, sales and deals coming at you from every angle, but it’s a pretty fruitful day for thieves, as well. [More]
Shrimp Shoplifter Stuffs Shellfish Down Pants, Up Shirt
By 11.13.15
We always like to keep an eye on the latest incidents where shoplifters are caught in the act of stuffing meat down their pants. The usual choices of criminals against meat, steak and lobster make sense: they’re pricey, for people who want to resell the meats, and they’re tasty high-status foods, for those who would prefer to eat them. It’s been a while, though, since we’ve heard of anyone stuffing shrimp down their pants, which happened recently in Connecticut. [More]
Owners Help Police Track Stolen Tesla Through Mobile App
By 11.3.15
When a thief steals a car it can take owners days, week or even years to retrieve their property. Apparently that’s not the case when your vehicle happens to be a Tesla Model S: a Canadian couple was able to help authorities track their stolen car in real-time with the help of the Tesla mobile app. [More]
Walgreens Shoplifter Walks Out Of Store With $100K In Prescription Drugs
By 10.7.15
In the past, Walgreens has been a target for ne’er-do-wells: there were the three people caught with more than 125 stolen credit cards, and before that, the shoplifting ring accused of stealing more than $15,000 in merchandise. But those cases pale in comparison to a brazen robbery in Florida this week in which a man forced open the pharmacy department door and made off with $100,000 in prescription drugs. [More]
Truck Full Of Tofu, Organic Drinks Goes Missing From Safeway Parking Lot
By 10.6.15
If we were going to steal a semi truck full of something from a grocery store (we would never do something like that, and we suggest you don’t either), it certainly wouldn’t be one brimming with tofu and organic health drinks. But those items were apparently appealing to one Oregon thief Tuesday when he made off with a truck full of the products. [More]
Man Takes $900 Worth Of Drills From Sears, Leaves Making Chicken Noises
By 9.25.15
One way to commit a crime is to create a distraction, and maybe that’s what a man at a Sears store in New Hampshire was trying to do when he allegedly filled a cart with power drills and made chicken noises when employees tried to stop him. He left the cart full of tools behind, but police would like to know his whereabouts. [More]
TSA Agent Accused Of Stealing Cash From Passenger’s Wallet At Security Checkpoint
By 9.21.15
When travelers send their personal belongings off into x-ray machines at the airport, we expect them to come out on the other side exactly how they entered. But officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport say one man happened to notice his wallet come through a security screening a bit lighter than it had gone in, leading to the arrest of a Transportation Security Administration agent. [More]
Woman Allegedly Instructs Kid To Push Cart Of Stolen Merchandise Out Of Walmart
By 9.9.15
Over the years, we’ve reported on several incidents in which a parent or guardian has taken their child along on a shoplifting excursion: there was the Toys ‘R’ Us shoplifting spree, the women who left their baby in the store, and the mom who used her kid’s stroller as cover for a stolen sex toy. While we haven’t heard too many of these stories lately, it’s still happening: a Chicago woman reportedly had a child accompanying her take stolen goods out of a Walmart. [More]
iPhone Theft Victim Seeks To Locate Possible Thieves Using Selfies
By 8.20.15
A woman whose iPhone was stolen from her bag at an amusement park in Ohio wants to find the people who have her phone, and they’re helping her out with it. Not intentionally, of course. However, the phone is still attached to her cloud storage account, which means that the selfies they snap turn up on the woman’s other devices. [More]
Two Men, Two Colostomy Bags, Two Shoplifting Accusations, Three Steaks, One Arrest, One Apology
By 8.13.15
Two men on different continents who have similar medical problems and have undergone the same surgery, and recent trips to these ended poorly for both of them. They both have colostomies, and store employees mistook both of their bags for stolen merchandise and became suspicious. The difference: one of them men was allegedly trying to leave the store with $75 worth of steak stuffed in his colostomy bag, and the other was innocent. [More]
Stolen Stradivarius Violin Returns After 35 Years
By 8.6.15
A rare Stradivarius violin that went missing 35 years ago has reappeared, after someone happened to open a box in the attic. Here’s where we get the urge to start searching grandma’s attic. [More]
Man Caught On Camera Stuffing Antique Brass Statues Down His Pants
By 8.4.15
Here at Consumerist, we aim to bring you the freshest coverage of people stuffing store merchandise down their pants to steal it. While for some reason the most common item that ends up down shoppers’ trousers is packages of meat, other items ranging from a chainsaw to puppies using this method, police are looking for a man who was caught on camera stuffing two brass statues down his pants at an antique store. [More]
Police Arrest Man On Suspicion Of Knocking Over Girls’ Lemonade Stand, Stealing $30
By 7.17.15
As any ambitious kid (or former kid) who’s tried to bring in a big haul from running a sidewalk lemonade stand knows, it isn’t easy to make a lot of money from selling drinks for a nickel (or $1, whatever a cup of lemonade goes for these days). Two young entrepreneurial spirits faced an even tougher situation for their fledgling business, after police say a guy overturned their lemonade stand and made off with all their profits. [More]
