How many Apple gadgets did thieves remove from a Chicago Best Buy this past weekend? Police gave the media a modest estimate of only $42,000 worth of iPads, MacBooks, and GPS devices. However, an unnamed source whispered to CBS Chicago that the figure could be closer to $200,000, with the haul including a few hundred iPads. [More]
theft
Microsoft Thinks You Stole $67.50 From Your Own Xbox Account
By 12.15.11
In recent weeks, we’ve heard from quite a few Xbox Gold customers who report that points have been stolen from their accounts, but Microsoft doesn’t seem terribly concerned about it, or about stopping the account breaches. Today’s example: reader Jesse, who loaded several cards on his account before a move, for some reason assuming that the points would be safer in his account (in the cloud!) than packed for his move. Not so. Someone spent those points on content that Jesse never downloaded, and Microsoft isn’t giving him those points back. [More]
Thieves Stealing Pickup Truck Tailgates
By 10.24.11
The movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” is a lot more plausible if instead of stealing the whole car, you only focus on one smaller aspect of it. That’s what thieves in Oswego, IL are doing, stealing just the tailgates from pickup trucks. [More]
Walmart Shopper Borrows Electric Shopping Cart For 11 Days, Uses It Like A Car
By 9.6.11
You know those electric shopping carts you can use while shopping at Walmart? Then you likely also know that you’re supposed to return the cart when you are done shopping. You’re certainly not supposed to keep it for 11 days until you get ticketed by police for driving it down a public road. [More]
Teen Sentenced For 2 To 6 Years For Mugging Man For 7 Cents
By 8.31.11
A New York judge got tough with a 15-year-old boy convicted of mugging a 73-year-old man, sentencing him for 2 to 6 years in juvenile detention. The judge said he would have given the boy the same 1 to 4 year state prison sentence as a youthful offender that he gave his accomplice if he had taken responsibility for the crime rather than taking back his initial confession. Because the boy with the 2 to 6 year sentence was not convicted as a youthful offender, his crime — unlike that of his accomplice — will stay on his record after he serves his time. [More]
Idaho Woman Faces As Much As 10 Years In Prison For Stealing A Beer
By 8.17.11
An Idaho woman suspected of swiping a single can of beer from a grocery store last week was charged with a felony punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. [More]
Dog Group Says Dog Theft Is Up 32 Percent This Year
By 8.17.11
According to the American Kennel Club, dognappers are on a rampage this year, making off with nearly a third more canines than they did at this point in 2010. [More]
UPS Won't Leave Packages At My Apartment – What Can I Do?
By 8.12.11
Emmy and her partner shop online a lot, and they’re also not home much during the day. Historically this hasn’t been a problem: UPS leaves an InfoNotice on the door of their four-unit apartment building, then returns the next day and leaves the package. After a management change, the delivery policy to Emmy’s neighborhood changed, too: they would have to fetch their packages from the depot ten miles away or have all packages delivered to Emmy’s work. They don’t like either option, but what else can they do? [More]
Do Not Sell A $5,000 Dump Truck For $450 In Scrap Metal
By 7.21.11
Back in May, the owner of a 1977 International Harvester dump truck valued at about $5,000 parked it in his Syracuse, NY driveway. Neighbors told police that someone came with a flatbed truck, loaded up the dump truck, and took it away. Did they buy the truck? Repossess it? No. The couple are accused of stealing the truck, then selling it for about $450 in scrap metal. [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]
‘Stolen’ Urban Outfitters Jewelry Design Not All That Original
By 5.31.11 — Updated: 11.9.13
If there’s anything that the Internet loves, it’s a story about a big, evil corporation screwing over a creative individual or small company. That’s why people were quick to get behind the Etsy seller who claimed that Urban Outfitters stole her jewelry designs and was selling cheap knockoffs. The jewelry is similar, but her claim that the designs were original and hers alone is a lot more complicated than that. [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]
Find Your Stolen Camera By Searching Web For Uploaded Pictures From It
By 4.28.11
The descriptively named stolencamerafinder.com helps you track down your stolen fancy digital camera. Just drag and drop photos from your camera before it was stolen onto the box on the website. The site then scans scraped databases for the EXIF data embedded in the picture to locate other photos encoded with your same serial number. If there’s a hit, that person might have your camera. [More]
Before Taking That Hotel Towel Home, Check For An RFID Chip
By 4.18.11
If one of your favorite parts about staying in a hotel is loading up on all the free towels, you may want to take a pause before stuffing your suitcase next time. A few hotels, which don’t want to be named, have started to use a new washable RFID chip that can be sewn into towels, robes and bedsheets. [More]
What Teller Would Cash This Clearly Fraudulent Check?
By 3.24.11
Vanessa’s rent check was stolen somewhere between her mailbox and the property management office. It ended up in the hands of unsavory fraudsters, who altered the check in a decidedly low-tech way: with a Sharpie. [More]
Do Not Try To Turn A Kid Into A Drug Dealer By Promising Him A Video Game
By 3.23.11
A 34-year-old New Hampshire woman who wanted to get her hands on some pain medication allegedly devised a plan that landed her in jail: Ask a 9-year-old boy to swipe his mom’s Percocet, and promise to buy him a video game in return. The boy held up his end of the bargain and noticed something was amiss when he saw the woman take the label off the pill bottle. [More]
Help, I Accidentally Shoplifted A Glass Pickle
By 12.22.10
Steve absent-mindedly stuffed a pickle in his pocket while shopping. A glass pickle. No one noticed him take it…including Steve. He’d be happy to go back to the store and pay for it, but the ornament is now broken. [More]
Should We Confront The Bellman About Stealing Our Camera?
By 8.30.10
One our readers was staying at a hotel and the friendly bellhop brought his luggage, including his camera case, up to his room, while he parked the car. When our reader got to the room, the camera was gone. [More]
