Admit it: there’s been at least one moment in your life when you secretly wished for a cell phone jammer in your pocket. Maybe you were in line at the grocery store, or watching a movie, or someone who wouldn’t stop texting almost merged into you on the highway. However, you should not actually do this. Why? Let the case of this Florida man serve as a cautionary tale. [More]
vigilantes
Police: Walmart Worker Followed Suspected Shoplifter Out, Hit Him With Car
By 8.10.12
A month ago in Houston, a high school student briefly considered committing a crime. He grabbed some DVDs and headed for the door. He says that he changed his mind near the door and left almost-ill-gotten goods behind in the store. That didn’t stop a store employee from following him out of the store as he walked home, then intentionally hitting him with his car. The teen suffered back injuries, and the driver is longer employed at Walmart. He’s also in jail with a $30,000 bond, charged with aggravated assault. [More]
The Bandit Sign Vigilante
By 8.12.11
One man has had enough and won’t take it anymore. He’s going to take cleaning up Philly into his own hands, one “We buy houses!” and “Get paid daily from home!” sign at a time. [More]
If You See People Swipe iPhones, Don't Try To Cap 'Em
By 5.27.10
Police in Oregon say a trigger-happy man who witnessed an iPhone mugging shot at the thieves’ getaway car as the got away. Being that life is not Grand Theft Auto IV, the cops busted the guy. [More]
CVS Employee Strangles Shoplifter
By 5.10.10
A CVS employee in Chicago chased a 35-year-old shoplifter out of his store and held him in a chokehold for “several minutes” on Saturday morning until police came. The thief–who had stolen tubes of toothpaste–was taken to a hospital and initially described as in “fair-to-serious” condition, but then declared dead about 45 minutes later, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The death is being ruled an accidental homicide, and the police aren’t going to press charges against the employee. [More]
Sprint Employees Fired For Capturing Apple Store Shoplifter
By 4.28.10
Two employees at the Sprint outlet at Cherry Creek Shopping Center, where that iPad customer had his pinkie ripped off by a criminal earlier this month, were fired for chasing down and holding a different shoplifter one day later. [More]
Art Vigilantes Paint Over 120 Illegal Billboards In NYC
By 5.1.09
Last Saturday, ads-in-public-spaces activist Jordan Seiler spearheaded NYSAT, or New York Street Advertising Takeover, where teams of artists, videographers and activists replaced 120 unregistered billboard advertisements throughout the city with original art installations.
By 3.18.09
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Sprightly old people rock. This 78-year-old woman pursued and helped catch an armed robber in the parking lot of a mall on Long Island, NY. You can’t hide from old ladies in a PC Richard, purse snatchers of the world. [Newsday]
Customers Fight Back Over Fake Amazon Reviews
By 2.10.09
We all know that Amazon’s review system is kind of a mess. It’s plagued by “professional reviewers,” reviews from friends, legitimately critical reviews that get yanked after complaints by angry fan groups, and—worst of all—fake reviews, usually written by employees of the manufacturer. Adam found a new fake reviewer named David Jacob, but what really caught our eye was how real Amazon shoppers have picked up on it and left a series of comments to warn future customers to stay away from Gamenamics.
Chicago Sheriff Halts Foreclosure Evictions, Won't Toss Innocent Renters
By 10.9.08
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he understood he was flouting the law in refusing to have deputies carry out the rising number of eviction requests, but mortgage holders must be accountable.
Listen To These Vigilantes Scam Nigerian 419 Scammers
By 9.15.08
Last week, “This American Life” featured a 30-minute piece on people who scam the scammers—in this case, three guys who prey upon small-time Nigerian con men and try to trick them into placing themselves in mortal danger. “This American Life” tells how they almost got a guy to enter a Western Union office in Chad carrying an anti-Muslim/pro-Bush note that announces his intention to rob the place. Whether you think these stunts are funny probably depends on your level of empathy even for criminals, and whether you think the avengers ever fully succeed. But c’mon, getting someone in another country to hold up a sign that’s offensive in your language is pretty much always funny.
My Wife Was Attacked In The Parking Lot And Rite Aid Won't Help!
By 6.1.08
Virginia police are unable to track down the creep who grabbed Michael’s wife in a Rite Aid parking lot because Rite Aid is refusing to hand over its security tapes. Even worse, the store manager apparently knows the creepy grabber guy and is also refusing to help. Michael wrote to Rite Aid’s corporate office begging them to cooperate with law enforcement. He hasn’t heard back in two days.
BusinessWeek: "Consumers Are Fighting Back"
By 2.22.08
BusinessWeek’s cover story from their March 3rd issue, “Consumer Vigilantes,” looks at last year’s wave of stories about consumers who took matters into their own hands, either by smashing up a Comcast office with a hammer, starting a “Comcast must die” blog, or sending EECBs to unsuspecting executives. “Frustrated by the usual fix-it options–obediently waiting on hold with Bangalore, gamely chatting online with a scripted robot–more consumers are rebelling against company-prescribed service channels,” BusinessWeek writes. What we can’t figure out is how they got those three guys to actually pose with those goofy masks on—sometimes it’s okay to say no to the photographer.
Customer Gets 30 Months Prison After Geek Squad Finds Child Porn On His Computer
By 5.7.07
Child porn is a most heinous exploitation and its publishers and consumers should be boiled in blood, then stabbed in the face, then fed to wolverines. The Geek Squad is helping feed those wolverines by reporting child porn they find on customer’s computers to the police, the St Louis Dispatch reports:
