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Today In Theft
I recently read a WSJ (usual disclaimer: I subscribe for reasons of my own, but subscribing in this case in no way implies support / endorsement) about theft at CVS and similar locations on a very large scale, for resale on Amazon. I mentioned this to R., who promptly suggested that perhaps addicts in our area would be less likely to participate in that type of (the article was Bay Area mostly) activity because Boston pays them to pick up needles. I was skeptical. To say the least. I mean, I had mentioned that the article in WSJ talked about multi-state operations, including in the midwest. But, you know, not Boston / Metrowest.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/13/metro/police-leominster-video-store-owner-employed-dozens-shoplifters-stores-lost-millions/
That’s from back in May — I missed it. *shrug*. There’s a _ton_ of Star Wars and other theme Lego in there. Apparently, someone wasn’t making it on the video rental any more, so they were running a theft ring and selling the goods on eBay and Amazon. They (eBay and Amazon) are going to have to figure this out. I mean, they _sorta_ are, by starting to require purchase orders / receipts / letter from manufacturer identifying them as an authorized seller, but equally, there are clearly still holes in this system. I was not buying lego from 3rd party on Amazon for a set of complicated reasons, but was willing to buy on eBay. I’m going to have to rethink that decision. I had _assumed_ that this was people double couponing / using points / finding a massive sale somewhere (because I know that is a thing, too), but now I really have to wonder if I’m buying stuff that fell off the back of a truck, yeah, not at all, shoplifted into a trash bag. I’ll probably just resort to buying believably used instead.
R. also mentioned that copper theft related to infrastructure is back in the news, this time with wind turbines. Yeah, don’t make that jump. No one is climbing those towers; they are stealing grounding wires — wind turbines have a massive lightning problem. Sometimes they are still windings from transformers on the ground, etc.
https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1281864/soaring-copper-prices-drive-wind-farm-crime
Also in that article:
“ A more novel means of deterring copper theft, or at least helping recover the metal is through a technological development from wiring firm Southwire. Its Proof Positive Copper cable has a tin-coated wire in the centre strand that is laser-etched with a serial number unique to each foot of the wire, and a website URL. It is notoriously hard for metal recyclers to identify if copper has been stolen, so it is usually relatively easy for the thieves to offload. But with this wiring a potential purchaser can simply log on to the website and check if the copper has been misappropriated.”
ETA:
Don’t steal bikes, but if you do steal a bike, don’t steal an expensive one. Stealing bikes is incredibly annoying, but stealing expensive bikes can turn a misdemeanor into a felony.
https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/09/charges-of-grand-theft-on-expensive-bike-deemed-adequate-judge-sets-felony-trial/
Locally, in expensive bike thefts: https://liveboston617.org/2021/08/25/barber-shop-bike-sting/
A bunch of car thefts involving juveniles popped up when I was searching for theft rings. Also, the catalytic converter theft thing continues (I’m still really confused about that one, but it is huge, international, and has been very difficult to get under control).
A super odd car theft operation involving a mother and son (aged 47 and 32, according to the article) who owned several car sales businesses: https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/mother-son-luxury-car-theft-ring-fort-bend-county/285-990d6048-f651-46a6-ae7e-9010a1de112a Vehicle registration is supposed to make this kind of thing hard, but wow, someone figured out a way to sneak around it there.
Identity / mail theft of cards and checks, with a side order of calling to change account details is apparently _still_ a thing: https://www.nj.com/news/2021/08/3-more-charged-in-theft-ring-that-stole-credit-cards-checks-out-of-mail.html
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/13/metro/police-leominster-video-store-owner-employed-dozens-shoplifters-stores-lost-millions/
That’s from back in May — I missed it. *shrug*. There’s a _ton_ of Star Wars and other theme Lego in there. Apparently, someone wasn’t making it on the video rental any more, so they were running a theft ring and selling the goods on eBay and Amazon. They (eBay and Amazon) are going to have to figure this out. I mean, they _sorta_ are, by starting to require purchase orders / receipts / letter from manufacturer identifying them as an authorized seller, but equally, there are clearly still holes in this system. I was not buying lego from 3rd party on Amazon for a set of complicated reasons, but was willing to buy on eBay. I’m going to have to rethink that decision. I had _assumed_ that this was people double couponing / using points / finding a massive sale somewhere (because I know that is a thing, too), but now I really have to wonder if I’m buying stuff that fell off the back of a truck, yeah, not at all, shoplifted into a trash bag. I’ll probably just resort to buying believably used instead.
R. also mentioned that copper theft related to infrastructure is back in the news, this time with wind turbines. Yeah, don’t make that jump. No one is climbing those towers; they are stealing grounding wires — wind turbines have a massive lightning problem. Sometimes they are still windings from transformers on the ground, etc.
https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1281864/soaring-copper-prices-drive-wind-farm-crime
Also in that article:
“ A more novel means of deterring copper theft, or at least helping recover the metal is through a technological development from wiring firm Southwire. Its Proof Positive Copper cable has a tin-coated wire in the centre strand that is laser-etched with a serial number unique to each foot of the wire, and a website URL. It is notoriously hard for metal recyclers to identify if copper has been stolen, so it is usually relatively easy for the thieves to offload. But with this wiring a potential purchaser can simply log on to the website and check if the copper has been misappropriated.”
ETA:
Don’t steal bikes, but if you do steal a bike, don’t steal an expensive one. Stealing bikes is incredibly annoying, but stealing expensive bikes can turn a misdemeanor into a felony.
https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/09/charges-of-grand-theft-on-expensive-bike-deemed-adequate-judge-sets-felony-trial/
Locally, in expensive bike thefts: https://liveboston617.org/2021/08/25/barber-shop-bike-sting/
A bunch of car thefts involving juveniles popped up when I was searching for theft rings. Also, the catalytic converter theft thing continues (I’m still really confused about that one, but it is huge, international, and has been very difficult to get under control).
A super odd car theft operation involving a mother and son (aged 47 and 32, according to the article) who owned several car sales businesses: https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/mother-son-luxury-car-theft-ring-fort-bend-county/285-990d6048-f651-46a6-ae7e-9010a1de112a Vehicle registration is supposed to make this kind of thing hard, but wow, someone figured out a way to sneak around it there.
Identity / mail theft of cards and checks, with a side order of calling to change account details is apparently _still_ a thing: https://www.nj.com/news/2021/08/3-more-charged-in-theft-ring-that-stole-credit-cards-checks-out-of-mail.html