Gizmodo: Robbery

Criminal Uses Craigslist to Escape From Armored Truck Robbery

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

A bank robber got away with a bag full of mucho money from an armored truck after successfully pulling out a perfect escape plan, straight out the final scene of the Thomas Crown Affair. The criminal—who was wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask and a blue shirt—used Craigslist to hire a dozen of decoys to confuse the police and the public around the scene. Mike, one of the hired decoys, gave the full details:

I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour. He said to meet near the Bank of America in Monroe at 11 a.m. Tuesday. (He also was told to wear a yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask… and, if possible, a blue shirt).

I know, stealing is bad, but I wish all crimes were as amusing and non-violent as this one.

Gotta love Nina Simone to start up a Friday. [King5]

Guy Robs Store, Claims Only PS3 Can Save His Family

Jason Chen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:30:00 EDT

The criminal of the week award goes to a man who held up an EB Games at gunpoint and demanded a PS3. Why only a PS3 and not, you know, money? Because according to him, his family was being held hostage and the only way he could save them was with a PS3. He then followed it up by running out of the store, but not before he half-heartedly told the clerk to call 911 because his family needed help. [KSDK via PS3 Fanboy via Kotaku]

Bluetooth Headset Foils Crime, Makes Someone Else Look Like a D-Bag For a Change

Jason Chen — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:30:09 EST

We seldom find a use for wearing a Bluetooth headset on our ear when we're not making calls, but this Wendy's employee has found one of the only three valid exceptions. It all started when a potential robber went up and asked the two employees at local Wendy's to open up a safe when one of the employee's phones went off.

The robber shouted at the employee not to answer the phone, not knowing that the Bluetooth headset was voice-activated and turned on when shouted at. The person on the other end of the line was able to hear the shouting and call the police, who eventually got the guy to release his hostage (but not before ramming his gun own into his forehead until he bled). Long story short, Bluetooth headsets saved the day. [Dispatch]

Bank Robbers Are Wearing iPods Now?

Mark Wilson — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:18:32 EST

Australian police stopped a robbery in Sydney, arresting three men. The funny part? We think one of them may have been wearing an iPod, given that trademark white earbud cord sticking out of his pocket (hit jump for mega version). It's possible that, having cold feet at the last second, this scared masked man cranked some Judas Priests to get in that important armed robbery state of mind. Or maybe he wanted to ensure that his Nike+iPod account gave him credit for all those steps he'd be making later, sprinting from the cops. Either way, it's a bit funny and a bit sad. But from our perspective, mostly just funny. [ABCNews via digg]

Crooks Caught Red-Handed Stealing $20K Worth of Gadgets, Laptops and More

Charlie White — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:44:00 EDT

Next time you decide to rip off a bunch of Macs, camcorders and laptops, you might want to take a good look around for the unblinking eye of a video camera, because you could end up pilloried in public the next day. Check out this brazen burglary in progress, and then step back and think a minute about the victim's reaction. Rakontur, the robbed production company, decided to exact revenge on the alleged culprits by splashing videos, pictures and personal information about the criminals all over the Internet. And now we are accomplices to that outburst. We feel so dirty. Maybe it would've been better to just let the police handle this. [Rakontur]

Phantom Burglary Ring Targeting Tech

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:00:00 EDT

There's a group out in Tulsa who does whatever it takes to get their haul. They cut open ceilings and walls, rappel down surfaces, disable security systems—even climb through air ducts—and manage to make off with $60,000 to $400,000 per strike. And all without leaving a trace of their identity. Sound a bit like the movies? It does to us, too, but we can't help but imagine what kind of gadgetry these guys carry with them.

Now they've turned their eyes toward electronic heists. At a Best Buy in Tulsa, the burglars entered the store by breaching the ceiling, rappelling down to the store office and cutting a hole into it, taking care of the alarms and surveillance of the store, and then took around 50 laptops and 60-inch plasma TVs. And then they took the safe, weighing a few thousand pounds, which is evidently a trademark of this particular ring.

Their earlier exploits make equally interesting reads. Like when they hit a jewelry store tunneling through to it from an adjoining business. Again they took the safe along with the jewels. Last December, they managed to somehow take 60 large appliances from a Hahn Appliance Center by way of an Office Depot, which would no doubt require a massive truck or two to pull off.

Authorities have nothing on these guys. They take what they want and no one finds it ever again. Of course we don't condone robberies at Gizmodo, but if they are ever caught in the future, I just hope they have some pretty hi-tech methods to dish out on, because there's nothing better than custom gadgetry. – Kevin Hall

Professional Burglary Ring On The Loose [KOTV News via CrunchGear]

Best Buy Smash and Grab: 100% Off Sale

Mark Wilson — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:00:37 EST

Last Thursday, robbers used a truck to rip the hurricane doors off a Florida Best Buy. Then, a group of 5-10 people ransacked the place, going for specific high ticket items according to the police.

"Stuff like iPods, GPSs, laptops, probably stuff that's easy to sell, sell quick."

I'm surprised we haven't seen more tech theft at chains that have little more than blister packs protecting their merchandise...which I admit are excessive against most safe cracking masterminds. – Mark Wilson

Thieves Rip Door Off Best Buy [via consumerist]

PS3 Greymarket Watch: Muggers Get Caught

Jason Chen — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:14:14 EST

It's nice to see dudes get what's coming to them. The 21-year-old man who was shot by two gunmen while waiting in line at Wal-Mart for the PS3 is fine now, but the two idiots who shot him have been caught. Kotaku reports:

William J. Robertson, 20, and Andrew Patnaude, 17, were arrested about 4 a.m. on several charges including attempted murder and robbery.

The victim? Even after being blasted by a shotgun, his "only concern was getting those Playstation 3s." It's a shame that he only wanted the PlayStations 3 to scalp later. – Jason Chen

PS3 Shooting Victim Has no Regrets [Telegram via Kotaku]

How to Hack an ATM and Not Get Caught: $5 Turns to $20

Charlie White — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 09:57:43 EDT

We showed you one way to how hack an ATM a couple of weeks ago (we noticed that video is no longer available for some reason), but here's a guy who had an even better way. Somehow, he got his hands on a secret code that tricked an ATM into handing him free money. The override code made the machine think it was full of five dollar bills when it was actually full of twenties. The guy used an untraceable pre-paid debit card and for every $250 he withdrew, he was actually getting his hands on $1000.

A footnote to the story: this ATM was handing out four times the amount people requested for nine days before one honest woman fessed up, admitting she had received more money than she should have. What would you do? – Charlie White (Thanks, Jaan!)

The Gang Who Couldn't Not Get Shot By a Cameraphone

johnb — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 11:18:43 EDT

OK, so that headline was a bit rough, but it's true! Four men from Birmingham, England robbed about $139,852.50 from a bank in Newport, south Wales. Nosy shoppers shot the team with their cameraphones as they loaded up their booty and hauled away. Luckily, they got enough footage to put the entire behind bars, where they might be able to carve a beautiful cellphone out of a bar of soap. – John Biggs

Armed gang caught on phone camera [BBC]

iPod Snatching In The UK On The Rise

Noah R — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:53:41 EDT

London saw a 15 percent rise in robberies between April and June, and a fivefold increase in the number of muggings and snatch thefts. The cause? Mobile phones and digital audio players. Chief Superintendent Paul Forrester of Merseyside police said the victims were mostly students and teenagers.

Some children carry phones and iPods [worth] over 600 and they are making themselves walking targets, he said.

But iPods are the prime target (just as in New York City), according to the Metropolitan police commissioner:

"In street robbery, our concern has been around the smaller portable pieces of kit — the new generation of mobile phones and iPods, he said. It is very obvious when someone is wearing an iPod. That is what is fuelling this.

Apple's "One More Thing" this week had best include an iPod LoJack.

Street robbery soars as iPod users targeted [The Sunday Times via Addict3d]