Gizmodo: stealing

GadgetTrak Security System Catches iMac Thief With Startling Precision

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:40:00 EDT

GadgetTrak, an anti-theft tracking system, claimed its first victory, and we're pretty impressed. An iMac was stolen two weeks ago, and the thief wasn't clever enough to reformat. Big mistake: GadgetTrak managed to find his location and took his photo.

After two weeks, the thief made the mistake of connecting to the internet, and GadgetTrak collected tons of info. It triangulated his longitude and latitude via WiFi (and provided a link to the location on Google Maps!), his IP address, WiFi networks in range, and the username, and even took a photo of him with the iMac's built-in webcam. The iMac and two other stolen laptops were traced to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn and recovered.

Of course, the system only works if the thief neglects to reformat the hard drive and connects to the internet, but we'd be willing to bet that that's not as uncommon as you'd think. It's a pretty great system, as long as thieves don't figure out how to work around it. [GadgetTrak]

Thief Cleans Out a Desk, But Leaves the Zune Behind

Adam Frucci — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:35:56 EST

How do you know your brand is in trouble? When people are embarrassed to even steal a Zune. Oh, Microsoft. I'm so sorry. [CollegeHumor]

Homemade Teddy Bear Cam Catches British Caregiver Stealing Money, Not Shaking Babies

Jason Chen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EDT

A man and his daughter thought something was up when their terminally ill grandmother was losing money from her house, so they wrote down the serial numbers of the money in her purse and set up a DIY camera inside a teddy bear. It only took one day for the grandmother's caregiver to go and take 40 pounds out of the old lady's purse, which were easily identified by the serials and the evidence from the teddycam. In compensation, the thief will pay 60 pounds and was fired from the place that hired her out. This falls in line with our motto: always have a hidden camera detector when you go into old people's homes. You'll thank us later. [BBC via BBG]

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]

How to Hack a Vending Machine

Jason Chen — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:30:44 EST

Following up our how to hack a coke machine coverage, here's a video on how to hack a snack machine. It's pretty much the same idea. Pay for something, but hold the release flap up on the bottom so the machine thinks it didn't drop your food. Then mash on the coin return button to get your money back.

Simple and unethical. Just the way you like it. – Jason Chen

How to: Hack a Vending Machine? [TechEBlog]

Steal A Sidekick And Face The Wrath Of The Internet

Jason Chen — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:20:34 EDT

Our mothers stressed two things: don't steal and wash your hands after using the bathroom. Although we're sometimes lax about the second one—we're busy bloggers here!—the first is definitely a rule to live by. Turns out these people's mothers didn't do their jobs so well.

Apparently, a friend of Evan's left her Sidekick II in a car, bought a new one to replace it and found out someone had not only found her sidekick but took pictures of themselves with it. Even better, they signed onto their AIM accounts and left their login names. Evan decided to contact the thief and was called a "white bitch" and hit with "i got ball this is my adress [redacted] come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it". Classy.

So he decided to post the address, pictures, screen name and Myspace profile link of the thieves online to try to shame them into submission. The morals of the story? Don't take other people's stuff, give up when you're caught, and 14 year old girls shouldn't take slutty pictures of themselves and post it to Myspace. – Jason Chen

Stolen Sidekick