Crime

This Terrible Thief Used a Stolen iPhone to Take Pictures That Synced Back to the Owner’s Computer

That’s Nelson above. That’s Nelson partying. That’s Nelson with his girlfriend. All those pictures were taken with an iPhone he stole. Pictures that were sent back to the phone’s original owner, Katy McCaffrey, through Photostream. McCaffrey posted a hilarious Facebook photo album detailing Nelson’s various adventures with her stolen phone. According to McCaffrey, her iPhone…

Tech News Casey Chan May 25

Will armed drones be policing American cities?

Could the next wave of Occupy protests be ripped apart by rubber bullets and tear gas launched by remote-controlled robots hovering overhead, steered by police officers miles away? It’s not a futurist scenario anymore. According to CBSDC: The Federal Aviation Administration has allowed several police departments to use drones across the U.S. They are controlled…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 25

Darth Vader robs bank in Ohio, escapes on BMX bike

Darth Vader is no stranger to run-ins with the law, whether heisting banks in Long Island, participating in dubiously conceived Ukrainian land use legislation, or receiving parking tickets in Brooklyn. https://gizmodo.com/darth-vader-robbed-a-bank-in-long-island-5594708 https://gizmodo.com/strange-law-allowed-darth-vader-to-grab-free-land-in-th-5861428 But in Toledo, Ohio Wednesday afternoon, the Sith Lord robbed a bank yet again. Perhaps the most curious detail from this incident was…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 25

Hack Politician and Son Arrested for Political Hack

55-year-old Mayor of West New York, NJ, Felix Roque and his son Joseph, 22, were arrested today for allegedly hacking the website www.recallroque.com that was set up to rally support to recall the politician. Mayor Roque, a Cuban-American doctor and Army colonel, and a Democrat who has a close relationship to the large-gutted Republican Governor…

Tech News Molly Oswaks May 24

The Most Perfect Tasing You’ll See This Week

The would-be female thief in this surveillance video seems like a smooth operator—until she gets zapped with a taser and falls to the ground like a stiff board. We’ve seen our fair share of tasings, but this is the platonic ideal of taser drops. Fox New 23 Tulsa broadcasted the surveillance video as part of…

Tech News Mario Aguilar May 21

Woman Returns Lost iPhone, Is Rewarded with a Brutal Beating

Losing an iPhone is the absolute worst. The inconvenience, the expense… Just terrible. So, when a good samaritan gets in touch to let you know she’s found your phone, the appropriate response ought to be gushing, gurgling gratitude. Right? One Virginia woman would tell you that this is not always the case. DCist reports that…

Tech News Molly Oswaks May 18

How Does an 800-Year-Old Giant Tree Go Missing?

Enterprising tree poachers have stolen a gold, er, woodmine of a target: an 800-year-old red cedar tree that’s one of the largest in the Vancouver Island area. It’s gone now and it was stolen under a two-part operation that’s been underway for the past year. The tree stealing two-step scheme was a bold one: the…

Tech News Casey Chan May 18

The practice of beheading is alive and well in modern times

When most people think of beheadings they probably think of events far away in time and place, such as Marie Antoinette’s 1793 guillotine execution during the French revolution. But beheadings are hardly a thing of the past; in fact in some places they are becoming increasingly commonplace. Though most Americans are unaware of it, many…

io9 Benjamin Radford - Discovery News May 16

Cops Found a Ridiculous Amount of Drugs Up Some Guy’s Butt

Eighty-four bags of crack. Two hundred-eighteen Oxycodone pills. Eleven grams of weed. If that sounds like enough drugs to fill a small warehouse, you’re right. Assuming that warehouse was Alex Boulet’s butt. Vermont state troopers were simply pulling Boulet over for a traffic violation. But during a search, the officer felt something odd in “groin…

Tech News Leslie Horn May 14

Innocent people may have been framed for murder…by bugs?

A couple of years ago, a 28-year-old man ran into trouble in the scenic Brenta River near Padova, Italy. Witnesses saw him struggling in the water; soon after, he drowned. When Stefano Vanin, a forensic scientist at the University of Huddersfield in Great Britain, analyzed the body, the unfortunate man showed no signs of injury…

io9 Julian Whitcrosse May 13

Man Rams a Store with a Stolen Tractor to Steal Deodorant

Out in Chicago, a wild man who was apparently in a desperate need of deodorant, stole a Bobcat tractor from a construction site and then drove it through the gates, window and wall of a store. He grabbed a couple cans of deodorant, a few gift cards for good measure and then left. The police…

Tech News Casey Chan May 11

iPhone-Thieving Hookers Cause a Motel Shootout

Partaking in a prostitute’s services is risky enough as it is—even more so when her fingers are as nimble as her tongue. Two Stockton, CA men learned this lesson the hard way Thursday after a pair of pilfering prostitutes made off with their phones and they responded in the dumbest way possible. According to police…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola May 11

Man in Underwear Stabs His Computer with a Samurai Sword When Police Search for Child Porn

Florida doesn’t get weirder than this: Kamil Mezalka, a 21-year-old man, stabbed his hard drive with a two-handed Samurai sword after the police stormed his house looking for evidence of child pornography. He apparently did all this in his underwear while the police were present. According to The Daytona Beach News Journal: After agents made…

Tech News Casey Chan May 10

Leaked FBI Report Details How Best to Get Away With Bitcoin Crime

This week, an internal FBI report was leaked, detailing the Bureau’s concern about the virtual currency Bitcoin and its potential to be exploited by criminals for money laundering and other scams. Bitcoin is unique because it is the only decentralized, P2P network-based virtual currency. The way itcreates, operates, and distributes bitcoins makes it distinctively susceptible…

Tech News Molly Oswaks May 10

Laptop Giveaways, Fat Suction, and Other Stories We Didn’t Post

So much news passes before our collective eyes every day that we couldn’t possibly cover it all. Mostly because much of it isn’t worth covering! But here are a some borderline tidbits we passed on, just in case. Suction Cup Device Pulls Up Fat People’s Bellies Ideally, this device—just a student project for now—helps you…

Tech News Brian Barrett May 9

Three Delta Employees Charged Over $600,000 Drug Duffle

If you’re going to smuggle a half-million dollars worth for heroin and speed through Hartsfield-Jackson International, try not to forget it at baggage claim. People lose and forget bags at the airport all the time—hell, there’s even a reality show about the auctions airlines hold to move unclaimed bags. But when you’re attempting to move…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola May 4

This Man Had a Taser Dart Stuck In His Brain and Didn’t Even Realize

Sometimes, academic journals have the best stories. Like last week’s issue of Forensic Science International, which describes how a man had a a drunken confrontation with the police and ended up with a taser dart stuck in his brain. The most ridiculous part? He didn’t even realize. The only reason he went to hospital was…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe May 2

Teens Are Planning Raging Parties at Vacant Multi Million Dollar Mansions with Google and Twitter

Supposedly inspired by that party movie Project X and probably more influenced by their own impressionable roller coaster hormones, teenagers are doing teenage things, only bigger, badder and from the sounds of it, a helluva lot more fun… and illegal. Hundreds of teenagers are flocking to parties at vacant mansions planned using Google and Twitter.…

Tech News Casey Chan May 1

Delusional Anarchists’ May Day Plot Foiled After Buying Fake Bombs From the FBI

Five “self-professed anarchists” were arrested outside Cleveland last night after buying a pair of fake bombs from the FBI. According to the local ABC affiliate, the plan was to use improvised explosive devices made of C4 to blow up the Route 82 bridge in Brecksville during today’s commute. Three of the five men have been…

Tech News Mario Aguilar May 1

Why Won’t The LAPD Help Recover This Stolen Computer? (Updated)

Find my iPhone and all that built in tracking stuff is great. But it’s only useful if the police are willing to help. If they’re not? Well. Welcome to Los Angeles. Angel investor and delightfully bearded western shirt wearer Chris Sacca (who, in the spirit of full disclosure, I should note is a pal) sent…

Tech News Mat Honan Apr 30

This Terrible Thief Used a Stolen iPhone to Take Pictures That Synced Back to the Owner’s Computer

Will armed drones be policing American cities?

Darth Vader robs bank in Ohio, escapes on BMX bike

Hack Politician and Son Arrested for Political Hack

The Most Perfect Tasing You’ll See This Week

Woman Returns Lost iPhone, Is Rewarded with a Brutal Beating

How Does an 800-Year-Old Giant Tree Go Missing?

The practice of beheading is alive and well in modern times

Cops Found a Ridiculous Amount of Drugs Up Some Guy’s Butt

Innocent people may have been framed for murder…by bugs?

Man Rams a Store with a Stolen Tractor to Steal Deodorant

iPhone-Thieving Hookers Cause a Motel Shootout

Man in Underwear Stabs His Computer with a Samurai Sword When Police Search for Child Porn

Leaked FBI Report Details How Best to Get Away With Bitcoin Crime

Laptop Giveaways, Fat Suction, and Other Stories We Didn’t Post

Three Delta Employees Charged Over $600,000 Drug Duffle

This Man Had a Taser Dart Stuck In His Brain and Didn’t Even Realize

Teens Are Planning Raging Parties at Vacant Multi Million Dollar Mansions with Google and Twitter

Delusional Anarchists’ May Day Plot Foiled After Buying Fake Bombs From the FBI

Why Won’t The LAPD Help Recover This Stolen Computer? (Updated)

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