• Man Dressed as Apple Store Worker Steals 19 iPhones
    40 replies, posted
[quote]Police said the thief "dressed similarly" to store employees — who usually wear blue T-shirts imprinted with an Apple logo — and walked right into an electronics repair room at about 5:30 p.m. on June 1. The man grabbed 19 iPhones from a drawer inside the room, worth a total of $16,130, then handed them over to another thief. That man hid the phones under his shirt, and the pair walked out of the store.[/quote] source: [url]https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160608/tribeca/man-dressed-as-apple-store-worker-steals-19-iphones-from-soho-store-nypd[/url]
A few years ago some guy in a IT-service outfit walked into a University near where I used to live, grabbed a whole bunch of expensive hardware, and simply walked out. I can't imagine there working so many employees in a store nobody would recognize an entirely new face though.
Now that's how you do robbery for sure, but did they not have security cameras to get his face at least?
But i thought they had Geniuses working there.
Work smart not hard
My retail store is next to a Target which got robbed in a similar fashion last fall. Man dressed in khaki pants and a red polo, hid in the bathroom until it was almost closing then went to the jewelry counter to "help" put the merchandise back in the safes (which is a timely process and usually done 30 minutes prior to closing the store). Ended up walking out with pockets full of silver jewelry. Needless to say, my store ended up only opening their safe after closing hours now. [editline]9th June 2016[/editline] The easiest way to blend in is to act like you're suppose to be there. Most people are too lazy or uncaring to question a stranger. Unlike my warehouse job where we're actively encouraged to question every strange face we see given how unlikely a stranger is to walk in.
[QUOTE=mak13two;50484068]But i thought they had Geniuses working there.[/QUOTE] They also have geniuses robbing them.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;50484109] [B]The easiest way to blend in is to act like you're suppose to be there.[/B] Most people are too lazy or uncaring to question a stranger. Unlike my warehouse job where we're actively encouraged to question every strange face we see given how unlikely a stranger is to walk in.[/QUOTE] Exactly. If you walk like you know where you're going, what you're doing, and like you're just another employee, especially in a large store or company, most people won't even look once at you.
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;50483932]A few years ago some guy in a IT-service outfit walked into a University near where I used to live, grabbed a whole bunch of expensive hardware, and simply walked out. I can't imagine there working so many employees in a store nobody would recognize an entirely new face though.[/QUOTE] A guy I work with told me a story of a small group of thieves who stole IT equipment from an elementary school in the district he worked for. Dressed themselves up as contractors, and just walked in and out with all of their high-end hardware. They did this [I]twice[/I] to the [I]same[/I] school. This and along with the thread and your story goes to show that it's actually pretty easy to get away with a lot of stuff since many people tend not to pay attention.
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;50483932]A few years ago some guy in a IT-service outfit walked into a University near where I used to live, grabbed a whole bunch of expensive hardware, and simply walked out. I can't imagine there working so many employees in a store nobody would recognize an entirely new face though.[/QUOTE] There was a liquor store near me that had a group of thieves dressed neatly come in with a dollie and simply stack and roll out a cart full of liquor worth 3-5000 dollars. The store employees just thought they were regional distributors, and thought nothing of it. This happened something to the effect of 5 or 6 times.
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;50483932]A few years ago some guy in a IT-service outfit walked into a University near where I used to live, grabbed a whole bunch of expensive hardware, and simply walked out. I can't imagine there working so many employees in a store nobody would recognize an entirely new face though.[/QUOTE] I work security and I've had people walk into restricted areas without visitor badges. I always approach them and ask them what they're doing, specially if I've never seen them before. Usually I'll get a legit response, confirm it and sign them in. There was that one time though, I found someone in an area and challenged them. Total random person, had no business where he was. I had the gut feeling he was scoping the place out. So I trespassed his ass and make sure he understood to never come back. Never seen him since. As for this? I mean do the employees even know who they work with? I know every single person who works in all my buildings by name and if I don't know their name I know their face. If I saw two dudes in an area I've never met before or seen before regardless of uniform I would casually approach them and talk to them to see if their new employees or imposters. I have a really good working relationship with all the people in my buildings and they're basically extra ears and eyes. They call me all the time when they see something out of the norm or they feel like something isn't right. I never give them shit for having to look at stupid stuff or when it turns out not to be a big deal. I'm just happy they're aware of what is going on around them. [QUOTE=Zephyrs;50484172]There was a liquor store near me that had a group of thieves dressed neatly come in with a dollie and simply stack and roll out a cart full of liquor worth 3-5000 dollars. The store employees just thought they were regional distributors, and thought nothing of it. This happened something to the effect of 5 or 6 times.[/QUOTE] This is why everyone doing normal business goes through controlled entry points and signs in. You have no idea how common place this is. Like this stuff is SO easy to avoid and not happen.
[QUOTE=MR-X;50484261] So I trespassed his ass and make sure he understood to never come back. .[/QUOTE] I forgot trespassed had meanings other than unlawfully enter for a minute there
[QUOTE]19 iPhones from a drawer inside the room, worth a total of $16,130[/QUOTE] Geez, those are expensive. Here I am just fine with my cheap ass $50 icecream sandwich phone.
[QUOTE=MR-X;50484261] As for this? I mean do the employees even know who they work with? I know every single person who works in all my buildings by name and if I don't know their name I know their face. If I saw two dudes in an area I've never met before or seen before regardless of uniform I would casually approach them and talk to them to see if their new employees or imposters. I have a really good working relationship with all the people in my buildings and they're basically extra ears and eyes. They call me all the time when they see something out of the norm or they feel like something isn't right. I never give them shit for having to look at stupid stuff or when it turns out not to be a big deal. I'm just happy they're aware of what is going on around them. [/QUOTE] You have a different perspective due to actually working as security. Let me give you a perspective from a regular retail worker: I am not paid enough to care about theft. My store has a fairly modest turn-over rate so new faces are a common sight. Almost everyone is part time, some of which with only certain available days, meaning I can (and have) gone months without seeing certain coworkers despite both of us working every week. On top of that, management just does not give a shit if people steal from us. I once saw a guy steal a pair of new shoes by putting his old ones in the box and walking out with the new pair on and I told my manager as I was suppose to but because the Loss Prevention officer wasn't there at the time, she just jokingly said "oh he's just making an exchange" and completely dismissed it. For our electronics, we have special security tags that have to be placed on them - which the assistant manager told me not to bother with and just place the merchandise out on the sales floor if we run out of tags because "if someone wants to steal them, they'll steal them anyway". Theft is easy because no one gives a shit.
I used to make a game of impersonating employees and other officials just for kicks; I never stole anything, but it was fun to wander around places looking official. The worst that ever happened was I'd get asked for directions to somewhere in the building (especially at hospitals in september-november; walk confidently, wear a shirt and roll up your sleeves, and even nurses tend to assume you're a newly qualified doctor)
[QUOTE=MR-X;50484261]So I trespassed his ass[/QUOTE] Oh my.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;50484420]Oh my.[/QUOTE] Sure it was tresspassing? :smug:
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;50483932]A few years ago some guy in a IT-service outfit walked into a University near where I used to live, grabbed a whole bunch of expensive hardware, and simply walked out. I can't imagine there working so many employees in a store nobody would recognize an entirely new face though.[/QUOTE] You'd be surprised where you can go if you just act/look like you belong there
I always heard of the old "dress like part of the catering staff and you can get in anywhere" adage, but something tells me that wouldn't quite work in an apple store.
[QUOTE=TheTalon;50484674]You'd be surprised where you can go if you just act/look like you belong there[/QUOTE] Yeah, look at Hilary.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;50484149]Exactly. If you walk like you know where you're going, what you're doing, and like you're just another employee, especially in a large store or company, most people won't even look once at you.[/QUOTE] Apple stores are really busy too. No one is gonna interrupt the new guy just to say hello, especially if no one else is
I guess HITMAN style disguising really does work in real life. "oh hey there fellow employee whom I have never seen before, I see that you have our uniform so it is all good"
I worked in one of the largest retail chain outlets in Canada as a stock and warehouse guy some years back. Theft is pathetically easy. Basically, as everyone else has said, due to how low you get paid, how much time you spend with your head down doing your job, and how many people you're working with, you'll never notice a thief. You just don't have time, effort, or the reason to look at things that closely. Even if you do, there's almost nothing you can do about it besides alert a LP specialist, and usually, they don't have much authority to do much of anything either. A guy walked out of our store carrying a 45" flat screen TV. He just walked out. The LP guy could only call the cops and describe him because he'd made it to public property by the time the LP guy caught up with him.
This is called social engineering. It has various applications in security and its a common way for hackers to get access to things they shouldnt. Its really a beautiful thing
The IMEI on those phones will be flagged and rendered unusable anyway. They'll make less than half the value of what they stole, if they're lucky.
[QUOTE=Mkt778;50484733][img]http://i.imgur.com/Nf0R2MH.png[/img] [I]Bet he practiced his air guitar for weeks to pull that off. [/I][/QUOTE] As stupid as that mission is, there is a surprising amount of truth in how easy it is to pull off stupid shit similar to that. Especially if you just act like you know what you are doing, I've gone to some of our sites in plain clothes just asked if I could go into the server room since I am from IT and no one even let the head person know on site that someone wanted access to the server room and security system. Shit is ridiculous, people just never second guess IT it seems.
In fact this reminds me of a guy I was at college with; he was doing a project on some sort of architectural thing and needed access to the foundations of some buildings so he got a hi-vi and a clipboard and just said he was from the council; most of the people he asked just let him in.
[QUOTE=nintenman1;50485748]I guess HITMAN style disguising really does work in real life. "oh hey there fellow employee whom I have never seen before, I see that you have our uniform so it is all good"[/QUOTE] To an extent, yeah. I work in security, and I know who all my coworkers arre. Even though we have an extraordinarily high turn over rate, there's still a schedule on the wall that all the guards pay attention to. Basicallyeveryone knows everyone else, even the guards that don't work the same shifts as them. It takes some seriously inattentive staff to not notice a stranger walking into a place pretending to be staff. If you really want to sneak in somewhere, you say you're a contractor. Surprisingly easy to get anywhere with that :v:
How do you casually hide 19 still in the box iPhones under your shirt?
this is basically how every episode of burn notice worked. hell, to do 1-up on that, just walk into any retailer chain claiming to work for driveline or one of the other restocking vendors, that basically gives you a free pass to go anywhere in the store, including the backroom
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