16 iPhones stolen under my sight !

[PowerBook-G5]

Not to hijack this thread, but once when I was walking toward the Georgetown (DC) Apple Store, a guy came running out of the store with an iPhone box in his hand. He ran out the store, evading the three Apple employees that went after him, and he skidded on the sidewalk. Had there have not been a car between the sidewalk and the road, he would have gotten what he deserved, the POS. Unfortunately, he did escape with the phone. And mind you, this was in the nicer part of DC...

 

[LiamHD]

Here in Europe people pay for the crimes they commit whereas in America you seem to have an "insurance will cover that" attitude. You do realise it's because of these people everyone pays higher prices. If your local area has a high level of crime then you pay more for insurance and products because the shops have to pay for the stolen goods and the more expensive insurance and the extra security. That is the reason that people try and get these ****s to prevent prices going up. Security here will follow you around and once you make it outside then the police will take over who are normally waiting outside in vehicles whilst others may be on foot so you really won't get very far.

 

[Max(IT)]

But you indicated you'd take some action if it wasn't for your son.

As for Best Buy, are you sure it wasn't a security guard? If so, that's definitely an anomaly.

On the other hand, there have been a number of posts on European police actively tracking down iDevice thieves. That'd never happen here.

It was my instinct, and part of my culture as a military, but as I said, I was totally unprepared for that and I did nothing.
I'm not a cop, after all....

I discovered yesterday that a few months ago the same type of robbery was attempted by two gipsy, but they failed because of an out of duty cop that was there and blocked one of them. His instinct was better than mine

As for best buy, it was surely an employee, a big guy, and 30 seconds later two security guards took care of the thief

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Here in Europe people pay for the crimes they commit whereas in America you seem to have an "insurance will cover that" attitude. You do realise it's because of these people everyone pays higher prices. If your local area has a high level of crime then you pay more for insurance and products because the shops have to pay for the stolen goods and the more expensive insurance and the extra security. That is the reason that people try and get these ****s to prevent prices going up. Security here will follow you around and once you make it outside then the police will take over who are normally waiting outside in vehicles whilst others may be on foot so you really won't get very far.

Now the real question is are thefts less prevalent in Europe as a result? Doesn't appear to be so.

 

[LiamHD]

Now the real question is are thefts less prevalent in Europe as a result? Doesn't appear to be so.

I would say so actually.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I would say so actually.

Where is the lazy United States on this list then?

Oh, show me 8 American kids simultaneously robbing an Apple Store

 

[daijholt]

How do you figure the phones are unusable? They're demo devices and don't have find my iPhone or an iCloud account attached to them. They can be fully reset on iTunes and sold like a lightly used device.

Those guys just made a few thousand in profit along with jail time once they're caught.

Any stolen devices are blacklisted and the baseband chip in them is remotely disabled, meaning it'll never read a sim card from any domestic network. (it might work abroad, but it depends on the country) Also, I activate all my stores devices with an icloud account to be extra sure, so hopefully this store did the same.

 

[Max(IT)]

Where is the lazy United States on this list then?

Oh, show me 8 American kids simultaneously robbing an Apple Store

Ahem, the source is debatable at least....

Btw, mate, kids in USA are going around with guns

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28958364

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Ahem, the source is debatable at least....

Btw, mate, kids in USA are going around with guns

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28958364

It's no secret that the USA has a bigger gun issue and we won't hesitate to admit this. Completely different topic.

 

[LiamHD]

Where is the lazy United States on this list then?

Oh, show me 8 American kids simultaneously robbing an Apple Store

As previously said the source is questionable considering it is an american based website. America is one of the worst places I know of when it comes to theft. America is a thief's heaven. Find me a source that says Britain is a theft hotspot and I will consider eating my words but you won't.

 

[bushido]

Here in Europe people pay for the crimes they commit whereas in America you seem to have an "insurance will cover that" attitude. You do realise it's because of these people everyone pays higher prices. If your local area has a high level of crime then you pay more for insurance and products because the shops have to pay for the stolen goods and the more expensive insurance and the extra security. That is the reason that people try and get these ****s to prevent prices going up. Security here will follow you around and once you make it outside then the police will take over who are normally waiting outside in vehicles whilst others may be on foot so you really won't get very far.

Lol when i was studying abroad in spain there were lots of american exchange students. There was one girl that got 3 iPhones stolen in two months. Another american friend just visited me recently and she continued travelling to italy and just told me she got her iPhone 6 stolen in florence two days ago. They leave their stuff on a bench and get some food and expect their belongings to still be where they left it and then they go back to the US and complain about those evil pick pocketers in Europe. Smh. I know the teens and young adults coming to Europe are mostly loaded so they dont really care and are like "whatever ill just get a new one" but still it blows my mind

Now the real question is are thefts less prevalent in Europe as a result? Doesn't appear to be so.

Dumb tourists get their stuff stolen cuz they do not look after their things and fall for the easiest tricks. Also our thiefs are at least in general pretty "nice" and dont threaten you with guns lol. A friend got his iPhone stolen and noticed it on time so he ran after the thief and caught up with him. The thief opened his bag with like ten iphones inside and asked which one was his and simply gave it back

 

[lordofthereef]

http://www.securityinfowatch.com/ar...e-increase-in-costs-of-retail-crime-in-the-us

An article about global shrink (since I see that's what this discussion has become lol).

Most companies here have policies against employees going after people mainly due to the risk of bodily harm (to the employee or to the suspect), and secondly the risk of lawsuit. Our first amendment rights provide us the ability to have firearms and, even if they aren't owned or carried legally, they are still easier to acquire by the fact that they're not flat out illegal across the board.

All that said, police can and will pursue leads. Most theives are repeat offenders and many of them do get caught. In the two years my wife has been Best Buy manager here in MA police have arrested about a dozen individuals stealing or attempting to steal from that store alone, some linked to drug distribution. This notion that people are just let go is false, probably for all retailers, but definitely for Best Buy.

----------

Dumb tourists get their stuff stolen cuz they do not look after their things and fall for the easiest tricks. Also our thiefs are at least in general pretty "nice" and dont threaten you with guns lol. A friend got his iPhone stolen and noticed it on time so he ran after the thief and caught up with him. The thief opened his bag with like ten iphones inside and asked which one was his and simply gave it back

I think the rest of the world has this viewpoint that everyone in the US who is getting robbed is doing so with a firearm. The vast majority of robberies occur without a weapon at all, especially when it's a personal robbery in s public or semi public place. Theives don't walk around waiving guns around screamig "give me all your money" holding out a sack for you to toss your valuable in except in Hollywood.

 

[lordofthereef]

As previously said the source is questionable considering it is an american based website. America is one of the worst places I know of when it comes to theft. America is a thief's heaven. Find me a source that says Britain is a theft hotspot and I will consider eating my words but you won't.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
http://www.ukcrimestats.com

It's a bit tough to find exact comparisons. The U.S. numbers seemed far more detailed. But when you compare similar stats, adjust for population and timespan (I agree the adjustments aren't excessively scientific), the numbers aren't drasticslly different.

I think there is theft everywhere. Theives in the US are just more brazen about it due to differences in our laws.

 

[RebornProphet]

I'm still sitting here shocked that someone actually asked Max if Italy has security cameras in their stores because they're common in the USA.

Italy isn't a backwards country with limited technology for God sakes ... talk about condescending.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm
http://www.ukcrimestats.com

It's a bit tough to find exact comparisons. The U.S. numbers seemed far more detailed. But when you compare similar stats, adjust for population and timespan (I agree the adjustments aren't excessively scientific), the numbers aren't drasticslly different.

I think there is theft everywhere. Theives in the US are just more brazen about it due to differences in our laws.

This must be another one of UK things, but what are "anti-social behaviour" crimes?

Sounds pretty vague as we have a lot of wackos around here and the police just drives them away rather than arrest them.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I'm still sitting here shocked that someone actually asked Max if Italy has security cameras in their stores because they're common in the USA.

Italy isn't a backwards country with limited technology for God sakes ... talk about condescending.

Just because the technology is available, does not mean it is being used. There are quite a different attitude to surveillance in certain countries.

 

[newellj]

Just because the technology is available, does not mean it is being used. There are quite a different attitude to surveillance in certain countries.

Exactly...some countries have much higher regard for citizens' privacy rights than we seem to have in the US, in both public and private spaces.

 

[Max(IT)]

I'm still sitting here shocked that someone actually asked Max if Italy has security cameras in their stores because they're common in the USA.

Italy isn't a backwards country with limited technology for God sakes ... talk about condescending.

Well, no offense taken
Last time I checked, Italy was still in the G8
I really love USA, being there several times each year due to my job, but I know perfectly well that there are people in the USA that don't really know anything outside USA.
I was shocked to speak with a girl that didn't know where Rome is. Literally.



----------

Exactly...some countries have much higher regard for citizens' privacy rights than we seem to have in the US, in both public and private spaces.

Security surveillance cameras are not a threat to privacy, but to robbery and violence.
In Italy they are widely used and often helped to identify and arrest many criminals.

 

[QCassidy352]

I wouldn't care about Apple. I'd care about having those brats caught. Still, I wouldn't chase them. You risk your safety, you risk getting in trouble for injuring any of them, and the laws discourage it. If you're injured while going after them, you won't get victim's compensation. And they'd probably just get a slap on the wrist if caught anyway, while you could suffer some great penalty for tackling a teenager if he is injured or if you end up having to defend yourself (especially if there are certain "racial variables" in place). Not worth it.

This is true, sadly enough. You'd get in more trouble for going after them than they'd get in for the crime itself. Pathetic, really.

 

[lordofthereef]

This must be another one of UK things, but what are "anti-social behaviour" crimes?

Sounds pretty vague as we have a lot of wackos around here and the police just drives them away rather than arrest them.

From what I gather, it links thinks like lewd conduct, animal abuse, etc into one category. I may be wrong. This is ten seconds of Google research talking on that one lol.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

From what I gather, it links thinks like lewd conduct, animal abuse, etc into one category. I may be wrong. This is ten seconds of Google research talking on that one lol.

I googled it also and there's a photo on Wiki of a posted sign warning against anti-social behavior subject to an £80 fine. Must be relatively minor if they are patrolling against that in the area.

 

[FatPuppy]

THE Apple employee told me the demo devices are all activated with an Apple account. They are unusable without a password.

Hehe

 

[tremlock]

The phones are all dual boot. 64 GB With 2 partitions. A demo mode and standard. If you check the about screen they show 32 GB. I'm sure there is a work around, but there maybe some security features in the 2nd partition.

 

[lordofthereef]

As for best buy, it was surely an employee, a big guy, and 30 seconds later two security guards took care of the thief

My wife wishes we lived in Italy lol.

 

[MH01]

Here in Europe people pay for the crimes they commit whereas in America you seem to have an "insurance will cover that" attitude. You do realise it's because of these people everyone pays higher prices. If your local area has a high level of crime then you pay more for insurance and products because the shops have to pay for the stolen goods and the more expensive insurance and the extra security. That is the reason that people try and get these ****s to prevent prices going up. Security here will follow you around and once you make it outside then the police will take over who are normally waiting outside in vehicles whilst others may be on foot so you really won't get very far.

Having moved to Europe, I don't see a difference , if anything European criminals are smarter, the people who get done the most are visitors. if anything people coming to Europe are too trusting, and criminals take advantage of that situation. Your insurance prices go up cause people break into houses and steal cars, not cause some jackass steals an iPhone from an Apple Store.