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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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An Apple Retail Store located in Kurfürstendamm, Berlin was the site of a smash-and-grab robbery earlier this morning, reports Bild.de [Google Translate]. At 4:15 AM, thieves reportedly crashed an Opel Corsa supermini automobile into the store and proceeded to steal display iPhones, iPads, and computers before fleeing in two Audis.

berlinapplestoresmashed2.jpg

The report also notes that there have been seven such robberies in Berlin as of late, including a heist at the Alexa shopping mall located in Alexanderplatz, Berlin where theives made off with over 100,000 euros worth of goods.

With Apple gadgets fetching a high price on the secondary market, thefts of individual devices in muggings are common. However, organized robberies on Apple Retail Stores are usually uncommon.

berlinapplestoresmashed1-800x449.jpg

The smash-and-grab robbery on the Kurfürstendamm Apple Store is also similar to the robbery that took place at Apple's Promenade Temecula retail store in Temecula, California last year, where robbers also used a car to obliterate the entire front glass and security grating of the store before making off with merchandise. It is likely that the Kurfürstendamm store will close for cleanup and repair for a short while before opening to the public again.

Article Link: Berlin Apple Retail Store Smashed by Car, Display Merchandise Stolen
 
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Fondaparinux

macrumors member
Jul 13, 2013
81
58
You don't see that happening on Samsung stores.

Apparently, Samsung products aren't wanted enough.
 

Gudi

Suspended
May 3, 2013
4,590
3,264
Berlin, Berlin
No, it's not worth much. They took about 20 items, among them iPods and iPads. [1]
The damage at the car and at the door may well be higher than that.
 

b0nd18t

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2012
307
814
If you're going to make all your buildings out of glass, you need cement pillars or this will always happen.
 

scrmtrey

macrumors regular
Mar 28, 2013
218
15
I am sure that opel corsa is not from any of the "thieves". They stole the car on the street for the job. :D

The two getaway car (audi) , are from transporter movie.
 

WaxedJacket

macrumors 6502a
Oct 18, 2013
690
1,071
Isn't it pointless to steel from an apple store since they can remotely brick any device cataloged there?
 

mw360

macrumors 68020
Aug 15, 2010
2,032
2,395
If you're going to make all your buildings out of glass, you need cement pillars or this will always happen.

The building appears to be made out of concrete, although it does have those pesky openings where the customers go in and out.
 
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bbeagle

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2010
3,539
2,972
Buffalo, NY
If you're going to make all your buildings out of glass, you need cement pillars or this will always happen.

It's always a business decision. Spend all your money finding all the ways to protect your building or buy insurance. Whichever is cheapest, companies use.

Like banks - Banks used to hire security guards to protect against bank robberies. But then robbers would bring in guns, injure and kill people, take $10,000. This also cost the banks money through lawsuits from customers and higher insurance premiums to pay for injured workers. So what do they do now? Simply install a security camera, and give anyone who walks in and hands the teller a note (no weapon need be shown) - $500.

It's cheaper this way, and there's a safer work environment. Employees know what to do. No crazy stuff happens anymore. It's easier for criminals, but eventually being on the security cameras enough, they'll be caught.

It's amazing, what seems so wrong at first, is the most logical route to go.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,544
6,042
Yeah, good luck guys! Apple can easily locate every i-Gadget, when it goes online.

Which isn't actually helpful to Apple. The criminals steal the Apple products, then sell them to customers who don't know any better, then all Apple catches if they try tracking them down is the customer who bought it, not the criminal. The criminal, meanwhile, had a cash transaction and vanished afterwards. Bam. Done. Not catchable. There's other ways they could be caught, of course, but everything can be similarly avoided.
 

praetorian909

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2004
279
91
Been a while since I last heard about a smash & grab.

With iOS 7, couldn't Find my iPhone now render all of those iPhones/iPads useless?
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,544
6,042
It's always a business decision. Spend all your money finding all the ways to protect your building or buy insurance. Whichever is cheapest, companies use.

Like banks - Banks used to hire security guards to protect against bank robberies. But then robbers would bring in guns, injure and kill people, take $10,000. This also cost the banks money through lawsuits from customers and higher insurance premiums to pay for injured workers. So what do they do now? Simply install a security camera, and give anyone who walks in and hands the teller a note (no weapon need be shown) - $500.

It's cheaper this way, and there's a safer work environment. Employees know what to do. No crazy stuff happens anymore. It's easier for criminals, but eventually being on the security cameras enough, they'll be caught.

It's amazing, what seems so wrong at first, is the most logical route to go.

Apple seems to have a particularly large issue with cars smashing through their glass. They should come up with a design that minimizes that risk... surely someone in the world has invented car-resistant glass?
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
Hope they get away with it. Sure is worth some, good luck guys.

Why would you wish that? I'd really love to hear your arguments for that. They stole someone's car and smashed it up, which is a costly inconvenience just before Christmas. They caused huge damages, which will be paid from insurance that we all pay for. OK, going to jail is expensive, so what about if they get shot by the fence they are trying to sell the stuff to instead of getting paid. :D

----------

Which isn't actually helpful to Apple. The criminals steal the Apple products, then sell them to customers who don't know any better, then all Apple catches if they try tracking them down is the customer who bought it, not the criminal. The criminal, meanwhile, had a cash transaction and vanished afterwards. Bam. Done. Not catchable. There's other ways they could be caught, of course, but everything can be similarly avoided.

If Apple _could_ find these devices and take them away from people who unwittingly bought them, that would actually quite quickly kill the market for such devices.
 

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
I don't care about the few ipads, iphones and old macs they got hold of. They will be locked down or tracked easily enough on reactivation. Also tbh Apple won't bother. All they got is some dirty, grimy display models that have been used hundreds of thousands of times.... Yay >.>

My first and only concern was that the building wasnt damaged by these idiots. Luckily it looks like they missed the surrounding brickwork of the door. The real treasure in Apple stores are
The beautiful stores themselves. A few display models won't be cared about.
 

835153

Guest
Aug 5, 2013
116
1
I like how you Americans call the Corsa a 'super-mini'. It's not a big car but its definitely not supermini. It seats four people without problems. Hehe.
 
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