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Thieves Rob Apple Store in Massachusetts and Get Away With $13,000 Worth of iPhones
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Fair. I didn't read it. Just presumed the tethers had been removed.
Wow. Even dumber then.
It's not about the financial value, it's about the morality, robbery itself needs to be stopped on site as much as possible, so that less and less dare to even think about it.
Even if you only want to talk about it in the financial standpoint, there are a lot of financial consequences after they flea away -- the investigation costs.
I don't think the authorities wanted to stop them.
The Apple Store in the Natick Mall is right in the middle of a super confusing complex.
Even if they got out of the building quickly, leaving the parking structures/lots is time-consuming. It wouldn't have been that hard to block all the exits.
The Apple Store in the Natick Mall is right in the middle of a super confusing complex.
Even if they got out of the building quickly, leaving the parking structures/lots is time-consuming. It wouldn't have been that hard to block all the exits.
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Apple can probably "brick" the devices to the user, but still track their locations.Idiots deserve to get caught and put behind bars. Just a shame that I have to pay for their incarceration.
Yah, the phones should have a "stealth" mode where it appears that they are turned off, but secretly the GPS is still working and sending the location back to Apple headquarters. With no way to remove the battery, this could fool a lot of these fools.
This is what I expect they will do:
Steal the phones, sell them on Craigslist. When they are showing off the phone to the customer, they'll show them a functional model. When the person agrees to buy it, they will trick them into taking a disabled model. Slight of hand bait and switch.
And you can easily buy iPhone boxes on eBay. Selling for parts they won't make much. If they stole more phones then there are people, they probably are looking to sell them.
It's not Apple's employees or good samaratin's responsibility to chase after these guys and catch them. It's not worth getting hurt over and Apple is probably insurered or self insured for theft.
I'm surprised though, most of the bigger Apple Stores in MA have in-store hired security guards. I don't think I've been to the Natick Mall but I believe it's a pretty big mall. I do know Natick isn't exactly the nicest (but certainly not the worst) area outside of Boston.
Steal the phones, sell them on Craigslist. When they are showing off the phone to the customer, they'll show them a functional model. When the person agrees to buy it, they will trick them into taking a disabled model. Slight of hand bait and switch.
And you can easily buy iPhone boxes on eBay. Selling for parts they won't make much. If they stole more phones then there are people, they probably are looking to sell them.
It's not Apple's employees or good samaratin's responsibility to chase after these guys and catch them. It's not worth getting hurt over and Apple is probably insurered or self insured for theft.
I'm surprised though, most of the bigger Apple Stores in MA have in-store hired security guards. I don't think I've been to the Natick Mall but I believe it's a pretty big mall. I do know Natick isn't exactly the nicest (but certainly not the worst) area outside of Boston.
We are being delusional if we believe these kids will face any serious consequences for their actions.
Thieves are pretty stupid in general ... which is why they're thieves.
This idea is stupid. Not you, the idea. Monumentally stupid and unnecessarily dangerous. That's the morality you should be concerned about in this situation. Why do you think banks, stores, restaurants, etc. all have policies dictating their employees should never ever try to intervene in a robbery? Because the potential for disaster far outweighs the potential of lost revenue. Only a selfish idiot would risk not only his/her life, but other customers and employees as well. And for what? Some consumer electronics that are easily written off and replaced. That's asinine.
And the idea that acts like that would make a criminal think about not committing the crime? No amount of mental gymnastics can make that idea hold water. That's not how real life works. Could it make a criminal come more prepared to deal with idiot heroes? Possibly. Think about it. If the threat of incarceration doesn't deter crime, what makes you think Bill from accounting will have an affect?
tl;dr bad idea is bad idea because bad idea is bad.
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So you're saying Jobs went to hell? And he's an Android user too?!?!
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I worked in Loss Prevention for years and we were heavily trained on verbal tactics when confronting a shoplifter. We were not allowed to make physical contact with the suspect, PERIOD, if you did, it was immediate termination.
Mainly being for two reasons, you now have proven your a liability to yourself and the Company. Second, the suspect could make an injury or harassment claim against the company, potentially winning being they could claim you, the employee, caused "Injury." Loss Prevention isn't the Police, where they are trained on defense and arrest tactics.
Best advice, let them go, gain as much information as possible (Direction of travel, description, license plates.)
Not to be a cynic, but that's probably one of the main reasons companies don't want employees intervening: liability. It's much better to lose $13K in merchandise than to payout $130K to some sketchy criminal who hurt his back wrestling with store clerk. Worse even, another customer could get injured. There's just so many bad things that can happen in that scenario. Like you said, the police are trained to handle that. Not Eric, from Footlocker who just happens to be looking at Apple Waches on his 15 minute break.
NIB... with no box, no documentation, no charger, no cable, no headphones. Oh, half of a security cable still attached, if that's worth anything. Can you clarify how anyone would accept this as NIB?
I'm pretty sure Apple will re-think its decision to remove the tethers. I have never liked the Apple Store layout, and this is one of the many reasons why. It's random chaos when its busy and the employees have very little control. If they remove the tethers, it will be just a matter of time before someone decides to play Capt. America and ends up in the hospital.
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Eh, I don't think that's gonna change. That "roam free feel" is probably providing a lot of value to Apple's brand -- more than enough, I'm sure, to offset a few things like this.
$50K sounds like a lot to you and me, but for a company like Apple, it's an insignificant decimal point on a balance sheet.
Well, if you only scrolled down, you would have seen this a few posts later
Maybe a superhero would have instantly realized what was going on, and, with cat-like reflexes and ultra-speed, jumped to tackle the nearest thief. Or two, wham-wham-wham! Perhaps you are one yourself, in which case I understand your confusion. But most of us ordinary schlubs would take a second or two to realize what was happening, and by then those smash-and-grab thieves would have been gone.
So true. When I worked for one of the four major carriers, two retail employees were fired for trying to help an Apple employee with a thief.
Or, for phones running the special demo software load they use in the stores, just code it so that any time they are not connected to the Apple-provided in-store WiFi network, the screen displays an Apple logo and, in big letters, "THIS PHONE BELONGS TO APPLE, PLEASE RETURN TO THE APPLE STORE AT 123 MAIN STREET, CITY, STATE OR CALL (800) 555-1234", and won't do ANYTHING else (no option for logging in, deactivating, reloading, nothing - once back on the proper network, it can be maintained by store personnel as needed).Yah, the phones should have a "stealth" mode where it appears that they are turned off, but secretly the GPS is still working and sending the location back to Apple headquarters. With no way to remove the battery, this could fool a lot of these fools.
And have it do a periodic (and on startup) challenge/response connection to an Apple server, which can check that it is directly connected to the proper store network (or, obviously, testing networks back at HQ), so thieves can't try to just mimic Apple's SSID. If it connects to the Apple server and is determined not to be directly on an Apple Store's network, it reports its GPS coordinates. If it is in "return me to the store" mode, have it also listen continuously for a signal from Apple's server telling them to go into continuous screech mode. Then Apple can tell the police, "the 19 phones are at address such and such, and in 10 minutes they're gonna start making a heck of a racket." But even if they're kept off the Internet, any prospective buyer will want to see the phone turned on, and the screen will loudly declare that the phone is Apple's property.
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