Not to nitpick this brilliant comment, but it's more of an iterated prisoner's dilemma over multiple thefts. If one expected the charade to go on forever then t

Not to nitpick this brilliant comment, but it's more of an iterated prisoner's dilemma over multiple thefts. If one expected the charade to go on forever then the optimal strategy is indeed TFT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat) but a criminal well-advised in game theory could calculate a threshold gain beyond which it is optimal to compete.