4 ms·

Thieves cut hole in a bathroom wall, steal $500k worth of items from Apple Store

20 points by mikece 4y ago

bell-cot 4y ago
$500k worth of E-Z-Fence inventory on hand, and Apple couldn't be bothered to have a burglar alarm with motion sensors? The tiny (under 20 employees) firm that I was working for 30 years ago had motion sensors.
- KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
  What purpose is a burglar alarm going to serve in a Seattle suburb? The police are not going to come running and engage in a car chase or arrest them with prejudice. At best you get a report for the insurance write-off. Private security won't do anything either for fear of lawsuits. This isn't Texas where theft and larceny can be pursued by private citizens with lethal force. The iDevices will brick themselves automatically in time. The only items the thieves can profit from are the accessories and parts.
  - addisonl 4y ago
    > The police are not going to come running and engage in a car chase or arrest them with prejudice You’re creating quite the straw man here, no one said anything about a police chase but you. Just having the police show up will cut the burglary short, instead they were able to take their time and steal hundreds of boxes.
    - genocidicbunny 4y ago
      > Just having the police show up will cut the burglary short Pretty sure the parent was alluding to the likelihood that the police show up at all not being 100%, nevermind showing up on time to cut the burglary short.
      - addisonl 4y ago
        Maybe they would maybe they wouldn’t—I’m not going to waste my time debating police response times. But they definitely won’t show up if you have a shit security system.
- bsder 4y ago
  500 iPhones that are about to become tracking targets for the police, you mean. And, what are you going to do if the motion sensor goes off? Send an employee (not hardly)? Call the police automatically (too many false alarms)? I laugh about "organized"--sure they wore masks and gloves. But they stole iPhones when the eminently easier to fence MacBooks were sitting right next to them. WTF?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
mwint 4y ago
Does anyone know what happens next? I assume Apple has a plan for stolen stuff, knows all the taken serial numbers, and those devices aren’t going to be much good to anyone?
- alden5 4y ago
  yea i'm fairly certain activation lock would prevent the phones from working, one interesting fact is that they can disable accessories based off the serial number, iphones won't connect to an accessory if apple identifies it as banned which is the meaning behind those "accessory not compatible" messages. this happened a while back when apple bricked all those 2-in-1 lightning passthrough + headphone jack adapters overnight with a software update, but even if they could i doubt they'd do it to their own cables.
- vinceguidry 4y ago
  They sell the devices to people who have no reason to suspect they've been stolen, but the devices are deactivated by Apple and they won't work. Thieves get their money, ordinary people get the shaft. Just like regular capitalism.
gabrielsroka 4y ago
Sounds like the plot to this movie. Or maybe it's been done many times before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Time_Crooks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Time_Crooks
- Arrath 4y ago
  You've got everything from an episode of Bones, to the Coen Bro's Ladykillers, to Conan Doyle's Red-Headed League. It's a popular method, at least in media.
squokko 4y ago
Can't Apple invalidate these devices remotely and make them unable to use any Apple services?
- olyjohn 4y ago
  Think of all the ad revenue and app store sales they could lose though.
vkdelta 4y ago
Can apple invalidate parts of iPhones?
exabrial 4y ago
Television is the explanation for this. You see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life, professionals don't do that.
- phendrenad2 4y ago
  No true burglar?
  - exabrial 4y ago
    Boondock Saints
MichaelZuo 4y ago
> In total, the thieves made out with around $500,000 worth of Apple products. This included “approximately 436 iPhones” as well as a collection of Apple Watch and iPad models. Apparently, the thieves weren’t interested in the Mac. Interesting that the Macs are not even worth their time. I heard there was some change to attach a serial number to each part, so this might be why they can't even sell them as spare parts?

20 points by mikece 4y ago

$500k worth of E-Z-Fence inventory on hand, and Apple couldn't be bothered to have a burglar alarm with motion sensors? The tiny (under 20 employees) firm that I was working for 30 years ago had motion sensors.

KRAKRISMOTT 4y ago
What purpose is a burglar alarm going to serve in a Seattle suburb? The police are not going to come running and engage in a car chase or arrest them with prejudice. At best you get a report for the insurance write-off. Private security won't do anything either for fear of lawsuits. This isn't Texas where theft and larceny can be pursued by private citizens with lethal force. The iDevices will brick themselves automatically in time. The only items the thieves can profit from are the accessories and parts.
- addisonl 4y ago
  > The police are not going to come running and engage in a car chase or arrest them with prejudice You’re creating quite the straw man here, no one said anything about a police chase but you. Just having the police show up will cut the burglary short, instead they were able to take their time and steal hundreds of boxes.
  - genocidicbunny 4y ago
    > Just having the police show up will cut the burglary short Pretty sure the parent was alluding to the likelihood that the police show up at all not being 100%, nevermind showing up on time to cut the burglary short.
    - addisonl 4y ago
      Maybe they would maybe they wouldn’t—I’m not going to waste my time debating police response times. But they definitely won’t show up if you have a shit security system.
bsder 4y ago
500 iPhones that are about to become tracking targets for the police, you mean. And, what are you going to do if the motion sensor goes off? Send an employee (not hardly)? Call the police automatically (too many false alarms)? I laugh about "organized"--sure they wore masks and gloves. But they stole iPhones when the eminently easier to fence MacBooks were sitting right next to them. WTF?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

mwint 4y ago

Does anyone know what happens next? I assume Apple has a plan for stolen stuff, knows all the taken serial numbers, and those devices aren’t going to be much good to anyone?

alden5 4y ago
yea i'm fairly certain activation lock would prevent the phones from working, one interesting fact is that they can disable accessories based off the serial number, iphones won't connect to an accessory if apple identifies it as banned which is the meaning behind those "accessory not compatible" messages. this happened a while back when apple bricked all those 2-in-1 lightning passthrough + headphone jack adapters overnight with a software update, but even if they could i doubt they'd do it to their own cables.
vinceguidry 4y ago
They sell the devices to people who have no reason to suspect they've been stolen, but the devices are deactivated by Apple and they won't work. Thieves get their money, ordinary people get the shaft. Just like regular capitalism.

gabrielsroka 4y ago

Sounds like the plot to this movie. Or maybe it's been done many times before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Time_Crooks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Time_Crooks

Arrath 4y ago
You've got everything from an episode of Bones, to the Coen Bro's Ladykillers, to Conan Doyle's Red-Headed League. It's a popular method, at least in media.

squokko 4y ago

Can't Apple invalidate these devices remotely and make them unable to use any Apple services?

olyjohn 4y ago
Think of all the ad revenue and app store sales they could lose though.

vkdelta 4y ago

Can apple invalidate parts of iPhones?

exabrial 4y ago

Television is the explanation for this. You see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life, professionals don't do that.

phendrenad2 4y ago
No true burglar?
- exabrial 4y ago
  Boondock Saints

MichaelZuo 4y ago

> In total, the thieves made out with around $500,000 worth of Apple products. This included “approximately 436 iPhones” as well as a collection of Apple Watch and iPad models. Apparently, the thieves weren’t interested in the Mac. Interesting that the Macs are not even worth their time. I heard there was some change to attach a serial number to each part, so this might be why they can't even sell them as spare parts?