Slashdot Mirror
How Not to Steal a Sidekick
timmit was one of many readers to point out the story of a stolen Sidekick, writing with this excerpt from the site: ""When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves." I can sympathize, after someone with the address Rmluckyguy@aol.com tried to sell me back the Visor Deluxe stolen from my car last year in Philadelphia. I hope Evan has better luck.
Did a subscriber get a look at the page [before it disappeared]?
That website was running on the stolen Sidekick, you insensitive clod!
[
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but diggers can beat the rush and see it early!
I'm not sure where the SideKick is, but the fat dude in the pictures needs to hop on that exercise bike out on the porch.
EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
Posting rmluckyguy@aol.com 's email to the front page of slashdot is one way to get revenge I suppose. My guess is that email address just became unusable.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
It's still up now... *blink*
--
http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/
June 6th, 2006: The people in the pictures below have my friend's T-Mobile Sidekick. Instead of doing the honorable thing when finding someone's phone in a taxi, they instead kept it.
I have found 8 cell phones in the last couple years in taxis. EVERY single one I have contacted the owner (by leaving a message on their voice mail or by answering their phone and telling their friends that I have the phone) and returned it promptly. When people have found my phone, they have also in turn returned it.
When my friend realized that she had left the Sidekick in the taxi she asked me to immediately send a message to the phone saying that we would give a reward for the phone. There was no response. After a day of waiting, she had to go to the store and spend over $300 on a new Sidekick. When she put her SIM card in, she saw that the person(s) that had taken the phone had not only signed on to AOL leaving their name and password in the phone, but they had taken pictures of themselves.
I immediately contacted the AOL name: Sashacristal8905 and requested that the Sidekick be returned. I was immediately told that my "white ass" didn't deserve it back. That she was not a "white bitch" (my friend who is a blonde white girl had pics on the phone this person had obviously seen) stupid enough to return a phone she found. After lots of threats, she said she and her boy would wait for me at:
Sashacristal8905: i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it
So, anyways..this is my story. If you happen to know these people in the picture please let me know at: stolensidekick@gmail.com I am not going to go to the address posted above, because a.) Not going to waste my time going to a probable fake address b.) If it is real, there will be a physical altercation and I would probably wind up arrested which would do no good to anyone. I'd rather just embarrass the thief as much as possible. Teach them a lesson on the etiquette of returning peoples lost belongings.
UPDATE #1: Thanx to some cyberwork of friends, found out they have a Myspace acct: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=us er.viewprofile&friendID=78722066
UPDATE #2: Some people are asking how we have their pics and AOL name. The way a Sidekick works, is that when you use it, all the data on it get's uploaded automatically to the T-Mobile server. So pictures you have taken, AOL names and passwords u have used, etc are all on the server. So when my friend turned on her new Sidekick and put her new SIM card in, all the data downloaded on to her phone. And that's how we have everything.
Some people also suggested this may be a ploy of some kind. If you notice, there are NO ads on this website. There are NO outside links besides the one to their MySpace page. I am only doing this to bring embarrassment to people who have no moral value in this world.
UPDATE #3: More questions answered. My friend left her Sidekick II in a taxi inManhattan (where we live). The person(s) that took it live in Corona Queens which is part of NYC. As for contacting the police, a NYPD officer has contacted me already (he found this link on a blog) and informed me how to handle this situation. My friend and I will stop by a police station tomorrow with the receipt and serial. Another friend at T-Mobile has already gotten us the records we need to prove that these people took the phone as well as the numbers that they called with it. Right now, I am more concerned about spreading this story. I want people to realize that what goes around, comes around. If you find a phone in a taxi or elsewhere.. it is NOT yours.. return it....and when u lose an item, then the same will happen for u.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
at its finest. "i got ball this is my adress 108 20 37 av corona come n do it iam give u the sidekick so I can hit you wit it" awesome.
Ok, let's give the alleged thieves the benefit of the doubt. No matter what their story (and isn't it interesting to see how their stories change), it should be quite clear to them now that the Sidekick does not belong to them, and whether purchased from someone or found, they now have an object that has been reported stolen, making them accessories, no matter how you cut it. IANAL, but it doesn't take a shark to smell blood.
What makes this truly outrageous is that it doesn't occur to them that they've been found out. Thanks to Evan's website, everyone and his uncle knows about this:
From the web site:Update #12: June 7th, 7:00 p.m. eastern Sorry for the lack of updates...I answered emails till 1 p.m. and then had to leave to work...But I made it a short day so I could come back and give everyone an update..Wasn't that nice of me :-) Anyways.... I see that I have over 900 emails since 1 p.m. I will try and answer as many as I can. I will also add all the links you sent me to the ones below...I quickly scrolled though and must have counted at least 100-200 new links. I also have received emails from people offering me ISP hosting...As of right now, I should be good. I have unlimited bandwidth with this company...and so far I have not gotten the "digg" effect.(almost 3,200 at least count!). I have also talked to some radio stations. New York's 1010 WINS being one of them. Interviews are being scheduled for this week.
They might have been able to save face once they were "caught," but now it's going to be impossible. What's worse, they're stupid enough to keep using the thing, compounding their trouble!
It goes to show the power of the Internet though; once something is out there, the information is global in minutes. And there are pictures! These folks are not going to be able to hide for a long time... unless they wind up in a penitentiary somewhere.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
It's been running for a couple days (the whole thing started on the 6th), but I think slashdot finally took it over the edge. The pics are/were nothing special, a young latina (mexican american?) girl, a really big mexican guy. Sorry, no porn. There were some links to the girl, her boyfriend, and the fat guy's myspace pages, for those that get off on geocities-level craptacular page layouts.
The whole thing is a giant internet pissing contest. Initially it was funny, and I hope the guy gets his sidekick back, but at the same time there's a whole lot of internet lawyering going on there that's pretty childish. The back and forth between the owner and the people that have the sidekick has gone on for about a day too long. It was funny to see the theives act like idiots, it was funny to see the owner thump them. But now it's down to a guy arguing with idiots and getting beaten by experience. The guy needs to realize that nothing he says is going make these folks magically wake up and say "OMFG, I was so wrong. Here's your phone back, sorry for the trouble. Peace be with you."
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
I love how this goes to show how easy it is for anyone to find out information about you, and the people you know with social networking sites. You had better think twice about creating a myspace page if ever engage in any kind of criminal activity no matter seemingly small or insigificant it is. Granted the people who were involved here were exceedingly stupid. Cue up the "stupidity of people on myspace" jokes....
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -Hunter S. Thompson
as leno would say, What doi love? STUPID CRIMINALS. People like this exist simply for the amusement of the rest of us.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Z.
I was watching a police videos show the other day and they had a segment on a copuple of teens who were drving around some town at night with paint ball guns and doing "drive bys" on unsuspecting pedestrians. And to top it all off they were video taping the whole thing and had lots of colourful narrative to go with the action.
This all came to an end with their last victim who they "shot" in full view of a police cruiser (which you actually see on the tape)
Man my jaw dropped. I was astounded at their level of stupidity.
Mind you the Dumb and Dumber bank robbers in Denver made me laugh my ass off as well. Although not in this article, I do remember that they were caught with pictures of themselves in "gansta" poses hlding their "loot"
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Yes, stealing someone's cell phone is very wrong. Obviously it needs to be returned to its rightful owner (ie. the person who bought it.) and it's strange that the thief hasn't just admitted it and taken the cell phone over to the owner.
However, it looks to me like the young girl in the pictures may be somewhat innocent. Let's call them Mr. Army and Ms. Booty, just to make it easier (any similarity in naming between real life and the monikers is purely accidental... no really.) Mr. Army says, ostensibly, that a cabbie sold it to him. I doubt that's true. They also say that Mr. Army gave it to Ms. Booty as a present. That's probably what happened. And she got a SIM card and took some pictures and logged onto her AOL and now this guy takes her and shows her to the world as if she's a monster. The person who deserves the world's ire is the thief, Mr. Army.
He really needs to own up to the situation. If he bought it from a cabbie, he had to know it was stolen. And if he stole it himself, well... the best thing he can do now is take the phone back and apologize. Anything else is just prolonging the inevitable, and possibly getting him a larger sentence, should Mr. Shamer choose to press charges.
I feel like Ms. Booty is at least somewhat innocent. As it stands now, it would appear that she knows the phone is stolen, but obviously she's young, and judging by the fact that she has a child, probably none too bright, and easily swayed by Mr. Army's persuasion. This is a black mark on her life that will follow her around for many years to come. I'm sure she will have to endure some harsh judgement from her peers at school, and I'm not absolutely certain she deserves that.
And now that Mr. Shamer has rejected offers for free webhosting 'gone over his current provider's bandwidth cap' and put up a donation link, it amounts to little more than a cry for cash.
I feel sorry for everyone involved.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. . . . . . . .
Yes. Theft of lost property is usually called "theft by unlawful taking".
If you leave a phone in a taxi, can you really consider it 'stolen'?
If the person who finds it uses the service that they're not authorized to use, I would imagine that counts for something in the realm of stealing.
Say you find a wallet full of cash. I'm not sure of the legality of keeping it for yourself, and it's a jerky thing to do anyway , but it's definitely illegal to try to use the credit cards that you're not authorized to use. Using their phone service without permission is probably similar.
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
Honestly now, what do you expect? /*ducks
Exactly. And the thieves are dead wrong thinking NYPD has bigger fish to fry. NYPD dispatched a detective to come and arrest an employee at my mom's shop in Manhattan who skimmed $38 from the till. We had the whole thing on the surveillance DVR. Basically, if you collect good evidence and hand them a case that they can chalk up a win on, they will do it. I think our boy has done exactly that. They will be in custody soon. The funny thing is how they multiplied this from a simple misunderstanding where they could have said "sorry, here's your Sidekick back", to now having multiple charges to answer to. I wouldn't put it past an NYC ADA to subpoena a paternity test to see if the guy should be charged with statutory rape.
cat
Once the rightful owner contacts you requesting its return, and you flat-out refuse because their "white ass doesn't deserve it", yes. At that point it's stolen.
They're scum for not returning it. They're idiots for not returning it when a reward was offered.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
1. Find some partners to "steal" your sidekick.
2. Create a story about how they are ethically challenged.
3. Crow about how you had to buy another one and these people are bad.
4. Reluctantly put up a Paypal account to collect money for "incurred costs".
5. wait for the naive techno fans to queue up to "help the cause".
6. Profit!!!
Assuming 2000 people give her $1 and 6 other people involved, now everybody has free sidekicks!
Hey, that's better than most mid 90's internet startups!
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Check out the MySpace account they found:
s er.viewprofile&friendID=78722066
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=u
The goggles they do nothing etc. Worst site I have seen in a while.
More seriously, it erodes your belief in the basic goodness of people, and hardens your attitude to certain classes of people, when you see such poor specimens of human beings as these.
${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
I've been following this since the day it happened (not long ago anyway) and I am beginning to suspect that this may be a fake, and even if it isn't, Boy what a great con idea.
Hear me out
The guy continually writes that he's not looking for fame and fortune, but goes on to list all the people who have pointed this out and what news outlets are looking to interview him. Bemoans the fact that he isn't on TV yet, and says he's not looking for fame in the same breath. Hmmm...
He then goes on to state over and over that he's not looking for money. That people suggested putting up a donation link, but he won't do it.... yet he doesn't hesitate to supply information regarding what everything costs over and over. Now, finally, that the number of people viewing has grown large enough he springs the 'Okay, you can donate, but only if you can afford it.'
Maybe I'm too cynical, but what's to stop someone living in corona (maybe it's the girl in the pics!) from pulling something like this? Set up a few phony myspace accounts and boom, good to go. You can make thousands off of the internet donation effect... why not?
I suppose this isn't technically stealing
Maybe not, but posession of stolen property is a felony. They know that it's stolen property. There's a police report filed regarding the stolen property. T-Mobile is apparently going to shut off the service, which means they're convinced it's stolen property.
If this guy really is an MP then he's putting his military career in jeopardy. This is the sort of thing that could get him booted out of the military, possibly after a trip to the brig, and undoubtedly with a dishonorable discharge.
If the army soldier WarriorPena84@aol.com did in fact write and send this, he is going to be attending the UCMJ School of Hard Knocks, and that is going to suck:
"listen you dumb mother fucker my sister bought that phone from some cab driver so what the fuck do you want . shes not going to return it if she bought it, and am military police so dont give me that bullshit about you going to the cops over a lost phone the nypd has better things to do then to worry about your friend losing her phone. you better stop harrasing my sister or you'll have to deal with me and you dont want that"
Shows a lack of impulse control, immaturity, and absence of sound judgement: given the mutlple recent international incidents our military has been involved in, I truly hope they take away his weapon privileges, and soon.
I am not a JAG, but, there are about a dozen things they can charge him with there, from 'conduct unbecoming', to making a threat, conspiracy, etc. Not good.
They should turn him over to the grammar and spelling Nazis too....
It seems like a new trend to get things like this "public" in order to get back to the offenders, using the open and more and more community-like nature of the internet.
I wouldn't be surpriced if in a while these you-are-a-criminal-bitch! webpages start popping up plentyful as people seem to feel they "can do something" and hunting the offenders down, having direct result as it exposes them in their own social network (blog/myspace/...) having a bigger impact (a "most in my direct environment and social network dissaproved" vs. "some stupid cop 'caught me'") or perhaps, for some, it's way to be able to mock someone. It's fascinating to see it resembling an old custom where criminals were publically humiliated and displayed on the townsquare for everyone to enjoy.
The guy with the laptop distressed me and I felt relief him getting exposed in his questionable activities. It really looked like the guy explicitely intended to sell some broken laptop and profit off of it. Judging from the pictures though, this girl seems to be rather young and lower class, just wanting to get in on the whole technology gadgets-train and saw an opportunity. I don't approve of it, and think she just should've given the sideKick back without going all racist and intimidating over it. But it seems less of a threat. Although, it appeared she felt "untouchable" by the way she communicated back. I suppose being critisized by a wold-audience personally adressed to you will do more then a criminal record which means in certain circles how "tough" and "gansta" you are.
I do wonder what the long term damage will be as many companies track your name on the internet before hiring...
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
If that gadget were her only phone number (which is increasingly the case with people it seems), I can definitely understand.
Not returning something when you know it doesn't belong to you, and additionally using the phone service that someone else paid for is theft. If I find a bike laying in the street and I pick it up and walk off with it, even though there's a kid yelling and chasing me and saying that it's his and he just left it there for a minute, then yeah, I just stole his bike.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
They FOUND the phone. They aren't guilty of a crime.
Guess again. Since they know whose it is, they have a legal duty to surrender the property to its rightful owner.
So, what exactly are the police supposed to do about it?
They're supposed to restore the property to its owner, and possibly arrest the person who "found" it, if she refuses to give it up.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Some thieves stole a camera, among other things, and spent the rest of the night taking pictures of themselves
committing other crimes.
One of them was caught a few days later, with my camera. The police returned my camera, and when I checked the memory card, I found that it contained a number of pictures of the two guys who had taken pictures of each other, breaking into cars and houses, all very clear and recognizable. It was obvious that the police had not inspected the camera memory.
The guy that was caught, had tried to claim that the camera was his, and when they pressed him with the evidence they had, he eventually admitted to one car break-in, and insisted he was alone. The date-stamped images on my camera told a different story. It was actually very satisfying to show this stuff to the detective. But, he made it clear to me that thieves doing stupid things is not at all unusual.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Why doesn't the vendor have some authentication and location system for phones that are reported stolen? It's not like T-Mobile doesn't know exactly where the device is located.
Oh wait...this way they get to sell another phone. Question answered.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
That just gave me a wonderful idea for my Slashdot sig. I should be accepting PayPal donations for all the lost work /. has resulted in.
Kind of like a woman is dumb enough to dress in a short skirt and be out at night and she is raped she got what she deserved?
Sorry but have a phone fall out of your purse or your pocket is an accident. Keeping one that you know isn't yours is theft.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Already three forums have been overflowed by the traffic. I made a Google Group that definitely can handle the load:
http://groups.google.com/group/stolensidekick
Please mod up so people will become aware of this. I've already sent Evan an e-mail.
New York State Consolidated Laws ... ... ... ... ... ...
TITLE J
OFFENSES INVOLVING THEFT
ARTICLE 155
LARCENY
S 155.00 Larceny; definitions of terms.
The following definitions are applicable to this title:
7-c. "Access device" means any telephone calling card number, credit
card number, account number, mobile identification number, electronic
serial number or personal identification number that can be used to
obtain telephone service.
S 155.05 Larceny; defined.
1. A person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to
deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or to
a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property
from an owner thereof.
2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of
another`s property, with the intent prescribed in subdivision one of
this section, committed in any of the following ways:
(b) By acquiring lost property.
A person acquires lost property when he exercises control over
property of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or to
have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipient
or the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonable
measures to return such property to the owner;
S 155.30 Grand larceny in the fourth degree.
A person is guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree when he
steals property and when:
1. The value of the property exceeds one thousand dollars; or
10. The property consists of an access device which the person intends
to use unlawfully to obtain telephone service.
Grand larceny in the fourth degree is a class E felony.
i like that you stole text from an article on theft :D lol
4B4556494E
The subject is now in jail with 2 felony charges and some misdemeanor charges.
Here's how it went down. A week ago I was at a gas station talking with my fiancee in the car while the tank was filling up. My phone was on the sidepocket of the door (the armrest thing on the door) and the door was open. I know, stupid move. But I had been really paranoid about losing it cause I had just bought it so I was checking on it every 30 seconds ago so I figured it was safe enough. The tank finally finished filling so I exited the car and that's when I noticed that my phone was missing.
I did that whole thing where you check the ground and your pockets and begin to freak out. Then I remembered some dude had walked right by our car maybe 30 seconds before I saw it missing. I looked on the other side of our pump and there was this 40+ something Hispanic gangsta dude with tattoos all on his neck asking some people for money for his "Car that broke down."
In his breast pocket I could see what appeared to be the outline of my phone. He saw me looking at him and approached me and gave me some cockeyed story about how he ran out of gas and if I could only spare a dollar or so it would really help him. I told him I was busy at the moment if he would wait for me "over there" (out of earshot) I would be with him and maybe I could help him.
I looked at my fiancée and said, "Call my cellphone."
She asks what's going on.
I tell her just to do it.
So she calls my phone.
As I approach the guy I hear, clear as day, the techno ringtone coming from his breast pocket.
Damn I love how loud that thing is.
I get in his face and tell him to give me my phone back.
He looks confused.
I point at his pocket and say, "You stole my phone, give it now."
He pulls it out of his pocket, gives it to me, and says, "Oh no man, I found this over there." (points to the opposite side of the gas station).
"No you f*cking didn't. You stole that phone from me asshole. Don't play stupid fess up."
"No man, I don't know what you are talking about. Look, can you spare me some money or what?" [he's trying to avoid the discussion]
"You just f*cking stole my cell phone. You know how much that thing cost me? What, you think I'm rich or something?"
At this point everyone in the gas station is looking at us cause I'm berating this punk and getting ready for a showdown.
"Dude, if you don't want to help me that's fine."
He starts walking across the street to another gas station to evade me.
I look at my fiancée and say, "Call 911."
I chase after the guy and call 911 myself and explain to the dispatcher what is happening. I'm no more than 5 feet behind this guy at all times while he's trying to evade me and people are wondering what's going on. At one point he comes at me in a threatening manner saying, "Man- Who you on the phone with!?" I tell him I'm calling the police.
The dude runs back across the street and I run back after him weaving through traffic. He gets in a nice newer Nissan Maxima and I jump in front of the car and read off the plates to the dispatcher. The asshole tries to run me over with his f*cking car, peels out, and speeds away.
By this time everyone in the gas station is in total awe looking at what unfolded before them.
It takes forever to get the Sheriffs there but I'm pleased with the way they respond and handle the situation. They take a report from myself and witnesses. They later call me and tell me the license plate was registered to this guy's daughter. They went to her address and she told him to check at the ex-wife's. When they get there they find the dude. They discover heroin paraphernalia in his vehicle.
They book him with Theft, drug, and assault with a deadly weapon (his car).
What a day.
The dude picked the wrong guy to f*ck with. In two weeks I'll be in police academy.
Watch out for your stuff people. People are not always as they seem.