Slashdot Mirror
Thieves Clear Out NJ Apple Store In 31 Seconds
theodp writes "An amazing surveillance tape of a burglary in progress at a New Jersey Apple Store shows five perps in masks smashing the plate-glass doors at 2:05 a.m., signaling to the security guard that they had a gun, and clearing off the display tables with the efficiency of a Indy 500 pit crew. The take: 23 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPod touches in 31 seconds flat. Estimated value, based on average selling price: $46,345. No word yet on whether Microsoft's Laptop Hunters have alibis."
...Apple has received a million dollars worth of free publicity for the low cost of their insurance deductible.
Apple Store's next product release: iRobbed.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I don't know whether my idea of criminality standards are just a bit higher, but when I watched that video I wasn't the slightest bit "amazed" by it. What's so amazing about filling your arms / pockets full of merchandise and getting the fok out of there? I'd like to think that all of us are smart enough to "mastermind" a crime such as that.
I record my sleeptalking
On the plus side, that $46345 of Apple hardware was only worth about $10000.
Hopefully the perps are selling those so they don't have to use iTunes. Such a lovely interface to your music collection... wait...
--Question Authority--
Some thieves broke into my college's computer labs and stole all the four-year-old iMacs. They turned their noses up at the brand new Dell Precisions in the same lab...
Using a gun in the commission of a felony usually gets you extra jail time... and these guys did this for $46,000 worth of gear, which probably has a value of about $3000 with a fence?
If all I'm gonna get is $3000, I might as well... oh, I dunno, WORK for the money and not have the years in jail.
I piss off bigots.
if they were smart, they would have stolen AppleCare too. It's a really good value.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
And will cost $52,838 to upgrade in another eight months.
Futurist Traditionalism
It was a beta test of the Apple's new Rapid Acquisition System. They're about to roll it out for use in providing businesses with their computing needs. Apple: Breaking down barriers and plate glass doors.
Look at your link again. Specifically the part of it that looks like this : */submission/* . Notice how that looks compared to the address for this story that looks like */story/*
Committing an armed robbery with a firearm has sent people to prison for 75 years or more. That's not the average sentence, but the criminal justice system is like a slot machine. Not worth it for a 1/5 share of 20k or less..
Not sure if still unsold iphones are somewhat in MobileMe or something like that as extra security.
Add in their race, which looks like African American from the video, that adds quite a few more points on to their unemployment issues - for various reasons that I won't get into and which we all know.
Now, I'm by no means condoning what they did: I'm just trying to promote some understanding. When folks get desperate, they do desperate things. Just getting a job, for many, is not an option - especially in one of the worst economies in decades.
There are some doing to support substance abuse, which being an addict precludes employment. They need help.
Now, there's the crowd that does this shit because "it's cool". They're just punks they should get their asses shot off.
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
Wouldn't it be sad if this was an elaborate Apple marketing strategy? Apple paid to insure and supply this 'newsitem'. Every single person involved signed a non-disclosure agreement and were actors, the police where informed it was a conbination product promotion and security training seminar about high-dollar burglaries that occur in under a minute. "Thankfully, no one was injured. Police are investigating the robbery".
Good think those Macbooks have the magsafe connector for the power cord. Those thieves could have been looking at some costly repairs if they had been stealing Dells. Maybe that's their next commercial: "I stole a PC, but when I grabbed it the power connector broke, now it's like BEEP, BEEP, BEEP."
... also, I can kill you with my brain.
Why did I assume when I read the title of the post, that someone had cleared out and ninja'ed the App store on my iPhone. So I immediately checked to see if it was still there, in my iPhone. Owning apple products turns you into stupid.
Once again, a dramatic demonstration of Windows failure. I'm getting a little tired of these attack ads.
The criminals must have cased the joint in advance.
So if the store ran their surveillance videos all day and kept the recordings for a while, the perpetrators should appear somewhere on the recordings.
Unless they did something stupid like erase the recordings.
Also, can't they locate those iPhones with triangulation?
Steve Jobs notes the quick release power connectors, making the job up to 3 times faster than a PC.
Quoth CNN's article:
MacBooks: Laptops for a better class of criminal!
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
He talks about the burglars being "savvy enough to wear masks" and being able to distracting an unarmed security guard. Last time I checked, these sorts of tactics qualified as being "not retarded," but not quite "criminal mastermind."
Skips over the newscaster BLAH BLAH BLAH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qER69SvyYV8#t=0m48s
And have a list of serial numbers of stolen units...
And blacklist them from being able to install new versions of Apple software.
And make them automatically send phone-home messages to Apple and get bricked the next time a software update is attempted. With a message that says "Please bring to your nearest Apple store for service"
I can't remember the last time I saw an electronics store that doesn't have a retractable security gate (bars):
http://www.securityshuttersolutions.co.uk/retractable_gates.html
That would have at least cost the thieves some time and not make it so "knife through warm butter" easy.
Most people who buy laptops aren't going to be tethered to a desk. A big honking security cage or even a simple security cable prevents a prospective buyer from getting a feel for how portable the laptop is. Perhaps Apple should follow the lead of jewelry stores, and lock up its merchandise after hours. To be fair, most jewelry stores are designed with this closing procedure in mind, whereas most at most Apple stores, the laptops would have to be stored in back room-- which may not be more secure in any meaningful way
Mostly I was amazed that the window broke so thoroughly. I'd have thought that it would have some film on it or other treatment that would make it somewhat resistant to such an attack.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
It's a Blowout Labor Day Mac Sale on newjersey.craigslist.org! If you miss this, you'd better be dead... or in jail... and if you're in jail, BREAK OUT!
Why don't they use them? It takes away from the retail experience, I'll grant you.
You can disable location services on the phone (or even just the "Find my iPhone" feature), at which point MobileMe doesn't work. Alternatively, they could have just turned the phones off.
The last time I was in an Apple store they were using those "alarm goes off when you unplug me" type security devices built in to the Ethernet cables, not the physical lock attachment ones.
this is my sig
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Do Kensington locks on macbooks feature a magsafe connector?
I'm just waiting for one of the thieves to return to the same store trying to get service for one of the stolen computers.
Alright. Even if it's not a dupe, it still would've been nice to use the original submission. What exactly makes the published story better than the one I cited? The answer: absolutely nothing.
Considering that the other one was posted first, I think that that poster deserved to get credit for the story.
Apparently Slashdot disagrees.
Don't forget "skilled practice at the art of bringing down the plate glass door. It's hard to break tempered glass, isn't it?
Well... no, it sucks for the reseller. Or if the reseller is smart, then it sucks for the insurance company.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Not to mention the 'extreme skill used in smashing the plate-glass window' (paraphrased, not willing to watch the sensationalist bulletin again just to quote verbatim)
When you refer to an individual that "perpetrated" a crime, without knowing who they are, perp[etrator] is the proper term to use. We don't suspect that these guys robbed that store - we know they did - now to find them.
However, when the cops finally pick up a person they "suspect" perpetrated the crime, they are a suspect.
Note to self: Scroll around and refresh more. Wouldn't it be great if the Reply form also loaded other sibling posts that have come up recently? No shit it's been a minute since I last posted a comment.
As someone who works for a computer store............
I hope to god someone gets canned for this. There were so many ways to prevent this that cost maybe 1/4 of the value of the merchandise stolen. Laminated glass instead of plate on the doors, Kensington locks, or even just locking the product up in a cage or safe after hours. One of the most important rules of retail is control of the product. Further more, you can see that they don't even have pylons in the front of the store to prevent someone driving their car through the glass. The guard wasn't armed, either.
If these machines were insured, there is no way in hell an agent would approve the claim. Those products were pretty much offered up on a platter. I have worked for several retailers, most of them computer stores, and I have NEVER seen a laptop whether Mac or PC without a Kensington lock on a sales floor.
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
Remarkably simple, actually. Just needs a sharp point impact. Check out the devices sold for breaking car windows "in case your car falls into the water".
thanks for getting the joke
A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without bricks tied to its head
At that point the thief won't care. Stolen property is a problem to those who buy it, not those who sell it.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I can tell you as an Architect, the cost of replacing the window will more than outweigh the cost of the computers for Apple.
...have an iProd1,1? Maybe next year.
---
Carrion on, carrion on.
It only took them 31 more seconds to get them all listed on Craigslist...
How do you like them apples?
In many retail shop units, the door is part of the building and belongs to the landlord.
In this case, the glass door simply shattered into tiny glass fragments - so it was toughened but not a security door: It would make an adequate internal glass door but whoever fitted that as an exterior door was stupid.
Perhaps the landlord did that to save some money on the door. If that is the case, the landlord may find that Apple's insurer would want them to reimburse Apple for the loss of merchandise due to failure to use the correct type of door.
The correct kind of door would be laminated toughened glass... It may crack but it would take a lot more effort to break it down. They tend not to shatter into tiny pieces but instead would 'soften' after repeated assaults until they fail.
The computer shop I worked at a decade ago had that kind of glass door - it was remarkably forgiving of rough treatment without failure... Although it did fail when a Land Rover hit it at more than 30 mph.
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
I've always said Apple has poor security. Look who's laughing now!!!!
I think this says more about New Jersey than it does Apple.
preemptive dupe, then
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
If it costs 1/4th the value of the product to secure it, unless the number of thefts exceeds one fourth the number of locations, it's cheaper to not secure the goods and let it be stolen.
Or, put another way, it's cheaper to let $40k of stuff be stolen once a year than to pay a security guard to watch it get stolen.
paintball
Well it was catastrophic Windows FAIL that let the crooks into the secure area in the first place!
j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
When was a robbery of a retail store news? Maybe because they got footage of the whole thing it became sensational--so naturally to have to air it then.
Real story should be "Security guard fired when robbers smash large glass door just as he leaves the room." How could the guard not hear that? Sounds like an inside job to me.
-m
http://www.invisik.com
Now this is the Apple way of committing a robbery! I bet if Microsoft had tried to rob the place, they would have just smashed a Hummer through the front door, then drive off without taking anything.
I knew a kid who kicked a pebble ~1x3x1cm into a glass school door and shattered the whole thing.
The government can't save you.
I'm outraged! where is the link to the blog post that talks about the news article that has a custom player embedded with the video (which doesn't work on linux)?!?!
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
but here is one citation from 2002
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm
and a second with footnotes
http://www.theinsider.org/news/article.asp?id=504
really wasn't hard to find...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
if thats a prime example of a usa news report, no wonder the nation is "weird"...
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
On a serious note, Apple products do seem to be a big item for theft. Just this week I experienced being part of an Apple targeted crime. On Wednesday, my father went to the local Apple Store and picked up a Macbook Pro for me (Because Apple won't ship to an overseas military address, but that's another story...). He took it back to the car, made sure it was well hidden in the trunk, and proceeded to the gym to work out. As he came out an hour-and-a-half later, security was surrounding the car and what was left of the back passenger window. By the looks of things, the thieves knew exactly where in the car the laptop was hidden and were only interested in it. Best guess is that they saw him coming out of the mall and followed him from there. His own laptop, two cameras, and briefcase were all untouched. The thieves were in and out in less than ten seconds. This is actually the second MacPro that I've bought, and apparently the second to be stolen. The first was sent through the black hole that is USPS and has yet to be seen. I'd bet a paycheck that someone else is enjoying it right now.
I havn't walked into an Apple store for a while. They didn't use Kensington lock to secure the computers? (Or at least they should do it during off-hour)
Or did the thieves just pull them out with force and break the chassis? If that's the case, how much can they sell...
Plus, they are all serial number recorded...I wonder if Apple can activate the iPhone GPS to lock them down too!
You should visit steve jobs ASAP and offer your bum-hole
Nah, he's more the liver type.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
How 'bout we call them what they are until they have their day in court: SUSPECTS.
When caught in flagrante like that on video tape, it would take a hell of a lot more than OJ Simpson's lawyers to argue about "reasonable doubt". Who knows, maybe the whole video was photoshopped by police? No, these people are guilty. To call them "suspects" is an insult to any living thing with a brain. Now proving that John Doe is actually the person seen in the video is a job for the prosecutor.
Would you call someone who shoots your wife in front of your eyes an "alleged killer" or a "suspect", and consider them "innocent until proven guilty"? A smoking gun is a smoking gun.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
"But no guarantees that we can stop that dude"
"They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
And of course, those who buy the stolen property will protect yon Robin Hood from the vile Sheriff of Notingham... OR, they'll be moderately pissed about the money they gave the crook for the merchandise they had to surrender because it was stolen, and tell the police exactly how to find said Robin Hood.
while we can all imagine a Beowulf cluster of those, the thieves don't have to.
I know my brain also bled. It's funny how they framed the "exclusive" preview inside an iPhone!
What makes you think that Apple's stores don't have an insurance policy? It is typically required to take out a commercial lease. When I opened my gaming store, I was required to have a $1M insurance policy. Standard practice.
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
armed hold up for $46k?
only a fan boy would take on such a bad deal.....
better to buy some credit cards over the net then buy them. everyone's so embarrassed they never bring in the police.....
you need to include the time spent planning, fencing, and then looking over your shoulder
I spent 5 hours last week fencing, and all i have to show for it is a bunch of bruises and a broken sabre. Where's my $250,000?
nice advertisement move you apple fanboy-thieves :)
I am so intrigued by why news reporters have to sound like a sports commentator when showing burglary clips. Does it really need to get more "exciting"? It feels really wierd to me... Am I the only one?
It's an Apple store, not a reseller. Apple is the only one taking a hit here.
And because of thet, the *real* value of the items stolen is much lower, just the cost to Apple, not "street" or selling price.
Why would Apple want to have insurance? Getting a single store robbed won't even show on their profit charts and insurance companies have to make a profit so it would by definition be more expensive long term.
Because it's sound business practice to have insurance, and in a country like the US where you can be sued for about anything it is much more advisable.
True, less than US$50K won't show in Apple's charts, but think of a fire that gets the entire store (and there are policies for things like "interruption of operations" and the like) or, worse yet, someone gets harmed in the process of robbing the store.
Insurance *is* mandatory in godd business practice and the world we live in.
If you think that not having insurance is a good thing, then may I suggest you don't go into business?
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I wonder if the thieves will be smart enough to turn off all of those iPhones that they just stole... If not, they're basically carrying GPS tracking devices that will lead the police to their stash.
Or to put it another way, the people who show up in court are suspects until it is proved that they are the people in the video.
Nobody said anything about wearing masks being creative, let alone "criminal mastermind" area. Despite security cameras and otherwise all comprehendability, burglars frequently don't wear masks. The correct term is "savvy".
Property is theft.
Insurance *is* mandatory in godd business practice and the world we live in.
It depends what kind of insurance you're talking about. For liability insurance you might be right, but some kinds of insurance make absolutely no business sense to large organisations.
If you run, for instance, a large fleet of vans, you *know* that each year a certain percentage of them will be involved in motor accidents. If you insure them against that then the insurance company will know it too, and will inevitably charge you a bit more in premiums than they pay out in your claims each year. It thus makes no sense at all to insure them.
The purpose of insurance is to *spread* the risk and cover you for things you can't afford to pay for. One individual with an expensive car probably can't afford to replace it if it's written off. A company with 10,000 vans can afford to pay for the percentage which are written off each year and so it makes no sense to insure them.
There's an old saying, "If you can afford not to be insured, then you can't afford to be insured."
Don't most states use the iNeedle these days?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I asked a legitimate question about why a massive international company would need to insure themselves against small damages and I got people saying "that's how it's done, period" without an explanation and a troll moderation? What is this?
Anytime, HTH. I make a great straight man, even when I'm not trying to be.
Was that a liability policy? I don't think your landlord can force you to insure your own stuff.
And many large corporations "self-insure"; that is they don't buy insurance for theft and pay for it themselves.
Anarchists never rule
What makes you think that Apple's stores don't have an insurance policy?
Probably because many large companies are self insured for issues such as theft. Apple undoubtedly has liability insurance and likely for fire and similar catastrophes. But a few computers lost to theft is a foreseeable cost that a company with billions on the balance sheet can easily absorb. This theft sounds like a lot to you or me but to Apple it's not actually that much money.
It is typically required to take out a commercial lease. When I opened my gaming store, I was required to have a $1M insurance policy. Standard practice.
You aren't a multi-billion dollar corporation either. Leases are negotiated and a big company like Apple will get a better deal than you or I ever could hope for. I doubt the leaseholder is worried about Apple's solvency but they probably would be worried about yours. Apple also has flesh eating lawyers to take care of liability and any other legal issues that us small guys could never hope to handle.
Because it's sound business practice to have insurance, and in a country like the US where you can be sued for about anything it is much more advisable
Don't confuse having insurance with needing insurance for everything. No company has or could afford insurance against every contingency. I assure you that Apple is well covered in this regard.
The only reason to have insurance is to spread risk and the associated costs of that risk. If it is a small risk you can easily absorb, there is no reason to have insurance for that. Apple has literally billions of dollars in cash on their balance sheet. The cost of this theft isn't even a rounding error on their balance sheet and they probably lose more than this company-wide in a typical week in shrinkage (shoplifting & employee theft). Apple undoubtedly has a liability policy since the potential financial risk is much greater there but I'd be shocked if they had any sort of policy for thefts of this scale. No large retailer I'm aware of does - the benefit doesn't justify the reward. Most retail stores have shrinkage of about 1-2% per year. Money is set aside every year on the books because of this. Apple is no different in this regard.
What you're describing is how the really stupid thieves get caught. The ones who have any kind of brains would fence them.
In all likelihood they'll end up on eBay if the thieves aren't caught soon. The amount of stolen good on eBay is rather astonishing. Sometimes I think eBay should be called eFence.
New marketing ploy?
Truth, Just Us, And Hatred For All Mankind!
The stolen machines were all on display and used for demos, they have probably been written off as far as Apple is concerned anyway.
sigpending(2)
>What is this?
Slashdot?
These thieves made Apple Store more popular on Internet. Maybe many people even don't know apple had their shops. So these thieves made Apple Store popular one more time! '4Media iPhone Video Converter for Mac' http://www.111download.com/product/4media-iphone-video-converter-for-mac.html
In the same way that you can stab someone to death with something sold "in case you want to cut up some chicken in your kitchen" you mean?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
That works nice on eBay but try to do that at a swap meet where merchandise normally has shady origins.
If stolen property couldn't be sold without going to jail then there would be hardly any theft. Thieves know their trade and it seems like they're a well seasoned in this particular case.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Well, knives are used all the time for cutting up things other than live people. What's the distribution of smashed windows for burglary vs escaping a sinking car?
This is a really stupid crime. The take is way too low to get yourself on video for it. Even $46,000 is not very much to end up on video, but they are only going to get 10 cents on the dollar for display models with extremely well-known serial numbers. And it wouldn't be surprising at all if Apple could track some or all of the devices that were stolen.
It would be smarter to hijack a truck that is headed for the Apple Store and then you would at least get new-in-box product. And you wouldn't be on video like a schmuck.
He was one of my father's students. Weirdo.
The government can't save you.