“A band of organized thieves reportedly made off with dozens of high-end portable music players from the Lynnwood Best Buy, and police are investigating whether the group has hit other stores in Washington and Oregon. The thieves stole 39 iPods valued at up to $15,500 from the Lynnwood store last week, according to Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions,” Diana Hefley reports for The Daily Herald (Everett, WA). “Police got word that similar thefts have happened at Best Buy stores in Everett, Spokane, Tacoma and Portland, Ore., Sessions said. ‘It’s too early to say if it’s the same people. We are definitely investigating if there is any connection,’ she said. Video surveillance from the Lynnwood store shows four men and two women pulling off a well-orchestrated theft during business hours, Sessions said. Some of the thieves distracted employees while others broke locks on two cabinets where the electronics were stored. They loaded the music players into shopping carts, concealed them under their clothing and walked out while someone stayed behind to distract clerks at the front of the store, Sessions said.”
“The theft suspects are believed to be Hispanic men and women,” Hefley reports. “A rash of similar thefts happened two years ago at the Best Buy and Circuit City in Lynnwood. A well-organized group of thieves took laptop computers.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “rooftop99” for the heads up.]
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
I guess its time for good deals on EBay
Rob Enderle, president and CEO of Buttplug Group, says “Apple causes crime.”
Each iPod and newer Mac has a serial number that’s transmitted to mother Apple.
The cops will come knocking on the doors of the stupid buyers of stolen equipment to take their iPods for evidence. Not mentioning being grilled for several hours and the possibility of being charged.
I suspect a lot of people will be rolling over on the thieves.
Having the balls to commit a crime is easy, it’s beating the brains trying to find your stupid ass that’s the hard part.
Once the cops get one of your buddies, they will squeeze him good. He’ll roll over and rat off the rest for sure.
lots of 60GB ipods !
Hey Mikey!, I don’t think that you are completely correct on the serial number issue. I think that’s only if you decide to register your product.
Why didn’t they take any of the Creative players?
MW research, as in , they did their’s..
hey mikey! and others – 100s if not thousands iPods are stolen and lost every day all over the world.
try asking apple to track down your ipod via the reg. number.
lol.
if its gone….its gone.
39 ipods add up to over 15 thousands dollars?!?!?!
when you look at it like that its pretty awsome. just about everyone at work has an ipod… maybe over one hundred people… how much money have we put in Apple coffers!!!
Hey Mikey!, I don’t think that you are completely correct on the serial number issue. I think that’s only if you decide to register your product.
That’s what you think.
iTunes DRM is entwined with the computers serial number to track how many machines have the same music.
The iPod also has a serial number for determining what settings in iTunes that iPod has.
So mother Apple has the serial numbers of any device hooked to the internet using their software.
It’s just a simple matter after that to cross reference the IP addresses connecting with that serial number to gain a location.
The cops know a stolen iPod is at the IP addresss xx.xx.xxx.xx, they go to the ISP and request who used that IP during such and such time.
Sure some internet cafe’s, colleges and buisnesses with a large amount of computers using the same IP address might have a difficult time tracking down a particular person. But I’m sure the buyers of most stolen stuff are not aware that they are stolen. Apple will know right away as soon as they run iTunes hooked up to the internet.
Of course these theives most likely have a fence that’s selling these somewhere. Apple will eventually find out where they are all going.
If it’s all over the world, then eBay would be a likely culprit.
Theres Money In Them Thar Ipods!!!
Not surprisingly, all of the thieves were suspected to be from Redmond, Washington.
There is no way of knowing if it is a stolen iPod just by the serial number unless it was registered, and then reported stolen. Retailers don’t record the serial numbers of the units they have on hand!
Best Buy sucks.
F.U.B.A.R.: Manufacturers record serial numbers. Distribution centers that deliver them to retailers also keep track for inventory forecasting. The barcode probably has a tie-in. Serial numbers are traceable without registering.
They didn’t mention the laptops they took were taken after hours by going through the roof.
Be very wary of the “NIB iPod” listings on Craigslist.
“”NIB iPod”
It’s called theft by receiving.
O.T.- Richard Hatch is facing an entirely different kind of immunity challenge today. I’ll bet they won’t mind him walking around naked.
It’ll be “DOWN THE HATCH” for Richard very soon.