Clever criminals:

[speeder]

This guy posed as a food delivery driver to case affluent areas for burglaries. Post any other news stories about novel approaches by thieves that pop up in your feed here, people need to be more vigilant as new technology creates new opportunities for these crooks:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-20/thief-posed-as-a-food-delivery-driver-before-burglarizing-a-string-of-homes-in-irvine-police-say

[pwd72s]

Here's a list:
https://list25.com/25-most-brilliant-criminals-in-history/

Thing is, they can't be brilliant if they eventually get caught, right?

So, the most clever? We never hear of them being caught.

[Seahawk]

I hope this thread gets some traction because some of the scams/crimes are so pedestrian yet so clever.

My son does some amount of criminal defense work...his take is that he rarely sees the smart crooks but deals with the really obtuse offenders all the time.

His stories, like many others I am sure, are a wonder of poor planning,performance and outcomes.

Interesting stuff.

[masraum]

This is probably 30 years old. I read it in a car magazine back in the day. It was a story as told by a professional car thief that eventually got caught. He only stole corvettes. The two tactics that I remember were:

He'd go to folks that were selling cars and act like a potential buyer. Sellers are all too happy to show you all of the tricks and secrets of alarms, kill switches, etc... on car when they are trying to sell you a car. So they'd essentially show the guy how to steal their car.

Another tactic if it was an alarm that he didn't know how to get around, he'd go to the house every night between 1 and 5 am and jostle the car to make the alarm go off. After enough nights of that happening, they eventually turn the alarm off.

[speeder]

The guy in the OP had such a clever, simple cover that I almost admire him, if he wasn’t a burglar. Clean cut, carrying a Starbucks bag w receipts stapled to it, acting like he’s looking for an address or apartment number…..he did his homework.

[fastfredracing]

I dont know if you could call him clever, he eventually got caught, but my first landlord in the biz was a car thief .
He was a master bs artist, and pretty much clean cut and believable . He also, only stole corvettes and Dually's.
He would wear a wig, and go out of state to car dealers . He would get as far as a test drive , and while bull****ting with the salesman, would do a key switcharoo . He worked at a car dealer, and had a bunch of the little yellow tags they used to use .
He would then come back after the dealer closed and drive the car right off the lot and come home .
He once stole the keys to a black Corvette he was planning on stealing . The car ended up getting sold that day, and he was in Cincinnatti waiting to jack it .
He found where the new owners lived, broke into their garage in the middle of the night and still stole the car .
He had a bunch of other tactics , but I always thought this was the most ballsy and amusing .
He could , also look at a car key and memorize the cuts , then duplicate it later on . This was all in the late 80's, early 90's, so before most cars had chips .

[masraum]

This guy dresses as a delivery driver to steal beer and sodas from stores. He just loads them up and wheels them out.

[William930t]

I am still fascinated by the 2024 Easter Sunday $30 million GuardaWorld heist outside of LA. In short there were false alarms, a big hole in the wall, no good camera images, no suspect leads. Reminds me somewhat of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by William930t

I am still fascinated by the 2024 Easter Sunday $30 million GuardaWorld heist outside of LA. In short there were false alarms, a big hole in the wall, no good camera images, no suspect leads. Reminds me somewhat of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

Inside job, 100%.

[speeder]

Just curious...is the link I posted in the OP viewable by all or behind a paywall?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by speeder

Just curious...is the link I posted in the OP viewable by all or behind a paywall?

I went right to the article, no paywall.

[speeder]

Thanks, wasn't sure.

[Seahawk]

So, I had to call the Boy today for some family stuff and I asked him about clever criminals:

"Two plus degrees of separation...the only only who get caught are either loss leaders [expendable] or those who get lazy with their scam(s)..."

He said that 95% of the folks he deals with have all the same tendencies and vices combined with a lack of formal education, tragically so.

He had a client that may have been able to get out of his legal issues until he threatened his girlfriend from the prison phone..."You do know they record the calls, right?"

The young man had no clue. A few Matlock episodes and the young man is out!

[speeder]

At my dad's memorial, my brother was eulogizing him and said, "most people are worried that their house painters might be burglars. We knew that ours were, that is why they were painting the house. They owed my dad money."

[1990C4S]

Someone I know is prosecuting a scammer that worked for a large charity, he stole at least $700k before he got caught.

The prosecuting lawyer was impressed with his multiple schemes, basically saying the crook was so smart he could have been very successful if he had gone in another direction.

Kind of sad, the guy's family is destroyed and he's eventually going to jail, but even after being caught and charged, he still running scams to live day to day and pay his legal bills.

[DavidI]

A car thief searched for the exact make, year, and model of a car he wanted. After locating it, he stole it and stripped it leaving it in a very visible space to be found by police. He waited for the stripped car to go to auction, then bought it for next to nothing. He re-assembled the car and now legally owned the car of his dreams. It was clever, until it was not!

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by DavidI

A car thief searched for the exact make, year, and model of a car he wanted. After locating it, he stole it and stripped it leaving it in a very visible space to be found by police. He waited for the stripped car to go to auction, then bought it for next to nothing. He re-assembled the car and now legally owned the car of his dreams. It was clever, until it was not!

I used to attend insurance auctions. There was a large ring busted that were doing exactly this. English was obviously their second language.
Now and then a car comes through with no engine, tranny, wheels or tires, and stripped interior. Everything else was pristine.
You knew the guy who won the auction had all the original parts in this garage, ready to be reassembled.

Cars from the auction come with a Bill of Sale. In order to get a title, it must be inspected by the State Patrol. You must now furnish receipts during the inspection.
The state makes copies, and keeps the originals so they can't be used repeatedly.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by DavidI

A car thief searched for the exact make, year, and model of a car he wanted. After locating it, he stole it and stripped it leaving it in a very visible space to be found by police. He waited for the stripped car to go to auction, then bought it for next to nothing. He re-assembled the car and now legally owned the car of his dreams. It was clever, until it was not!

Wow! That's clever. Just, apparently, not clever enough. I'll bet you've got some stories.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I dont know if you could call him clever, he eventually got caught, but my first landlord in the biz was a car thief .
He was a master bs artist, and pretty much clean cut and believable . He also, only stole corvettes and Dually's.
He would wear a wig, and go out of state to car dealers . He would get as far as a test drive , and while bull****ting with the salesman, would do a key switcharoo . He worked at a car dealer, and had a bunch of the little yellow tags they used to use .
He would then come back after the dealer closed and drive the car right off the lot and come home .
He once stole the keys to a black Corvette he was planning on stealing . The car ended up getting sold that day, and he was in Cincinnatti waiting to jack it .
He found where the new owners lived, broke into their garage in the middle of the night and still stole the car .
He had a bunch of other tactics , but I always thought this was the most ballsy and amusing .
He could , also look at a car key and memorize the cuts , then duplicate it later on . This was all in the late 80's, early 90's, so before most cars had chips .

What would the guy do with the Corvettes and trucks that he stole? Part them out? Drive them? Auto theft has been going on since cars were invented but there are only so many ways to utilize the bounty.

The steal/strip/reassemble plot is clever, I've heard of that before.

[rcooled]

Two guys showed up on a Sunday morning to check out a bike my BIL was selling. While the 'buyer' looked over the bike, his buddy asks if he can use the bathroom. He does so...and unlocks the window while he's in there. The 'buyer' hands over a sizeable lump of cash, papers are signed, and he drives off on the bike. 15 minutes later, he calls BIL saying that the bike quit on him, he can't get it restarted, and could BIL come take a look. When he gets there, BIL fixes 'problem' and 'buyer' is off again. In the meantime, the buddy returned to BIL's house, crawled in thru the unlocked bathroom window, and stole back the cash. It was Sunday, the banks were closed, and they knew all the $$$ would be left at the house when BIL left to help the 'buyer'. They got away with a nice bike for free...