Thieves dressed as Apple Store staff have stolen a total of $66,000’s worth of iPhones in two separate thefts at retail stores in New York. Apple’s Upper West Side store was targeted back in March, when 67 iPhones worth almost $50k were stolen, followed by the theft of 19 phones worth $16k from the SoHo store last week.
Police now believe that the same thieves may be responsible for both. The criminals seemed to have done their research well, notes Gizmodo …
The Vancouver Sun reported police in Vancouver, British Columbia are currently on the lookout for three suspects involved in a robbery of the Oakridge Mall Apple Store on Monday night. The suspects apparently entered the store at 7 p.m. “blasting bear spray then taking off with a number of items” while around 40 customers were still in the store:
Five customers were treated at the scene by paramedics for inhaling the powerful spray, the release said.
“Officers arrived and searched the area for the suspects with the help of a police K-9 unit,” VPD spokesman Const. Brian Montague said in a news release. “Some of the stolen items were recovered, but police were not able to find the three men responsible.”
Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Vancouver Police Department. There’s no word on what exactly the suspects got away with.
#Vancouver Police responding to Oakridge Mall after 2 males robbed the Apple Store. Suspects used bear mace and fled through the mall.
DailyMail reported today that Apple’s flagship retail store in France was the victim of an organized robbery. The crime apparently took place last night around 9 p.m. local time, three hours after the store closed for the day, with the suspects taking off with a reported £1 million in products. The masked, handgun-toting thieves were able to make off with the products before police arrived and have yet to be located. One security guard was “lightly injured” in the process:
Christophe Crepin, an Unsa police union official, told Le Parisien newspaper that ‘the four hooded and heavily armed criminals made their move very quickly. Most of the police forces were being mobilised to monitor the Champs Elysees, so the robbers have clearly benefitted from this opportunity to strike.’
Mr Crepin said the robbers mainly took ‘a lot of goods’ and very little money. Early estimates were that the haul was worth well over 1 million euros, or close to 1 million pounds.
A new report from the NYPD (via Gothamist) shows crimes involving Apple products in the city have increased 40 percent between Jan. 1 and Sept. 23, which is 10x the 4 percent increase that all crime in the city experienced over the same period. According to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and the NYPD, 11,447 incidents involving stolen Apple products were reported in comparison to just 3,280 the year before. We heard similar stats in the past, but Gothamist provided some of the NYPD’s numbers today to show how Apple-related crimes contributed to crime by category this year:
LA Timesreports that Apple’s Find My iPhone app was used to assist in the arrest of an armed robbery suspect last Thursday. The male suspect entered a female’s home at gun point and took her purse, which held her beloved iPhone inside. The suspect left the home, and thought the coast was clear.
However, the victim then called police and remembered that she had Find My iPhone and notified them. Luckily for her, a random citizen on the street let police use his laptop to track the suspect down via Apple’s website. The officers later found the man and he was arrested on robbery charges. The LAPD told the LA Times how crucial it is to have tracking software installed whenever possible:
LAPD officials say computer and phone theft is a major contributor to crime in Los Angeles, and the theft — and its outcome — illustrate the value and benefit of using tracking applications and software for computers, cellphones and portable tablets.
Find My iPhone was also used in September to help sift through the wreckage in the terribly sad Chilean plane crash. Find My iPhone has important use cases everyday, and we’re glad to see the poor woman got her items back. This is a great reminder that you should have it installed (and to criminals to pass on taking Apple devices!)
