Burglars cut through wall, steal $500,000 in gear from Apple Store

AppleInsider

In an organized operation, burglars recently cut through a wall of an adjoining shop to steal $500,000 from the Alderwood Mall Apple store in Washington.

Apple Alderwood store

Hundreds of iPhone models, as well as iPads and Apple Watches, were stolen Sunday night on April 2. Fortunately, there were no injuries because the store was closed, and it wasn't until the following morning that Apple staff learned the full scale of the heist.

The thieves had cut through a bathroom wall in the neighboring espresso machine store as their entry point. The business owner said they hadn't experienced anything like this in their five years at the mall.

"Our front door was locked. They pried our front door open," Seattle Coffee Gear Regional Manager Eric Marks explained to Komo News.

"[It was a] 24 by 18 hole cut in the wall into what appears to be the back room of the Apple store," he continued. "I'm surprised we were the conduit for them to get to the Apple store, I had no clue we were so close or adjacent to them."

Burglars reportedly cut a hole through a store's bathroom wall to access the neighboring Apple retailer at Alderwood Mall. Photo: Mike Atkinson

According to LPD Communications Manager Maren McKay, the burglars stole approximately 436 iPhones and an unspecified number of iPads and Apple Watches. In total, they took about $500,000 worth of merchandise.

Based on what they observed from surveillance footage, Lynnwood police believe it to have been a well-organized operation. "From the masks that the folks were wearing, that there were no fingerprints left behind," McKay added.

Seattle Coffee Gear has since changed its locks and says the incident cost them an estimated $1,800 in damages.

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eightzero

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

MacPro

eightzero said:

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

Come on, you watch too much sci-fi!  

flydog

eightzero said:

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

Pretty clear you didn't read the article

it wasn't until the following morning that Apple staff learned the full scale of the heist.

Based on what they observed from surveillance footage, Lynnwood police believe it to have been a well-organized operation.

elijahg

flydog said:

eightzero said:

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

Pretty clear you didn't read the article

it wasn't until the following morning that Apple staff learned the full scale of the heist.

Based on what they observed from surveillance footage, Lynnwood police believe it to have been a well-organized operation.

Pretty clear you didn't read what @eightzero said. "...available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity". Surveillance viewed after the crime is not alerting anyone of suspicious activity until it's too late.

ronn

Apple doesn't have a security system that immediately alerts LE when their store is breached after hours? JFC! And one would think security protocols would anticipate such possible breach points when building out, planning stores.

darelrex

What I want to know is: Can't Apple remotely disable these stolen items, or disallow them to use Apple's iCloud and other support servers, hence rendering them basically useless, or mostly useless? (Think: deny them iOS updates.) Surely Apple has thought of this long ago. How is it even profitable to steal a bunch of Apple products from their stores any more?

dustinzilbauer35

darelrex said:

What I want to know is: Can't Apple remotely disable these stolen items, or disallow them to use Apple's iCloud and other support servers, hence rendering them basically useless, or mostly useless? (Think: deny them iOS updates.) Surely Apple has thought of this long ago. How is it even profitable to steal a bunch of Apple products from their stores any more?

Of course it can disable them and the devices can tell police exactly where they are located.

ihatescreennames

ronn said:

Apple doesn't have a security system that immediately alerts LE when their store is breached after hours? JFC! And one would think security protocols would anticipate such possible breach points when building out, planning stores.

The store probably does have a decent security system but it seems only has security cameras in the back room. If that room only has one point of entry and that area, or areas leading to it have motion detectors the installers likely didn’t see a need to put them into that room. 

This happens with home security systems. Last year I was talking to a security system installer who was telling me how surprised he was with what a neighbor was doing. He said they had installed window sensors on all the second floor windows and motion detectors upstairs and mentioned that is highly unusual (reason being if someone is planning to break into your house they won’t be bringing a ladder along and trying to gain entry by the second floor).

This Apple Store incident would be like someone breaking into my house by cutting a hole into the bathroom. No cameras or motion detectors in there, but if you tried to get to my bathroom from a different room in my house you wouldn’t make it without tripping the alarm.

There’s a good chance Apple will be scrutinizing their security systems and making some changes going forward.

ihatescreennames

Dooofus said:

Maybe Apple could figure out how to brick devices that have been stolen as soon as someone tries to activate one. It's not like it couldn't be done. I guess the potential revenue generated by the people using the stolen devices outweighs making these frequent thefts futile. Insurance covers the losses, so I guess they see it as a win-win.

Unfortunately, that probably won’t happen to the thieves and will instead happen to the people that bought those devices from the thieves. Someone who thinks they’re getting a good deal on a phone only to find out they spent a few hundred on a useless brick.

sunman42

darelrex said:

What I want to know is: Can't Apple remotely disable these stolen items, or disallow them to use Apple's iCloud and other support servers, hence rendering them basically useless, or mostly useless? (Think: deny them iOS updates.) Surely Apple has thought of this long ago. How is it even profitable to steal a bunch of Apple products from their stores any more?

∫because there are sleepy individuals willing to buy boosted hardware from other skeevy individuals. Thoughts about whether such a purchase might be a good deal long-term are unlikely to filter through the avarice and excitement.

waveparticle

Motion sensors that cost only several hundred dollars will be able to detect this crime extremely early. 

lkrupp

So what happens to these stolen Apple products? Are they sold on the black market? If so, how do they get activated for use? Or do they get sold for parts? Has AppleInsider ever tried to investigate the details of how these stolen devices make money for thieves. We see posts about legit users having activation issues because of Apple’s activation servers glitching. Wouldn’t those same activation servers block any attempt to activate these stolen products, especially iPhones? Wouldn’t the carriers have lists of IMEI numbers to refuse service? Are there thousands of useless, stolen iPhones floating around being sold to clueless idiots looking for something too good to be true?

As for spare parts for shady repair shops, do those lowlifes have the equipment to match and pair security dependent parts like TouchID screens and the like?

What am I missing here?

DAalseth

Shades of Oceans 11 or Topkapi.

robin huber

Half a mil would pay salary and bennies for many of what used to be called a “night watchman.”

davidw

elijahg said:

flydog said:

eightzero said:

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

Pretty clear you didn't read the article

it wasn't until the following morning that Apple staff learned the full scale of the heist.

Based on what they observed from surveillance footage, Lynnwood police believe it to have been a well-organized operation.

Pretty clear you didn't read what @eightzero said. "...available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity". Surveillance viewed after the crime is not alerting anyone of suspicious activity until it's too late.

But where in the article did it say that Apple was not alerted of the possible break in, at about the time of the break in? If you were the Apple employee that was alerted in the middle of the night of an alarm going off in the store, do you change and drive to the store to investigate? NO, you call the police first (or fire dept depending on the nature of the alarm.) Maybe the alarm company had already called the police. But what happens when the police shows up, in maybe 5 minutes? What do they find? A perfectly intact front door and back door. No sign of any force entry. They don't have the keys to get in. So they have to wait for an Apple employee or maybe the alarm company to show up with the keys. The police is not going to break into the store to see if there's actually some one in there. What if it's a false alarm. Or if a stray cat got in the back door during the day and set off the alarm that night?

By the time any one arrives with the keys, the burglars are long gone. The best chance of catching the burglars was if they had set off an alarm in the coffee shop that they first broke into. But with no sign of any break in there, the police had no reason to look there. And of course Apple had to wait for the store employees to show up to inventory and find out the full scale of the heist. That is not saying that Apple or the police, didn't find out about the heist until he next morning. And I'm sure the surveillance footage is from a security to monitor internal theft, in house. Not a security camera that is constantly being monitor 24/7 by someone.

eriamjh

MacPro said:

eightzero said:

Ha. If only there were some available technology to alert property owners of suspicious activity within their premises, like some sort of machine that would detect unauthorized motion, or that could take remote pictures. Alas, such things are probably beyond the capability of a small company like Apple. 

Come on, you watch too much sci-fi!  

How did they get past the lasers?

chasm

I’ve never been an Apple Retail employee, but I am pretty confident that Apple records the serial numbers of iPhone stock in every store, so it should be pretty easy to track the stolen items down once the thieves — or the suckers they sell these to — actually try to start using them.

eightzero

lkrupp said:

So what happens to these stolen Apple products? Are they sold on the black market? If so, how do they get activated for use? Or do they get sold for parts? Has AppleInsider ever tried to investigate the details of how these stolen devices make money for thieves. We see posts about legit users having activation issues because of Apple’s activation servers glitching. Wouldn’t those same activation servers block any attempt to activate these stolen products, especially iPhones? Wouldn’t the carriers have lists of IMEI numbers to refuse service? Are there thousands of useless, stolen iPhones floating around being sold to clueless idiots looking for something too good to be true?

As for spare parts for shady repair shops, do those lowlifes have the equipment to match and pair security dependent parts like TouchID screens and the like?

What am I missing here?

Article (and other news reports) says that the merchandise was "worth $500,000." Not clear to whom. Future buyers of the boosted goods? Apple's potential sale value? The insurance claim value? 

That said, one does really wonder why thieves would hit this kinda target. And maybe...this is why Apple doesn't bother buying security. I wonder if they even insure the stuff.

fred1

chasm said:

I’ve never been an Apple Retail employee, but I am pretty confident that Apple records the serial numbers of iPhone stock in every store, so it should be pretty easy to track the stolen items down once the thieves — or the suckers they sell these to — actually try to start using them.

I don’t know about a theft of so many phones at once, but often the thieves want to take them apart and sell the parts. Parts can’t be traced or made inoperable. 

jamnap

Tim and his top execs need to watch Sean Connery and C. Zeta-Jones in “Entrapment.”  It is a great suspense-driven movie with lessons on yoga laser moves.