Several Apple retail stores fall victim to smash-and-grab burglaries

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 47
    How about putting a security guard outside after hours?! Motion detection sensors? Inventory all IMII/serial numbers. Locked Security room for merchandise. Spiderwraps? These are some of the things my store does, Now why not Apple? It has plenty of money to make this useful
  • Reply 22 of 47
    Tousle?



    ?verb (used with object)

    1.

    to disorder or dishevel: The wind tousled our hair.

    2.

    to handle roughly.

    ?noun

    3.

    a disheveled or rumpled mass, esp. of hair.

    4.

    a disordered, disheveled, or tangled condition.
  • Reply 23 of 47
    It's cheaper to suffer a few of these thefts, than to pay for security at every store.
  • Reply 24 of 47
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    Don't know what their mileage would be on the stolen display kit as the units are locked down is 'shop' mode (you can obviously format the macbooks) . I know that when an iPhone 4 was stolen from my local O2 shop the manager showed me how the phone is 'locked' and does not respond to itunes even in dfu mode. They have a special tool on the store macbook for putting the retail firmware on them.
  • Reply 25 of 47
    Why not do what I do on my own computer:



    1. Add an EFI password to prevent anyone from installing a new copy of the OS on the machine.



    2. Change the login page wallpaper to include a message like "if this computer is offered for sale with this message still on the screen then it has been stolen and should be reported to the police".



    3. Require a logon password for all accounts and disable the guest account.



    4. Turn on disk encryption for all accounts.



    5. Install tracking software such as GadgetTrack ( http://www.gadgettrak.com/products/laptop/ )



    This makes the machine unsellable by all but the most tech savy. Your average drug addict thief wouldn't be able to sell the machine whole. The only thing they could do is sell it for parts at a significantly reduced rate.
  • Reply 26 of 47
    The stores could also be fitted with unobtrusive smoke-screen systems and smart water sprays that cover thieves with an ultraviolet dye. Both systems are used extensively in the UK.
  • Reply 27 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A burglary at the Apple Store in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday morning is the latest in a string of smash-and-grab burglaries targeting Apple's retail stores.



    The store's surveillance video shows five burglars smashing the front door of the store and quickly grabbing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise before making their escape. The burglary took place around 3 a.m. early Tuesday morning.



    The Greenwich Avenue store opened in November of last year. Greenwich, Conn., is an upscale town well-known for being the "hedge fund capital" of the U.S.



    The store was closed Tuesday for repairs. Workers swept up broken glass while a security guard stood watch.



    With their iconic glass doors and high concentration of valuable products, Apple Stores have become an easy target for smash-and-grab style burglaries. The company's retail stores have been the victims of a rash of burglaries that have taken place in Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and now Connecticut.











    Surveillance images released by the Greenwich police show the five hooded suspects breaking into the store.



    Source: Stamford Advocate



    On Dec. 6, the Tice's Corner Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., was burglarized. Just before 2 a.m., four burglars smashed their way into the Apple Store for a 30-second stealing spree that included iPods, MacBooks and iPhones.



    In 2008, burglars broke into the Tice's Corner store through a vacant furniture next door. Using sledgehammers, crowbars and other tousle, broke through a wall to gain access to the Apple Store. The burglars were unsuccessful, however, and police apprehended and charged three of the four men involved.



    Thieves took over $10,000 worth of Apple merchandise from the Shadyside Apple Store in Pittsburgh, Penn., in November. Police suspected that the break-in was connected to a similar burglary at a nearby T-Mobile store that took place hours before the Apple Store theft.



    In September, burglars made off with more than $24,000 in Apple products from an Apple Store in Naperville, Ill.



    Apple's retail business has seen tremendous growth since the Cupertino, Calif., company opened its first stores May 2001. In the next year, Apple expects to open 40 to 50 new stores, with over half them overseas.



    Roughly half of the Macs sold in Apple's retail stores are to first-time Mac owners. As of October, Apple had 317 stores worldwide, averaging $11.8 million of revenue per store, up 52 percent year over year.



    Simple solution have one security guard posted outside the store and the other one inside the store and have every product locked up.Where I live this is done.
  • Reply 28 of 47
    I like the fact that you can look though the windows of an Apple store when it's closed. Putting gates and bars up with spoil it. It's really dumb stealing the display stuff as it's value as isn't that high.
  • Reply 29 of 47
    I've always had to connect my devices to the Internet to "activate" them...haven't we all? (regarding iPhones/iPods/iPads) Isn't it simply a matter of time before someone does the same with the stolen items? Especially with the SN's of them all--that's what inventory is all about. If this is the case, I can't see them taking very long to track these items--or at least ONE of the individuals--down and "solving the case". This sounds more like "Encyclopedia Brown" detective work!!!!!
  • Reply 30 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GreggInSanDiego View Post


    Some San Diego, CA stores have been broken into more than once. Twice I have been to the UTC store in La Jolla and the doors were being repaired.



    Same here. In fact, I was in the store once and all this commotion started up at the front when someone ripped an iPod Touch from the display and dashed off with it - broad daylight! They even had a security guard in the store but he was standing way in the back ...
  • Reply 31 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macbook831 View Post


    Why not just put one of those chain rack looking doors like the ones that are put at the stores inside the shopping mall's.



    I think they could do better than a roll down cage. How about a very cool looking acid etched metal door that slides across or rolls down. They could perferate the material with cool designs that would be notice from afar with backlighting. The metal could be alarmed so that trying to tamper with it would set off the alarm, or they could electrify it

    Or they cold put in a moat. Or steel bars that slide up from the ground. Oh the possibilities are endless.
  • Reply 32 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah View Post


    The Greenwich police station is only approximately 2 small blocks away from the Apple Store on Greenwich Avenue.



    I don't think anyone at the police station picks up & drives on over there, I believe they always call out on radio for the closest patrol. If all patrols are busy or closest one is like 5min away then the burglars got it made. It's a gamble, cause closest patrol might be 1 block over even if the police station was 30min away. Proximity to a police station only ups chances of being caught during certain hours of the day/night when shift changes occur & cars are reporting back or leaving the station. If there was a major emergency then yes they'd send out patrols from the station but a burglary alarm going off usually just gets a radio to closest patrol to go & check it out.
  • Reply 33 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gary54 View Post


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRtDc2_SI40



    NICE!! Love the forklift but would have liked to see it finally go!



    That much open structure in a store though is a recipe for crooks to find a way, I remember there was a place here locally where someone backed a pickup through a storefront. Wasn't an Apple Store, can't remember what kind of store it was. Best deterrent to crime is to make it not worth the effort, unfortunately some crooks see a theft conviction as some minor time in the pen & then out to do it again. Free room & board, they even get cable!
  • Reply 34 of 47
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    Tick tick tick. That's the sound of your merchandise running away.



    Meanwhile, Steve Ballmer should place an ad on Craigslist offering to PAY burglars to break into a Microsoft store to make it look like the products were desirable.
  • Reply 35 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macbook831 View Post


    Why not just put one of those chain rack looking doors like the ones that are put at the stores inside the shopping mall's.



    Apple has the greatest idea for Computer Technology but FAIL for store Security! Idiots!





    That is the singular most ignorant comment I have read on AI yet.
  • Reply 36 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Masterz1337 View Post


    That store is like 10 minutes away from me. Whoever those kids are they're so getting caught, Greenwich doesn't mess around.



    I still can't understand why Apple opened in Greenwich when the Stamford store is 10 minutes away with ample parking which Greenwich doesn't have.



    There's a rumor in Westport that they are coming here too.
  • Reply 37 of 47
    Firstly, I can't imagine Apple carries insurance for loss by theft. It probably has liability and general coverage in case of a huge catastrophe like a fire or something, but as mentioned earlier in other posts, after filing a few claims for such robberies, the insurance premiums would skyrocket. So I suspect Apple is self-insured.



    Secondly, the value of the merchandise stolen is but a fraction compared to the cost of replacing the broken doors or glass panels, and the sales the store missed while closed for repairs. Apple's TRUE loss isn't the retail value that's reported in the news. These were demo devices that Apple was never going to sell anyway, so the real value that was actually lost is the cost to replace these items --the manufactured cost, not the retail price. The robbery means that the value of these machines gets moved from one accounting column to another, just a little sooner than planned.... Besides, there are dozens, if not hundreds of identical models sitting on-site, so these stores aren't "going without".



    So, even if a dozen of Apple's 300 or so stores are burgled in a manner of a couple weeks, there is zero incentive for Apple to insure for and/or install "unsightly security measures" to prevent these kinds of incidents. As others have mentioned, consumers like being able to window shop Apple after hours, Apple is very image conscious and most likely will never consider ugly security clap-trap, and in the bigger picture the losses in each case are minuscule when compared to the respective store's total annual volume. In other words, it's part of doing retail, Apple style.
  • Reply 38 of 47
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gary54 View Post


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRtDc2_SI40



    Great clip. All I could think of was that Apple would love this glass, it is very reflective! (Too soon?)
  • Reply 39 of 47
    Although it may not be cost effective, it would be great to have an undercover security guy well hidden after hours that can taser these SOBs when they do these smash-n-grabs. They could bag at least 1 or 2 of the punks.



    On another, more cost effective note, why not use shatter/bullet proof glass?
  • Reply 40 of 47
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I heard a rumor that the Windows stores have had a few breaks ins too, people leave PCs there and then escape.
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