Thieves steal Apple laptops, personal info
updated 10:55 am EDT, Wed August 22, 2007
Apple Store burglarized
Yet another Apple Store has been burglarized, this time at University Village in Seattle, Washington. The thieves apparently entered the store through the ceiling in an area sectioned off for technicians, making off with all the laptops that had workers had completed servicing. A store employee told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that at least one of the notebooks contained personal information, and that the theft could pose a risk to other customers. Additionally, an "unknown stock" of refurbished iPhones are missing alongside a high-end laptop used by the store's technical staff. A store employee reportedly showed police a cut cable lock that was attached to the technician's laptop, and police reported that the entire office appeared in disarray. Seattle police were called to the University Village store at 4:44 a.m. Monday morning after an alarm signaled rear entry or motion, but the police report stated that all the doors were secure and nothing appeared to be out of place on the inside.
The burglary follows another theft at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri where suspects stole $17,000 worth of goods by smashing out the front window of the store. The thieves reportedly made off with eight laptops, three iPods, and two iPhones and struck the store at around 3:38 a.m. on August 13th.
While the two burglaries are likely unrelated, they reveal high demand for the Cupertino-based company's products by unscrupulous or unknowing buyers. Apple products are sought after enough that thieves are risking charges of grand theft and burglary just to acquire the goods.
In late January the Twenty Ninth Street Apple Store in Colorado modified one of its display cases by securing the 30-pound container to the table upon which it rested. The changes were made after thieves boldly stole a 2 x 2 x 6-foot display case containing 42 4GB iPod nanos worth around $8,450. Amazingly, store employees said they noticed the case missing at around 5:00 p.m. which suggests that the theft may have occurred in broad daylight.
A man who burglarized an Apple Store in Weymouth, Massachusetts in December of 2006 was stopped by a police officer for having a brown plastic bag over his license plate. The man, who was bleeding profusely from wounds he suffered while entering and exiting the Apple Store after smashing out the front glass window with a pipe wrench, may have bled to death if he was not stopped by local law enforcement. The thief reportedly cut his arms on the broken glass of the front window while entering and exiting the store as he carried 56 stolen iPods worth almost $20,000 in a pink plastic tub.
The man was treated at a local hospital and jailed. Just one week prior, the Carrefour Lavel store in Canada was burglarized by thieves who managed to take numerous computers as well as several iPods.
way to go Seattle PD
08/22, 11:18am reply
"Seattle police were called to the University Village store at 4:44 a.m. Monday morning after an alarm signaled rear entry or motion, but the police report stated that all the doors were secure and nothing appeared to be out of place on the inside."
how'd you like to be one of those Apple Store employees who had to make the calls to customers who had their laptops stolen? Not me!
climacs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
Encryption!
08/22, 11:31am reply
Apple gives a simple way for you to encrypt your personal data. I store any sensitive data in an encrypted DMG file that I manually mount and dismount. If I had lots of this type of data I would use filevault.
ClevelandAdv
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2004
better yet...
08/22, 12:06pm reply
clone the drive and wipe it BEFORE you return it for servicing. I tell this to all my friends who have laptops that need servicing. Encrypting contents via filevault only serves to make it difficult for the thief to get at your data... but without a current backup, YOU don't have access to it either!
paulc
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2000
Re: better yet
08/22, 12:10pm reply
clone the drive and wipe it BEFORE you return it for servicing.
Great idea, unless you can't boot the computer or access the drive, thus the reason for your service in the first place. And most mac laptops do not have a user-servicable hard drive.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
not quite
08/22, 12:15pm reply
While the two burglaries are likely unrelated, they reveal high demand for the Cupertino-based company's products by unscrupulous or unknowing buyers. Apple products are sought after enough that thieves are risking charges of grand theft and burglary just to acquire the goods.
Since there are people out there that will kill you for $10, let alone steal pretty much anything, I don't think that the products being "highly sought after" are the impetus. They're expensive, thus good fencing value.
What I'd like to know is, if it was your laptop stolen, what do you get from Apple? Replacement refurbed laptop, new laptop, or current value in cash?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
I got it!
08/22, 12:22pm reply
I've come up with a brilliant idea! We should start a class-action lawsuit against apple for (a) not securing serviced computers to prevent theft, (b) enticing thieves by producing highly sought after machines, (c) mental and physical distress occurring when entering an Apple store, not knowing whether thieves will attack at that moment, (d) mental and physical distressed caused by worrying that our computers will be stolen while in apple's service department, (e) repayment of all costs and expenses from creating a completely new identity every time you need to bring your Apple laptop in for service (if you wait until your identity is stolen, its too late), let alone any other known and unknown issues that have arose or will arise in the future.
Its obvious that apple's complete neglect and negligence in this area has caused its customers much harm.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
testudo
08/22, 12:35pm reply
LOL! Classic dude! ;-)
jarod
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2005
Burgled, not burglarized
08/22, 12:39pm reply
If you're afraid your readers won't take the time to look up "burgled," you could always use "stole." And they say English is the language of the future.
Squirrel_Monkey
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2004
burgled?
08/22, 01:13pm reply
isn't that what happens at the bathhouse? ;-)
climacs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
burglarized is US English
08/22, 01:44pm reply
I think "burglarized" is actually correct, in U.S. English.
The dictionary that comes with OS X seems to think "burglarised" is OK in English (or, as our American cousins like to call it, "International English"), though my copy of Chambers says that it's a North American colloquialism.
ajhoughton
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2004