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Video Games

'Mario' and 'Luigi' Rob and Beat Cabbie on Halloween

Police are on the lookout for two brothers. Occupation: plumbers, Clothing: overalls, Hobbies: saving princesses and collecting coins. Reports say they answer to these names: Mario and Luigi.

No, this isn't breaking news from the Mushroom Kingdom (unless Staten Island just got a new nickname). According to the New York Daily News, Staten Island police are searching for four men (two were dressed like the video game icons) who were caught on a gas station's surveillance video around 4 a.m. on November 1st robbing and beating a taxi driver. After apparently leaving a Halloween party, one of the men tried to steal money from the cabbie's pocket. The driver pulled into the gas station and asked the men to pay and get out of his car. They refused, beat the driver, and stole his cash anyway.

There's no word yet on whether or not the crooks were disappointed that the driver wasn't carrying large, gold coins. In all seriousness, let's hope these guys are caught soon. If a couple no-good criminals ruin one of our favorite Halloween costumes, we'll have to go out and regulate. And we won't use turtle shells, either. [From: the New York Daily News]

Web, Social Networking

Burglar Arrested After Checking Facebook During Robbery

The saddest part about this story is that this isn't the first time this has happened -- a burglar stops in the middle of his robbery to log on to his Facebook account from his victim's PC, leaving behind evidence leading to his swift arrest.

This time is was 26-year-old Italian man who was arrested after he broke into a home in Albano Laziale outside of Rome. According to the Telegraph, when police came to investigate the scene, after the 52-year-old victim reported the crime, they noticed the computer was on. When they pressed a key to bring the screen back to life, the browser was still open with Facebook loaded. When the victim told police he was not a member of the social networking service, the authorities realized the last person to log on to the machine was the burglar.

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Computers

Man Spies on New Owner of Stolen Computer via Apple's MobileMe


Earlier, we reported the story of a robbery victim who used his stolen iPhone's GPS application to track down his purloined phone and, thus, the suspected thieves. In other crime-fighting Mac news, The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) reports that an anonymous contributor dubbed 'Jim' has gotten a tip on the location of his stolen laptop -- thanks to Apple's MobileMe, a program that enables users to sync several computers.

Since police are currently investigating, the report is intentionally vague, but what is apparent is the Apple program's role in the potential capture of these suspected ne'er-do-wells. After Jim's home was invaded, and his two Macs and one PC stolen, he glumly forked over the cash for a new MacBook Pro. Smartly, Jim had backed up his former computers' files to a Time Machine drive, so he went about restoring the files. In doing so, he opened up MobileMe to discover one of his former computers listed as being synced to the new MacBook. Enabling the screen-sharing function, Jim was able to bring up the other computer's screen and watched as somebody searched for winning lottery numbers. Although MobileMe allows the option of taking control of a synced computer, Jim, again smartly, resisted. Instead, once its screen fell motionless, he snuck in, acquired an IP address, and took a screenshot. This morning, according to the report, Jim spied the phantom user applying for a job online. Just as easy as pie, Jim was able to snag a Social Security Number, address, and phone number straight off the form. (Ouch.)

Although the investigation is still very much underway, we think it's safe to say that Jim's computer will be restored to him, and that the glowing Apple logo will continue to scare away potential thieves. [From: TUAW]

iPhone

Man Uses 'Find My iPhone' to Locate Stolen Stuff


Technology is making life a lot tougher for the average criminal. In the past, a mask and a quick set of feet were all a robber needed to get away with mugging someone on the street. While that still might work if they're only taking cash, thieves might want to let victims keep their iPhones.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, an unnamed man used the 'Find My iPhone' feature to help police track down his property and three suspects. The man was walking down a Pittsburgh street around 1 a.m. early Saturday morning when three men approached him, one brandishing a gun, and asked for his wallet, the PINs to his cards, and his iPhone. Immediately, the man called the bank to cancel his cards and the police to report the crime. When he got home later that morning, the man used his computer and his iPhone's GPS function to track the suspects to an area Walmart. That very day, police arrested the men at a nearby restaurant and charged them each with two counts of access device fraud, conspiracy, receiving stolen property, and possessing instruments of crime. Two of the suspects have been charged with robbery.

Has your cell phone ever been stolen?


This isn't the first time Apple has helped fight crime, either. Last year, a crafty young lady used a built-in webcam to locate her stolen Macbook. From the looks of it, that Apple-shaped logo is akin to a certain bat-shaped symbol, in that it makes criminals shake in their boots. Now, if they could only get Steve Jobs to wear a cape... [From: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via TUAW]
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=554917&pid=554916&uts=1251863688
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Busted... by Technology

Busted... by Technology

    Always Turn Off Stolen GPS Units
    It was only a matter of time before some numbskull criminal stole a GPS-equipped car or phone, but we didn't expect someone to steal live GPS units. A group of crooks in Lindenhurst, NY swiped 14 functioning GPS devices from the Town of Babylon Public Works. Understandably, authorities had no trouble tracking them down.

    Security Cam Catches Tattooed Thief
    We're not going to pass judgement on the type of tattoo you get, but you might want to think about what it says before you start getting into crime. Aaron Evans, a 21-year-old U.K. repeat offender, was caught stealing a car's GPS unit because the nearby CCTV captured the tattoo on his neck. It revealed his birthday and name...

    Laptop Auto-Uploads Photo of Thief to the Web
    This guy may be the unluckiest thief ever. Several laptops disappeared from a Vancouver, BC company; fortunately, one particular laptop was loaded with software that snapped photos when opened. The images of this guy were uploaded to Flickr. As a result, the man became a mini-Internet sensation, and he turned himself in, claiming he bought the laptop from a friend, at a local police station.

    Things Not to Do After Stealing a Cell Phone
    Gary Walker, an Ohio resident, stole a woman's phone while she had temporarily stepped out of her car to check a street sign. He proceeded to snap a shot of himself with the hot phone's camera. Later, when the victim went online and downloaded her data to transfer it to a new phone, Gary's mug popped up. The rest, as they say, is history.

    HighTube
    This 25-year-old Brit cultivator of cannabis decided to post videos -- under his real name -- of his cash crop on YouTube. English police saw the clips and he was soon tracked down and arrested.

    Girl Recovers Stolen Mac By Remotely Activating Its Webcam
    A White Plains, New York girl was the victim of burglary; over $5,000 worth of electronics, including iPods, a flatscreen TV, and a new Macintosh computer were stolen. A few days later, a friend noticed that the burglary victim appeared to be online, but called her to make sure. Because the stolen Mac was running Back to My Mac, the victim was able to log into the computer remotely and snap a picture of the thief. Turns out the thieves were "friends" who had visited the victim's apartment several weeks earlier.

    Teen Arrested After Bragging About Arson on Security Cameras
    A pregnant Los Angeles teen was arrested earlier after allegedly starting seven fires near her home. 19-year-old Amanda Gessner was caught after convenience store cameras caught her chanting, "The fire company is gonna be
    mad at me!" She was certainly right about that!

    Would-Be Voyeur Puts Spy Cam in Restroom, Leaves Video of Himself
    An upstate New York man installed a camera in a unisex bathroom. The camera was discovered soon after installation, and police found he'd left a video of himself on the camera. Police are still looking for the man.

    Forklift Tricks on YouTube
    If you're going to show off your sweet forklift driving skills to your buddies, it's probably best to just do it in person. 20-year-old Australian Matthew Garry Ward uploaded a video of safety-violating forklift tricks to YouTube, and was reported to authorities after a coworker passed the video along to the boss.

    Laser Pointer Shenanigans
    Remember those time-sucking high school pep rallies where some loser would whip out a laser pointer and temporarily blind people in the bleachers? This 15-year-old genius from California, was arrested after shining his laser beam at a police helicopter.

Cell Phones, Social Networking

Woman Twitters Her Way Through a Bank Robbery


Annemarie Dooling, a self-described jet setter and Web producer, found herself trapped in an HSBC branch in Manhattan during a hold up yesterday. So what did this tech-connected socialite do when she realized there was a robbery taking place? Tweet the whole thing, of course.

Dooling kept her Twitter-reading public abreast of the robbery -- although largely after the fact since she didn't even notice what was happening at first. Aside from Twitter, Dooling apparently had few ways to communicate with her friends because the trackball had fallen out of her phone. Shortly after the stick-up, she tweeted: "repeat: my trackball is gone. cant pick up calls, answer emails, or texts. so dont send them please."

Read more →

Google, Web

Google Street View Helps Solve Robbery

There's no question about it. Teens are spending more and more time online. Now, we could argue whether that is good or bad endlessly, but in one case, at least, it's been a good thing. A Dutch boy's dedicated surfing has helped local police to solve a crime, according to the AP.

While riding his bike down the streets of Groningen, a 14-year-old was yanked off his bike by two men who then stole his cell phone and the equivalent of $230. The boy reported the crime to police in September 2007, but the investigation did not produce any leads. Then, one day this past March, the boy was looking at images on Google's Street View when he saw what appeared to be the attack itself, in-progress.

Read more →

Computers, Web, Social Networking

Man Suspects Burglars Were Tipped Off by Out-of-Town Tweets



Whenever we go out of town, we all know to ask a friend or relative to stop by and pick up our mail and newspapers, so as not to advertise the fact that we're not at home. It should go without saying, then, that putting a sign on your front door that says "temporarily unoccupied" would be about as dumb as it gets. But, if you're careless about what you post online, you may be doing just that.

According to a Friday report by ABC News, East Mesa, Arizona's Israel Hyman recently discovered this the hard way when his home was robbed of thousands of dollars in computer equipment while he was out of town. When his father, Gerry, stopped by to check on the house, he found the back door jimmied open and his son's Mac Pro, a pair of 23-inch LCD screens, and other equipment missing. Israel believes that the thieves might have been tipped off by his Twitter messages, which also update his Facebook status. He told ABC News that anyone reading his Twitter updates (and Facebook) would have known he was leaving town.

Read more →

Computers, Webware

Thief Uses Google Earth to Spot and Plunder Lead Tile Roofs



Tom Berge, a builder from Sutton, England, has been using Google Earth as a treasure-seeking tool, of sorts. While other Google hunters before have claimed to find lost ships or even Atlantis, Berge pursued a more tangible type of booty.

Using the popular map application, Berge would canvass nearby areas and identify buildings whose roofs consisted of valuable lead tiles. An unidentified friend of Berge told The Telegraph, "he could tell the lead roofs apart on Google Earth as they were slightly darker than normal." After locating the lead roofs, Berge would climb the building, remove the tiles, rappel down and then sell the material to scrap metal salvagers.

Police arrested Berge in February after he allegedly accumulated approximately $200,000 from his plundering, which included a church, a museum and a girls' school. Berge received an 8-month suspended sentence for his 6-month spree, after which lead investigator Detective Sergeant Chris Grant said, "he was a prolific offender up until the time he was arrested. Since then our crime figures for theft of lead have reduced significantly." [From: The Telegraph]

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Computers

Why You Should Never Try to Steal a Law Student's Laptop

A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student's laptop last week after after becoming a punching bag for an Arizona State student he tried to rip off. Armed with a baseball bat, the intruder, Gabriel Saucedo, allegedly climbed through an open window into Alex Botsios' apartment, waking the student and threatening to smash his head in.

Botsios was willing to let Saucedo take his wallet and guitars. Then the robber made the mistake that ultimately landed him in the hospital -- he went for the laptop. According to Botsios, he said "Dude, no -- please, no! I have all my case notes...that's four months of work!" Saucedo, obviously underestimating the fury of an overstressed, overworked first-year, was unsympathetic. That's when Botsios could take no more.

Wrestling Saucdeo to the floor, Botsios separated the bat from the thief and repeatedly punched him in the face. When it was all over, police had to get Saucedo stitched up before charging him with armed robbery and kidnapping, while Botsios only suffered some scrapes and a bruised knuckle. Most importantly, at least to the student, is that his laptop, which he called "his baby," escaped unharmed. Next time, Saucedo might want to try robbing a third-year student, as they're generally more docile. [From: KTAR.com]

Audio/Video, TV

Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind

Not that we'd have any expert knowledge in the wide world of theft, but this just doesn't seem like the best way to go about snagging a new HDTV. At any rate, an undisclosed amount of thieves reportedly drove a truck (or large SUV... it was dark outside, okay?) into the front door of Los Tres Amigos restaurant in a small Pennsylvania town, broke the glass, ganked a 47-inch Insignia HDTV and "fled the scene." For starters, you'd risk prison for an Insignia? Really? Second, with LCD prices tanking like never before, don't you think you could've waited until Black Friday to get yourself a steal? Sigh.

[Image courtesy of Hotel Interactive]

Audio/Video, Cameras, Computers, Video Games

Thieves Begin Tracking Gadget Shoppers

Thieves Begin Tracking Gadget Shoppers

According to Consumerist, shoppers in Canada's Mississauga, ON, region are on alert after several consumers were robbed shortly after making big-ticket purchases at electronics stores. Police say criminals are staked out at these stores where they lay in wait for a person to buy an expensive item. The thieves will then tail the shopper to his or her next destination, wait until the shopper leaves the car, then break in and rob the items the victim had just bought.

These Canadian hooligans sure are creative -- though definitely a non-confrontational bunch. Here in the good ol' United States, a similar post-purchase rash of thefts occurred when the rare and expensive PlayStation 3 was launched last year. Only, that time there were a lot of blades, blood and hospital visits involved. That's America, baby.

From Consumerist

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