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Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

nofreelunch.co.uk

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Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#321

Post by hakfoo »

macshome wrote: post #127

As an American, the part of the story that is very interesting to me is that Canadian coins have enough ferrous content to be picked up by a magnet. Wouldn’t the ability for coins to become magnetized cause all sorts of issues for the internal workings of vending machines and other coin slot using mechanisms?

The US and Canada discontinued silver coins at about the same time (mid-1960s). The US went for a copper-nickel alloy sandwich and Canada went for pure nickel (which I believe is now nickel-plated steel).

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#322

Post by robertlagrant »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #278
robertlagrant wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but then what happens to the thing I said? How do businesses get loans? How much interest should be paid on that money, if any?

Supply and demand determine the price (or interest rate). Businesses get loans the same say any other business transaction happens. A buyer and seller hash out an agreement. This already happens all the time, even in the US (see investment banking). If the lender, such as a bank, is any good at their job of underwriting, then they won’t need the federal government’s assurance to bail them out and they will still be a…

> Businesses get loans the same say any other business transaction happens. A buyer and seller hash out an agreement. This already happens all the time, even in the US (see investment banking).

Yes, but a big way small business loans happen is with people's deposited money. You're naming alternatives, but not replacements. If my money is deposited with the government, then I have to go and find someone to lend to myself, and actually have the money removed from my bank account?

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#324

Post by lotsofpulp »

robertlagrant wrote: post #322
lotsofpulp wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supply and demand determine the price (or interest rate). Businesses get loans the same say any other business transaction happens. A buyer and seller hash out an agreement. This already happens all the time, even in the US (see investment banking). If the lender, such as a bank, is any good at their job of underwriting, then they won’t need the federal government’s assurance to bail them out and they will still be a…

> Businesses get loans the same say any other business transaction happens. A buyer and seller hash out an agreement. This already happens all the time, even in the US (see investment banking). Yes, but a big way small business loans happen is with people's deposited money. You're naming alternatives, but not replacements. If my money is deposited with the government, then I have to go and find someone to lend to mys…

Yes, is this a problem? There are businesses that assist you with this already. Called investment banks. Or the government if you are looking for small business loans via SBA (and the government hires banks to do the underwriting, which the banks can still do).

> If my money is deposited with the government, then I have to go and find someone to lend to myself, and actually have the money removed from my bank account?

Also, you know the savings rate you earn at a bank is not because of the loans a bank makes, but because the government pays the bank. Why do you want your government to pay a middleman before paying you?

There was a time and purpose for this system, before instant communications and electronic databases. Now, those purposes have been automated away.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#326

Post by fennecfoxy »

cstejerean wrote: post #288
andy99 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 38k/year was the most striking part of the article. According to a (US) inflation calculator that would be 130k today https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ which seems very good for an apparently entry level job.

I think that's largely because wages haven't really kept pace with inflation.

Haven't really = not at all, I have no idea where I'd be if I wasn't working in the comparatively highly paid tech industry. I count myself as very lucky.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#327

Post by fennecfoxy »

aaron695 wrote: post #115
tiborsaas wrote: post #86

> He removed the face plate from the ticket machines, which as a repairman would raise no suspicion, then rigged a car antenna with a magnetic tip, like a make-shift fishing rod. Coin-by-coin, Kara hooked his catch out of the ticketing machine cash box into a shaving bag, which acted as his keep net. I can't picture how his rig worked, the article would have benefitted by anything visual help :/

It'll be fake and he just broke in, maybe legally it was better to not have 'broke' anything but this was how he started it all. Do the napkin math - 1. There was no AliExpress to get amazing magnets from, and there were no amazing magnets. Average of $3k / week $3000 / 6 days working / 8 hours = $62.5 per hour Personally I get rid of lower coins into machines. So lets say 4 coins to get $1. He's pulling out 200 coin…

Didn't need Ali back then - you could get a lotta stuff in the hardware/hobby stores that still existed when I was a kid (long after the 80s).

Dick Smith was the kiwi one, then they kind of stopped doing hardware/electronic parts at all, then went online only. Not sure if they're even still around, now.

Hobby stores are closing all over the place, but only bc they've been replaced by online/Adafruit, Sparkfun, etc.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#329

Post by btbuildem »

tiborsaas wrote: post #86

> He removed the face plate from the ticket machines, which as a repairman would raise no suspicion, then rigged a car antenna with a magnetic tip, like a make-shift fishing rod. Coin-by-coin, Kara hooked his catch out of the ticketing machine cash box into a shaving bag, which acted as his keep net. I can't picture how his rig worked, the article would have benefitted by anything visual help :/

Somewhere in my toolbox I have one of those "antennas" -- it's basically just that, a telescoping steel rod, likely the exact same thing as an old portable radio antenna, tipped with a magnet. Mine isn't a fancy neodymium magnet either, it's one of the old graphite-coloured ones. Its intended use is for fishing out dropped nuts and bolts when working in tight quarters.

Re: Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

#330

Post by drgo »

Dah00n wrote: post #89
drgo wrote: post #63

He got away too easy if you ask me. You will need to spend a miminm of 2 years in jail for owning not stealing 500 cannabis plants

By that logic, you are also stating that you see two years in jail “for owning not stealing 500 cannabis plants” as a fitting punishment, no? Seems to me one is fine while the other is too high.

I said no such thing... I was just pointing out that financial crimes (especially those deemed clever) are less severely punished than far less than criminalized behaviour that often does not hurt anyone
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