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Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#71

Post by PointyDog »

rdtsc wrote: post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

I lived in Howard County for a year. With the combination of county income tax and affluent property taxes, every service was exceptionally well funded.

Having lived in Mountain View & Sunnyvale, CA as well for a decade my experience was Howard County itself had quicker and better services than those cities.

It doesn't surprise me at all that their police department is competent and helpful.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#72

Post by duxup »

educasean wrote: post #8

It required the victim to take matters into his own hands and invest inyo buying multiple AirTags in order to sort out the burglary. I wonder how many of these burglary cases just sat there gathering dust and for how long.

I mean let's say tools vanish from a job site. That's not a heavily evidence laden situation. Not like there will be muddy tracks to the warehouse.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#73

Post by duxup »

tamimio wrote: post #19

Did the carpenter alter the tags?! Afaik they beep sounds around other unpaired iphones, additionally, using apps like AirGuard can alarm you about such ones.

Did the thieves bring their phone with them to steal from numerous job sites as far back as 2014?

That would seem like a poor choice. If the same thieves are taking everything they might be "smart" enough to NOT bring a personal tracking device with them.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#74

Post by [deleted] »

closewith wrote: post #42
MisterTea wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Selling overseas would require hardware changes with the plugs Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and a few other Central/South American countries can plug these tools right into the wall.

None of those countries are overseas from the US. Maybe there's a case to be made for Venuzeuela and Colombia because of the Darien Gap, but that's pushing it.

[deleted]

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#75

Post by google234123 »

cwmma wrote: post #69
defen wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A criminal can sell your Macbook if they like, but if they steal from Apple itself? Oh man there will be hell to pay. Where do you get the idea that there will be "hell to pay" if you steal from Apple itself? People regularly run out of Apple stores with tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and never get caught.

There is an amount of theft that apple is OK with because preventing it would hurt sales and occasional theift of product they can easily brick is certainly under that limit, plus there is likelyreporting biases, as it's likely you've seen videos of it happening but when there are arrests or recoverys you havn't seen those reports.

This is a regressive and defeatist attitude. We actually don't have to tolerate this in a society- those engaging in it should be punished and forcibly removed if they aren't able to change.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#76

Post by xyst »

jhund wrote: post #46

In the video that shows the stolen tools in the warehouse, there are hardly any Ryobi tools (HomeDepot's cheap tool brand). This is in stark contrast to many of the recent woodworking videos on Youtube that feature craftspeople using Ryobi tools (without explicitly mentioning an HD sponsorship). The thieves know a good tool, and HD is trying to fool the rest of us that their Ryobi tools are any good.

If you are a diyer that needs it for maybe 1-2 jobs a year, ryobi is usually not a bad choice.

Personally, I stick with DeWalt because I like quality even though I fall under the “diyer” category. This impact driver has survived 5-6 moves, at least a handful of projects across a few years, and it’s still working as if I just picked it up from the store. Haven’t had to do any maintenance or repairs.

One of the cheaper harbor freight or off brand power tools I picked up many years ago lasted at most 1-2 yrs with only a few projects. Which is the reason I started investing in higher quality (prefer dewalt, but will buy Milwaukee).

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#77

Post by midtake »

hfe wrote: post #61
jhund wrote: post #46

In the video that shows the stolen tools in the warehouse, there are hardly any Ryobi tools (HomeDepot's cheap tool brand). This is in stark contrast to many of the recent woodworking videos on Youtube that feature craftspeople using Ryobi tools (without explicitly mentioning an HD sponsorship). The thieves know a good tool, and HD is trying to fool the rest of us that their Ryobi tools are any good.

What is the brand with the best reputation these days?

Tools are weird like text editors where people get religious about some brands over others. But if your hustle is fencing the most reputable and easy-to-move tools, you would probably want to acquire the standard ones you see in Home Depot and Lowe's, such as Dewalt, Milwaukee, Craftsman, etc. Reputation-wise they're all about the same. Personally I like Makita.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#78

Post by Aloisius »

brailsafe wrote: post #37
brookst wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a good Hollywood ending. Sadly the world has become so credulous that people probably believe nutty conspiracy theories like that today. When two seconds of thought would make anyone realize that the conspiracy story is insane: professionals working at a company literally paying for criminal acts targeting their own customers, in support of a sales increase they could never get credit for, and which wou…

Compared to some stuff that actually seems to happen, the only leap of imagination I see here is that it would bankrupt the company overnight, or that it would matter to the people involved. Not to say that it's even remotely likely , but all you need is for someone with a vested interest to find a cost effective way to boost sales. Depending on how desperate people and the broader economy are, and how little people…

> The person stealing doesn't need to know who hired them

I think you're vastly underestimating how difficult it is to anonymously recruit and pay thousands of thieves from all over the country to target one particular brand and ensure they actually do the job.

Maybe one could offer some sort of buy-back program to maybe induce this behavior, but that would be quite expensive.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#80

Post by swah »

bagels wrote: post #43
tamimio wrote: post #19

Did the carpenter alter the tags?! Afaik they beep sounds around other unpaired iphones, additionally, using apps like AirGuard can alarm you about such ones.

It takes 3 minutes to remove the speaker. There are great tutorials on youtube. I've only purchased airtags for use as theft recovery, and if they beep it defeats the purpose.

I also have one on a office key (useful, it vanishes every few months), umbrella (useful, its left in restaurants and vanishes in the car trunk), laptop bag (useless so far, I never forget about it), and car (waiting for it to be robbed but its old)
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