back to article SMASH AND GRAB iThieves run car through front of Berkeley's Apple Store

A daring thief drove a car through the front of a California Apple store on Friday in what police believe was a planned robbery. Berkeley Apple Store robbery Smash and grab raid next handfuls of hardware The Berkeley 4th Street store was the scene of the crash-turned-heist early Friday morning when one or more individuals …

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  1. Rick Brasche

    how do you fence that stuff?

    aren't the serial numbers of all their inventory known? and cannot be used or activated without calling home to iTunes?

    seems simple enough to blacklist the missing merch and wait till complaints come in from "boot sale" suckers. Follow it back to who sold them and Bob's yer uncle.

    1. Greencat

      Re: how do you fence that stuff?

      It is apparently possible to change the serial number on at least some Macs although you'll also have to scratch it off the outside as well.

    2. Peter Simpson 1
      Holmes

      Re: how do you fence that stuff?

      The bad guys already have their money by the time the customer attempts to activate a stolen iDevice. Since they purchased it from a friend of a friend in a darkened parking lot, I doubt the cops will get much of a lead on the original thief. Still, I suppose there's a chance. Better luck with fingerprints or DNA on the crashed car, I would think.

  2. Steven Roper
    Alert

    Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

    Here in sunny Australia, ne'er-do-wells got the idea of crashing cars through shop windows and emptying their contents back in the 90s. The attack was so effective, and thus became so commonplace, that the term "ramraiding" was coined to describe it - and it's the reason why so many outdoor strip-shops here have installed concrete ramraid bollards out the front to prevent the practice.

    Looks like the craze has finally caught on over there. For once we Australians aren't the ones 20 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to achieving something. Although I do appreciate the irony of that something being a criminal activity, given our benighted nation's history...

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

      Concrete filled steel bollards are common here in the US, but usually only around perineal robbery favorites like convenience stores, liquor stores, jewelry stores, abortion clinics and government buildings.

      You don't often see them in higher income parts of town because robbery takes an entirely different form there, often disguised as things like 'APR', doctor bills and invoices from lawyers.

      In seriousness, high end stores often have pneumatic bollards with sensor arrays out quite a ways from the doors. If they detect large, vehicle shaped things coming toward the building they deploy and lock in place until manually reset. Our insurance requires us to have some manner of vehicle barrier at all the doors, but we have to move really, really big things through those doors, so we went with the pneumatic type. They're serious things.

      I'm actually quite surprised Apple doesn't have them, as they are generally considered the 'best'. As you might heard, Apple makes a pretty big deal about the 'best'.

      1. frank ly

        Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

        I wear steel underpants in case of "perineal robbery" attempts. So far, my precaution has paid off.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

          Apple Release News: The "iPerenium" - With only two fingers and a quick swipe action you can get the job done?

          1. Scroticus Canis
            Headmaster

            Re: The "iPerenium"

            This is neither "perennial" nor "perineum", about half way perhaps?

            Up vote for the humour anyway.

      2. Down not across

        Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

        Concrete filled steel bollards are common here in the US, but usually only around perineal robbery favorites like convenience stores, liquor stores, jewelry stores, abortion clinics and government buildings.

        Why would you rob an abortion clinic? Or government building for that matter.

        Both could of course be targets for vandalism or protest.

        I suppose with hindsight, it would be plausible that clinic's might get paid more in cash rather than card if customers would rather not be identifiable in which case they could have reasonable amounts of cash on premises but surely even that would be deposited into bank each evening.

        1. Euripides Pants
          Mushroom

          Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

          "Why would you rob an abortion clinic? Or government building for that matter."

          We blow them up.

      3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Paris Hilton

        Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

        If they detect large, vehicle shaped things coming toward the building they deploy and lock in place

        Isn't that racist against US customer who happen to fall into the upper quartile of US-adapted body mass?

        1. Don Jefe

          Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

          That's why speed is measured. The average US person has a top speed of .5 MPH :)

          1. Darryl

            Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

            ...and the really fat ones are probably more like 0.01 mph

      4. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. David 45

      Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

      Oi reckons we had it in the UK first! So there - with brass knobs on! The latest wheeze is to find a building site with a digger stored there that just happens to be near an ATM. Bloody great stolen JCB comes along and virtually demolishes front of building to get at ATM, which lends a new meaning to the phrase "hole in the wall". They normally have a get-away car or pick-up truck stashed nearby but recent attempts near me have failed due to the somewhat unusual sound and sight of a digger trundling around at about two in the morning, which does seem to attract some attention from residents and the local constabulary.

      1. Ted Treen

        Re: Hasn't El Reg heard of ramraiding before?

        @David 45

        Local constabulary turning up @ 0200 to investigate a phoned-in robbery suspicion?

        What a novel idea.

        Ours (both of 'em) would be investigating B&Bs for not promoting equality of sexual orientation, or arresting people who used naughty words on Twitter. Or snoozing...

  3. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

    Daylight Robbery

    Suppose this raid at 2:52 AM was somewhat unusual the location - had it been during open hours, there would have been customers subjected to a different kind of robbery, and legal too.

  4. Pet Peeve

    This is why we can't have nice things.

  5. JaitcH
    WTF?

    What some iSheep will do ...

    to get a fix for their habit.

    Perhaps Apple will provide a patch for their car systems that prevents cars from being driven into a iSheep store. New use for Beacons?

  6. BongoJoe
    Pint

    Perhaps...

    the driver was just using the SatNav on his iPhone...

  7. Paul Webb

    Car left at scene

    full of Android landfill?

  8. Stretch

    It crashed coz...

    They were holding it wrong.

    And, silly crooks, you're supposed to torch the place too.

  9. Fab De Marco

    form over function Mantra catching up with Apple

    Apple are well known for making pretty things. This extends to their stores. Wall to wall glass in many cases.

    Perhaps they should focus more on function and less on form.

    1. Tiny Iota
      FAIL

      Re: form over function Mantra catching up with Apple

      Yes, because the function of any shop is to prevent ram-raids, instead of enticing customers.

  10. commonsense

    "A daring thief drove a car through the front of a California Apple store on Friday in what police believe was a planned robbery."

    A planned robbery? Believe? For a minute there, I thought somebody had accidentally crashed into an Apple Store and decided to make off with some loot to compensate for it.

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