Advice to iPod thieves: do not bring to an Apple retailer

File this one in the "doh!" category: a UK iPod thief was caught red-handed when he brought the device to a local Apple retailer looking for cables for it — unfortunately for the thief, the manager of the Nottingham-based store he walked into was actually the guy he stole the iPod from. Adrian Smith, manager of Apple retailer KCRS, had had his iPod stolen out of his car the weekend before. When the "customer" walked into the store, Adrian noticed the unit looked rather familiar, and sure enough upon plugging it into one of the store's machines, it turned up as "Adrian's iPod." Another staff member kept the thief occupied while Smith called the coppers, and the rest, as they say, is blog fodder.

[Via iLounge]

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

How did it look familiar, don't they all look the same? It must have had a distinct smell.

[v10n @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

or maybe just a distinct scratch(s), not to mention the serial number on it as well.

[msafi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

this is a misleading title by engadget. it made me think that all ipods are registered to their owners in a big database or something.

this thief just had bad luck. i wish one of the thieves who stole my 2 bicycles, my motorcycle, or my car, within the last 3 months(!!), get in a situation like that.

i hate thieves. i hope they all die, or get their hands cut off.

[Andy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Woo - go Adrian. He's sold me all sorts of random Appl stuff from that there shop

[asher @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I wouldn't be surprised if any Apple product wasn't traced the moment you went online with it. Since they all have a serial number encoded in the processor and that is never alterable. Every sale is recorded via that #. Smaller items, I'm sure are coordinated since they are sold all over. But computers are logged via credit card. If you register too.

[Cord50 at gmail @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Actually, this is very far from apple's policy. They take a hand's off approach on all stolen merchandise.

My uncle's brand new 15" PowerBook G4 was stolen from his home. About a month later, my uncle gets an email from Apple technical support telling him that his Powerbook has been received for repair. He quickly phones Apple and tells them of the situation. They say "Sorry, there's nothing we can do. Apple is not a law enforcement agency. You need a suponea for us to do anything."

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? They won't hold the Powerbook either at the repair center until it can be sorted out. They go on to tell him that they take a hands off approach to the whole deal and that they can't get involved. I guess, in the case of this story, when you are an actual Apple employee they will let you do it.

[Elias @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Yeah, I thought someone reported the unit as 'stolen' and the store called the cops when the guy tried to get it fixed or something.

-- Elias

[Mats @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

There is one service database of all all apple hardware. and its where is also possable to flag a mashine stolen.
so next time you bring your stolen stuff in to the store, the cops might come knocking.

I know this since i work at a store that hawe apple service.

Sorry about my crappy spelling.

[Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Cord, your uncle should call the cops and report that Apple has aided and abetted theft of your Powerbook. Make sure that he has names from the people he talked to at Apple and the police. I'm sure once that happens you will have Apple's complete attention.

[Joel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

The first thing I thought of is "what is the guitarist from Iron Maiden doing working at the Apple store?"

[Greg @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

number 3, man that sucks! I feel bad for you.

[Brian G @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

I wonder how many of Adrians ipods broke before his last one was stolen.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Wow, talk about karma...

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

#5, you're on paranoid crack. I have never heard of any G4 or G5 CPU having a unique, trace-able ID on them, unlike the Pentium 4 chips. There is a machine # and sales order number in the config if you buy from Apple, but that goes away if you reformat.
As far as being tracked when you are online? Yup, makes complete sense for a company with <5% market share to devise an entire database, internet tracking system, user profiles, etc. to see that we're A) on Engadget B) on a Mac site or C) looking at pron.

[B. Minich, PI @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Notice in the article, though: he only knew once he plugged the iPod into another machine, recognizing the name of the iPod as his (and probably looking at his music collection).

Thus, the theif did something really stupid - he never reformatted the drive before bringing it in to the store. Bad move on his part.

Also, it can look familiar because iPods tend to get scratches - so he probably recognized familiar looking scratches. See, scratches aren't all bad!

[xdviper @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

number 16
how is he going to format
he went to the store to buy wires

[K @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

And how was he supposed to know the guy he stole it from actually works at the Apple store?

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

all iPod's should be installed with GPS and a remote detination device so when the iPod is stolen it can be detonated by the original owner

[alset @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Apple's policy regarding stolen property is to protect employees from harm. My understanding is that a Mac Genius in a store in Southern California reported a stolen machine (back when Apple flagged the serial numbers of stolen machines) and had the thief arrested. The thief was apparently a gang banger and he and his friends later waited for the Mac Genius outside the store at night and hospitalized him.

I agree that Apple could call the cops and help out, but I also recognize why they tell their employees not to get involved.

[Tyson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

hahahahaha this is funny shit! i cant believe this. thats why kids you should never steal... :)

[Meripen @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Scratches on the iPod would help to make it look familiar as mentioned earlier, but there is also a deal to engrave a phrase, word, or name on the iPod. Plus, mine came with an 11 character serial number on the back of the case so someone with a trained eye (like a guy that works in an Apple store) would be able to get a good idea if he's looking at his or not.
As for how many iPods he had before that... Everyone I know has only had one and they all still work just fine.