With the holidays upon us it is also the season for scams and
perhaps an increase in other thefts. Last year a friend lost all his
Christmas profit to a con man who ordered chains on a bogus credit
card. Another friend of mine took two years to recover from the loss
of an armed hold up. We have chewed on this subject from a defense
angle on several other threads. But, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Are the
jewel thieves we need to fear sophisticated and professional, or are
they just desperate thugs? As a mail order and internet merchant,
most of the scams I have seen have been pitifully transparent. Does
this mean that the bad guys are stupid or does it mean that enough
of us are stupid that they do not have to be that clever? Does the
armed holdup man have a buyer for his stolen goods before he makes
his move, or is he going to settle for $50 for a thousand dollar
piece? Are any of these guys clever enough to read Orchid to learn
how to be better thieves? What we hear about risk tends to be
sensational, if it is gossip or if it is in the news or in drama. I
would like to know what risks I really face.
Far too many are either born without a conscience, or they lose it
along with the first baby tooth. The other side of that coin if it
is at all, is greed.
Good sense and greed are not multi tasks. They cannot work in the
same breath.
I have a good friend who laboriously makes her own jewelry for sale
and then displays and sells at many venues. Recently her first piece
was stolen and she was hurt. Others who know how she displays her
jewelry suggested she get cases with glass tops. Her answer was “oh I
want people to feel my jewelry.” I totally understand her, there is a
dilemma here.
Internet selling, there have been many messages here about
fraudulent sales. What part of caution is missing when we continue to
read of new victims?
I would not be receiving so many messages about Viagra if someone
were not buying.
I am sure some items stolen are done so under contract. Look at the
art just returned to Argentina from France. Was not your
opportunistic happenstance. These are carefully planned and executed.
I think we have very little chance against these.
Most thieves of the opportunistic bent have no clue what they are
stealing, they see the next line of cocaine, or bottle of demon rum.
To see the personality of thieves, one has only to look to friends
and family, can you categorize them?
Recently at a local Rock and Mineral Club Show, a vendor reclaimed
several thousand dollars worth of his gems from the bottom of a back
pack of a club member. Was this reported to the police, NO! Don’t
ask me why, a tome will follow.
I don’t think stupidity is involved at all.
Terrie
Here’s a story a policeman once related to me (when we had a
policeman actually walking a beat in our neighborhood). A Cambridge
bank was held up. As soon as this officer and his partner heard about
it they went and parked on the border of Cambridge, near a bridge
leading to Charlestown (which at the time was where all of our local
bank robbers came from). They see a car drive by with cardboard,
handwritten license plates on it and a couple of seedy looking guys
so they pull it over. They run the numbers on the handwritten plates
and sure enough it comes up as a stolen car. They pull the guys out
of the car and sure enough it’s the bank robbers. So they ask why,
when they wrote the plate number on the cardboard, they used the
same numbers of the real plate that had been on the car. The answer?
Because they couldn’t think of any numbers to use!!!
Unfortunately not all criminals are quite so stupid, so you should
be keeping your eyes open, and make sure that greed doesn’t get the
best of you in this holiday season. If it sounds too good to be true
it probably is.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140 @Daniel_R_Spirer
A Cambridge bank was held up. As soon as this officer and his
partner heard about it they went and parked on the border of
Cambridge, near a bridge leading to Charlestown (which at the time
was where all of our local bank robbers came from).
Charlestown bank robbers were/are notoriously stupid, or perhaps
not. A couple of years ago, one pair robbed a bank in the middle of
Harvard Square, at busy lunchtime, and had parked the getaway car,
illegally, right outside the bank. When they emerged from the bank,
they found they had gotten a parking ticket. And, of course, they
drove no further than a few yards and got stuck in traffic. The
police approached on foot to arrest them. Detectives theorized that
Charlestown gang members need to have a bank robbery conviction on
their record to gain the gang’s respect. Don’t know whether a
jewelery store qualifies.
why, when they wrote the plate number on the cardboard, they used
the same numbers of the real plate that had been on the car. The
answer? Because they couldn't think of any numbers to use!
at least the all-time old-time notorious bank robber, willie sutton,
had a logical answer when police asked him why he robbed banks:
“because”, he said looking at the policemen as though they were
stupid, “that’s where the money is!”
But then again, we should give the good guys equal time. The
wonderful cab driver who found the package of diamonds left in his
cab and hunted down the rightful owner! And thank heaven that
jeweler/rep was a gracious enough person to reward the cabbie. (Who
still, really didn’t keep any of the reward for himself directly).
There is still good in the world, we just seem to hear about the bad.
I wonder what the world would be like if all the news agencies
ignored rep orting all the bad stuff. Yes, we do need to be aware to
protect ourselves, but I wonder just how many of the bad guys would
give up (especially terrorists) if they didn’t get the attention the
news gives them? Sigh. I know. Dream on.
Kerry
CeltCraft Beads & Jewelry
Someday to be located in Shangri-la
