Buying or receiving stolen goods.

namuras · 27-06-2003 10:50AM #1

Buying or receiving stolen goods.

I once knew a chap who was a bandit of the highest order.
He worked for one of the catalogue companies in a large warehouse which dealt with picking and processing the mail orders of the buying public.
He'd steal anything and everything he could get his grubby mitts on: CD players, shoes, designer wear, small electrical appliances, football shirts, ladies knickers.

Now this friendly-faced rogue kept offering me these pilfered prizes at ridiculously low prices, and eventually I succumbed to his wily ways.
For a period of time I purchased many items from him. He made a killing and I saved a fair penny.
-A Man United shirt for a tenner.
-A top CD player for a tenner.
-A pair of 60 quid trainers for a tenner.
In fact, he sold everything he lifted for a tenner - that's why he became known by the nickname "Pavarotti".

Eventually Pavarotti was caught red-handed by one of the warehouse security guards with some expensive watches stashed down the front of his trousers.
A hefty fine followed and a police record, not to mention the sack.

When I heard the news of his downfall I felt a tweak of guilt. By purchasing his loot, had I been fuelling his roguish ambitions?

So, a question: is it right to buy/receive stolen goods? Would you have a problem with such a practice?
Is shaking hands on a shady bargain acceptable in your eyes?

Sposs · 27-06-2003 11:04AM

You know what they say,hear no evil see no evil,he never told you they were stolen,you just taught he was a nice guy

Gordon · 27-06-2003 11:13AM

I have a big problem with it. I have been burgled and the reason I was burgled on many occasions is because people will buy stolen goods. It ****s me off big time.

John2002 · 27-06-2003 11:35AM

Originally posted by Gordon
I have a big problem with it. I have been burgled and the reason I was burgled on many occasions is because people will buy stolen goods. It ****s me off big time.

My sentiment too.

Shower of pricks that broke in to my house got about €10000 of stuff and it was probably all sold for about €2000. My da was considering going after the c*nts and offering them a couple of grand to just get our stuff back. But we never caught them.

Saruman · 27-06-2003 11:50AM

I myself have never bought stolen goods but it depends what it is! If i was offered a Laptop, a good one for €200 or so i would probably buy it even though i know it has to be stolen at that price. If i dont someone else will. If i have not been told it was stolen then i can only suspect but im not going to let that bargain go. Unfortunatly i dont have contacts like that but i know plenty who have got stuff at great prices like that. So i probably would. I would not buy a stolen car or something big like that.. But computer stuff yes i would if it was a bargain and was not told in advance its stolen. Plausible deniability!!

suppafly · 27-06-2003 12:03PM

Originally posted by John2002
Shower of pricks that broke in to my house got about €10000 of stuff

Jesus thats a lot!! They most of stolen a fair about of things! We were almost burguled there about 3 weeks ago but just as they were coming in my dad woke up and scared them off. Its made usa lot more vigilant though. But about buying stolen stuff. As Saruman said i MIGHT maybe be tempted to buy some small things but i dunno really if i would. I remember there used to be that shop in town(Cork), called the sale shop, and they used to run this kind of auction thing. It was really dodgy, i think it was definetly all stolen stuff. does anybody esle from Cork, remember it?

DerekD Goldfish · 27-06-2003 07:43PM

-A Man United shirt for a tenner.

You got a bad deal there

Tha Gopher · 27-06-2003 11:22PM

Dont know.When you buy stuff in markets you have the knowledge that it could be stolen.But is it wrong to rip off a business which will sell something for a huge profit unfairly?I wouldnt have any objections to buying some CDs nicked out of the likes of HMV where they are selling for between 25 and 40 euro in some cases.
Yesterday evening I was offered phones from 3 shady people I know in the space of 20 minutes.Didnt bother buying but a few minutes later two English people approached me asking directions to the garda station.Got me wondering as to where the guys got the phones.

passive · 27-06-2003 11:28PM

if somethings been robbed from someones house or taken from them by mugging then no, definately not

but with the kind of stolen goods namuras is talking about
ie from a warehouse, shop, truck...i'd be okay buying

(my way of distinguishing being: if its packaged its okay, if its bloodstained its not okay)

heh...maybe we could apply for a "stolen wares" section of the classifieds board...i'm sure that'd go down well

Bosh · 28-06-2003 08:46AM

if somethings been robbed from someones house or taken from them by mugging then no, definately not

So one type of theft is acceptable and another not?

How do you differentiate? Ask him politely did he batter & tie up some pensioner or did it just fall off the back of a lorry.

This type of attitude is what is fuelling crime -supply & demand. If there were no receivers there were would be no point is stealing unless it was for direct personal gain.

By buying something that is obviously stolen, you are just as guilty as the scumbag who stole it in the first place, so you can draw the obvious conclusion from that.

rymus · 28-06-2003 11:25AM

Now theres a fella you dont wanna buy a watch from!

therannu · 28-06-2003 02:01PM

When we're all being ripped off anyway by government/landlord/boss/publican, why not take advantage of a good deal? I'd love to have principles that would make me refuse that good deal on the grounds of creating demand for supply, but all's fair in love and finances. And people can go on as many marches as their dear little left-wing hearts desire, but things are never gonna change. So enjoy your dodgy merchandise, because you'll only be doing so in your dodgy flat while your landlord laughs all the way to the bank.

Bosh · 28-06-2003 02:56PM

So enjoy your dodgy merchandise,

So therefore if it's your mobile that I buy after you've been mugged and assaulted you'll be quite happy?

therannu · 28-06-2003 03:01PM

Wouldn't be sour at you, no. This attitude is probably reflective of my upbringing on a market stall in Limerick! Besides, my phone is a pice of sh1te anyway, so ypu'd be very welcome to it. But I'd like to see anyone try to mug me.

The Sweeper · 28-06-2003 03:12PM

If I was a shop owner, and I had a couple of crates of gear nicked from me, I'd probably put the price of everything else up to cover my loss...

Not to mention increasing my prices to cover the cost of additional security, or perhaps the higher insurance premium I've been hit for because I've had to claim for stolen goods...

Then of course there's the story with my home and contents insurance - that's going to be high if I live in what's considered a high risk area because people are being burgled... along with my car insurance...

But maybe I will buy something that might have been nicked - then the junkie who nicked it can use the money to buy more gear so the drug dealers will be pleasantly wadded up for the weekend.

Then my income tax will go up to pay for the extra gardai who have to chase the drug dealers, the junkies, the petty thieves, the burglars and the fraudulent employees.

Yeah, buy nicked gear, because it saves you money.

...?

Boston · 28-06-2003 04:19PM

Next time your buying a stolen phone or watch or what ever, think of the poor bastard walking down the street who probably had a knife put to his troat, in order for you to get your low low price.

passive · 28-06-2003 06:48PM

maybe i should clarify the line i'm drawing a bit

i wouldn't buy anything from a scumbag on the street
if i had any reason to belief someone had been hurt or had their personal property stolen then no, i wouldn't buy a phone or watch or whatever, no matter how cheap

(and i don't think stores raise their prices to compensate for theft.
this would make them more expensive than other stores causing less people to shop there..losing more money in the long run)

Boston · 28-06-2003 07:15PM

Originally posted by passive
(and i don't think stores raise their prices to compensate for theft.
this would make them more expensive than other stores causing less people to shop there..losing more money in the long run)

Yes they do, place gets robbed or high levials of shop lifting then they pay extra insurance and hire security, someone pays for this

seamus · 28-06-2003 07:27PM

I wouldn't buy stolen goods, regardless of what it is was, or how it was attained. Just a personal principle - karma and all that.

I think I did buy a stolen CD burner once. Met this dodgy guy outside central bank. Gives me a brand new cd-rw (3 years ago) for £90, and then reaches into his glove compartment and pulls out a brand new, £500 minidisc player, telling me he has 3 of them to sell for £290. Needless to say, I realised what he was then and just said no thanks. As I was heading off he informed me the he "get a lot of stuff through me hands. If yer ever lookin fer anythin' just gimme a buzz, and I'll prolly be able to sort ye ou'"

:rolleyes:

The Sweeper · 28-06-2003 08:55PM

Originally posted by passive
(and i don't think stores raise their prices to compensate for theft.
this would make them more expensive than other stores causing less people to shop there..losing more money in the long run)

I find your lack of awareness surprising.

Irish Legal Firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice published guidelines for retailers in February of this year on 'how to deal with employee theft'. They estimated that 60% of all retail theft in Ireland is down to employees.

They recommend one method of combatting employee theft - the introduction of CCTV cameras. Now, who do you think pays for the installation of CCTV cameras?

Or, for that matter, those dog-heavy plastic tags on clothes? Or those funky tag-detection systems in the entryways of shops? Or the extra security man to walk the shop floor as well as the boyo on the door?

On Saturday, November 11th 2000, the Limerick Leader ran a story on employee theft in Ireland - they included the following statistic in their article: "According to Retail Grocery, Dairy and Allied Trade Association (RGDATA) dishonest employees are costing Irish retailers nearly 50 per cent of the £150m annual expense of theft to shop owners."

The important thing to note about that is that, three years ago, stuff being nicked was costing retailers in Ireland the equivalent of €190m.

Now, exactly HOW MUCH of that one hundred and ninety million euro do you think DOESN'T get hiked onto the cost of what you buy?

Sangre · 28-06-2003 09:06PM

Originally posted by therannu
When we're all being ripped off anyway by government/landlord/boss/publican, why not take advantage of a good deal? I'd love to have principles that would make me refuse that good deal on the grounds of creating demand for supply, but all's fair in love and finances. And people can go on as many marches as their dear little left-wing hearts desire, but things are never gonna change. So enjoy your dodgy merchandise, because you'll only be doing so in your dodgy flat while your landlord laughs all the way to the bank.

I honestly do wish that you are mugged....no really, someone please mug him.

Maybe this is a troll but I don't care, you are pathetic.

Silvera · 29-06-2003 12:43AM

I agree with seamus.
I wouldn't buy stolen goods. It's a matter of principle (and karma) for me.

If you knowingly buy stolen goods, you are just as bad as the lowlife who stole it in the first place. If people didn't buy hot goods, then crime rates would plummet overnight. Think about it !
You are supporting crime.

Imagine if it was your sister/mother/girlfriend who was attacked and had her mobile stolen ?!

It think it's a sad reflection on society that most of the posters to this topic seem to have no problem buying stolen property.

Capt'n Midnight · 29-06-2003 01:58AM

While it is difficult to convince someone to stop stealing things for their own personal use, theft for sale would be killed off if there was no market. Hence quite a lot of emphasis is rightly put on stamping out receivers...

The laws on receiving stolen goods are quite clear, being in possesion of stolen goods is a crime (ie. gotcha) , and if you can't show that you took resonable steps to verify the bona fida of the goods you'll be done. - you have to prove innocence of crime.

Also goods belong to the original owner - if you've paid for stolen goods they are not yours. Possesion being 9/10ths of the law refers to most laws being about property rather than persons...

Also there is the whole drugs thing - most addicts turn to crime to fund thier habit - find out how much stuff some of these guys steal in a year....

Sorry if this sounds right wing - but I reckon if I get mugged or burgled it will be because there is a market for stolen stuff, almost be certainly be by someone from one of two Dublin postal districts , who is most likely be a junkie and it would not be thier first, second or tenth offence,

I feel that people who buy stolen goods are effectively doubling the risk of harm to me and mine.

If you buy something in a pub for a fraction of it's value - remember there is someone out there that may have been physically or emotionally hurt, never mind the financial loss (including increased insurance premiums)

Anyone know any women who are afraid of going out at night ?

Capt'n Midnight · 29-06-2003 02:11AM

Anyone know of a campaign to make the Telco's block stolen phones

- so you could cancel a stolen phone just like a stolen credit card - also is technically possible for Telco's to send a text message "This phone is stolen" to it every three minutes.

This would kill off the market in nicked phones and only the Telco's dragging thier heels has stopped it being rolled out years ago....

Lyconix · 29-06-2003 02:29AM

I wouldn't feel right about buying stolen goods, so thats a no. Morals, conscience, all that.

passive · 29-06-2003 09:09AM

Anyone know of a campaign to make the Telco's block stolen phones

extract frpm o2 customer care e-mail i recieved: With regard to actually blocking the handset, this service (EIR) is being
rolled out at present and should be fully operational over the coming 2
weeks.

that was about a week ago...so i'm sure we can expect the service in a few months.

WhiteWashMan · 29-06-2003 11:43AM

i have purchased stolen goods in the past.
i have known they are stolen.
however, i actually have some pride in what i own now. i like the feeling that i bought things with my hard earned money.
its a sense of self satisfaction that everything i own, i have earned.

i have also had my first car stolen after just 1 week of ownership, and if that doesnt put you of thieves, nothing will.
to have something as big and important as your first car stolen by some cúnt who doesnt car, and probably got 50 quid or a half decent joy ride out of it, well, i hope they burn in hell.
If i had actually caught them doing it, i honetly think i would have entered th=at red rage zone and gone in swinging a crowbar and meaning to do damage, possibly even death.
i have also had my room ransacked and my stereo stolen when i was just getting my lyself on my feet and it was the first thing i owned that was really mine. my stereo. and it was taken.

i hate theives, and i hate people who buy stolen goods.
and anyone who says that they get cheaper prices with stolen goods is obviously blind to what really happens in shop prices...

however, i do know that half the store security in the city centre are all in it together and actualkly allow store thieving to go on, as they get a cut out of it.
i know this, because one of my old mates was a security gaurd, and used to 'allow' scumbags to get away with stealing things and he just collected an extra little bundle of tax free cash a week.
mind you, that was a few years ago, i dont know if that lark is still going on with all the new improvements in security etc.

but that just made me sick to know that my friends were involved in stuff like that.

weemcd · 29-06-2003 02:51PM

ignorence is bliss and it feels like a victimless crime, i would buy stuff that fell off the back of a lorry only from someone i knew and trusted- but then agaion how do you know. is piracy considered stealing?

mavedic · 30-06-2003 11:09AM

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
Anyone know of a campaign to make the Telco's block stolen phones

When my phone was stolen, vodafone were able to block the phone so it was absolutely useless to the thief. I was a bit dubious about the service because I didn't think it the phone companies did that over here, but they assured me that once I gave them the IMEI number or some such thing the phone couldn't be used.

Really pissed me off though to have some a**hole steal my phone.. it made me feel very unsafe walking around dublin after that although I was lucky it was only my phone was taken. I wouldn't buy stolen goods because i think it would encourage people to steal things because they will have a market for it. I would feel too bad about the people who had been robbed as well, so that I could get something cheaper. There's something to be said earning money so you can buy nice stuff with your hardearned cash.

elexes · 30-06-2003 12:46PM

ive bought a lot of stuff ive suspected was stolen but always told that its 100% legit .

on the other hand over the last year my parents have fired 50% of the staff some which called themselves my friends or ex-gf's for stealing from their shops . but thankfully my parents brought them all to court and they all got wrote on record up for bing guilty . but they were hardly pienalised by r system . each got 1000 euro fine and that was that . one which was from africa got sent home and one that was a accountant can no longer get a job in ireland .

. but i personaly feel that the laws in this country are 2 lax against ppl who go around breaking laws .

should get there hands chopped off r somthn r just killed ... strick but i bet it would work

Buying or receiving stolen goods.

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