And now for something weird...

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,491
Back in the 70s, my Swedish expat buddy Bengt Ostlund told me one of the big problems in Sweden was the Polish. The Poles would come to Sweden on Holiday and commit serious crimes in order to be incarcerated. They said that living in prison in Sweden was preferable and much better than living conditions in Poland at that time.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,768
Indianapolis bankruptcy lawyer Mark S. Zuckerberg — no relation to Meta’s CEO — has filed a lawsuit against Meta after his Facebook accounts were repeatedly disabled for "impersonating a celebrity." Over the last 15 years, his verified personal account has been suspended five times, and his firm’s page removed four times, costing him around $11,000 in lost ad spend. Each time, he had to provide ID, credit cards, and appeal details to prove his identity. Meta reinstated his account and acknowledged the error, stating they’re working on preventing future mishaps. Now he's seeking damages, legal fees, and a formal apology.



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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
Strange big robbery:
Police chased the suspects until it became a danger to the public. Later, the drone video and nearby law enforcement helped arrest seven of the suspects.
Police say they are all linked to similar crimes across the Bay Area. They have recovered some of the jewelry and two of the guns used in the crime, nearly $1 million worth of goods is unaccounted for.
Here we have an idiot making excuses. These 'kids' are just cheap criminals making a quick buck for the heist masters.

One hell of a heist, well organized. I wonder who the fence is for that haul?
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
32,874
Strange big robbery:
These types of robberies, known as "flash mob smash and grabs" have become pretty common place in a number of cities. Another term is "flash rob". Often, a car is used to crash through the doors/windows of a shop (jewelry stores are common targets) and then a dozen or more people flood in and smash the place up, grabbing everything they can quickly and then fleeing. It's not a case of a bunch of individuals just happening to rob the same place at the same time, it's preplanned with one mastermind recruiting a bunch of thugs, often teenage gang member wannabies, to carry out a coordinated robbery. They are often coordinated via social media in such a way that none of the people participating in the robbery know who anyone else is, including the person that recruited them. They can get in and out with a huge haul in under a minute and then they usually run in separate directions and drop of their part of the haul in exchange for payment (in either cash or drugs) in an anonymous way. If some of them get caught, that's okay. They can't finger any of the others.

I don't know when this craziness started, but it's been at least a decade. But I think they shot up significantly with the pandemic for a host of reasons.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,330
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gw0wyjxxno
Police home working ban amid 'key jamming' probe

One constable told a hearing that a police detective working from home had made it look like his computer was in use on 38 different occasions over 12 days, according to an earlier BBC article. The evidence "showed lengthy periods where the only activity is single keystrokes, pressing the 'H' key about 30 times, between 10:28 and 11:56 GMT on 3 December, and then the 'I' key more than 16,000 times." The detective "used key jamming for 45 hours out of a total of 85 he was logged in for and was frequently away from the keyboard for half of his working day."
 

Futurist

Joined Apr 8, 2025
765
These types of robberies, known as "flash mob smash and grabs" have become pretty common place in a number of cities. Another term is "flash rob". Often, a car is used to crash through the doors/windows of a shop (jewelry stores are common targets) and then a dozen or more people flood in and smash the place up, grabbing everything they can quickly and then fleeing. It's not a case of a bunch of individuals just happening to rob the same place at the same time, it's preplanned with one mastermind recruiting a bunch of thugs, often teenage gang member wannabies, to carry out a coordinated robbery. They are often coordinated via social media in such a way that none of the people participating in the robbery know who anyone else is, including the person that recruited them. They can get in and out with a huge haul in under a minute and then they usually run in separate directions and drop of their part of the haul in exchange for payment (in either cash or drugs) in an anonymous way. If some of them get caught, that's okay. They can't finger any of the others.

I don't know when this craziness started, but it's been at least a decade. But I think they shot up significantly with the pandemic for a host of reasons.
 
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