snugglepug

snugglepug wrote

Reply to comment by Youngman in Tips for first lifting trip ? by Serafrax

Same. I made a multitude of mistakes multiple times. I've been very lucky in repercussions. Unfortunately, this is not really something where you can learn from your mistakes. In many places, its like going to war: one mistake and you're done.

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snugglepug wrote (edited )

Please take my advice into consideration. If its your first time, and you've only had one day to consider doing it, don't fucking do it. There are teams of people with years of experience and millions of dollars backing them who's literal job it is to catch professionals like me. I can get away with it because I take time to hone the appropriate skills and to properly case a place and prepare. And even then, its never a sure thing.

If you really want to start, you need to practice. Start small, just go practice casing a place out. Observe the employees, look around for cameras. Practice positioning your body so your hands and front are not being observed. Learn how to recognize the signs you're being watched. Find out how security works. Go make mistakes with the intent of being caught.

When you get that ready, move onto limited theft. You can only be arrested if you leave the store with the items, so go with the intent of stealing and don't follow through. Practice putting stuff into your pockets, move over an aisle, then put it back. Get used to the idea, overcome your anxiety so you know how do function when your emotions are high.

Understand that YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE CAUGHT. Start reading up on things like acting and persuasion; I would argue that learning what to say when you get caught is more important than actually shoplifting itself. I have been caught a handful of times over the course of my life, but not once have I been arrested and not once have I had to make a run for it. Because I'm able to convince them that I walked in with it, or I already paid for it, or I accidentally pocketed it, or it was a terrible one-time decision based the stress of extraneous life circumstances.

But dude. They catch people like you every day. And only one day worth of planning can sometimes be a lifetime of consequences, especially if you live in the US.

EDIT: I see this was written a week ago, so I'm curious to see if you went through with it. If so, I hope you were successful. My tips still stand though, don't be spontaneous with this shit lol.

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snugglepug wrote

The most important aspect to countering Loss Prevention is literally to assume that they are better and smarter and more resourceful than you. Because they are. The only advantage that you have is the element of surprise and the ability to identify their strategy and the strengths/weaknesses within.

For example: cameras. A significant number of presented cameras in any given store are non-functioning. The reason they are effective is security theatre: giving the presentation of security deters crime. And it works. There is very little way to determine which cameras actually work and which ones do not. Therefore, you need to operate under the assumption that every camera is recording you.

Likewise, with this article, there is very little way to determine which tips are still being employed 15 years later, and which ones have become redundant. Therefore, you need to operate under the assumption that every single tactic is still being used by LP to this day. To do otherwise would be letting your guard down, and is both naive and dangerous.

With that said, there are some very important gems in this article that I think are highly worthwhile, that likely have not changed. The biggest one being contacting their security department. Recon is the single most important step. I have been doing this since I was a child (I'm in my 30s) and have only been caught a handful of times, I've never had to run once, and I've never been arrested. I cannot stress the importance of recon and persuasion more.

This article has a ton of really useful, legitimate information that I would say is still applicable to this day. I love using Loss Prevention as a source for understanding their systems. But by no means is this a holy grail. It is missing a great amount of information that can only be learned by doing. My suggestion is find the loopholes and use them.

Keep in mind, the easiest stuff to shoplift at a Target is honestly the groceries at the self checkout. They aren't tagged, the scanners don't use scales (or they didn't when I lived near a target), some groceries are fucking expensive (and thus provide a bigger haul), and its difficult for receipt checkers to verify the full contents of a ton of bags. Sometimes stealing isn't about making off with loads of cash or big ticket items, but offsetting how much money you would normally spend. Saving thousands of dollars a month is the same as earning it.

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snugglepug wrote

Reply to by !deleted15928

You're better off selling the card details on the deep web than actually using the card.

If you have to use it, use a VPN to hide your ip address and use fake address as a dead drop; I suggest finding an address for a vacant house. Look at real estate listings on the other side of town. Then case the address the day the delivery is expected. Since its COVID, you can place a note to leave it outside even if its a big ticket item and the delivery guy won't think twice about leaving it. Then drive up and pick it up. In the rare chance you're confronted (maybe a neighbour or real estate agent), say your partner accidentally listed the wrong address for the delivery and have a printout of the receipt ready.

Do not go to a store. Depending on your age or the price of the items, they may ask for ID. If the card is flagged, they will report security. Your face will be on camera. If you're gonna mess with other people's cards, do it as anonymously as possible.

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snugglepug wrote

Reply to by !deleted7138

I'm bored so this turned out longer than expected lmao. This... is just not a good idea. Like, at all. There are just way too many variables. Because I'm bored, and literally love figuring this kind of shit out, lets take a deeper look.

You are relying on nobody seeing you, or somebody seeing you and thinking you work there. If they think you don't work there, you're relying on them not confronting you about it. Then you're relying on somebody just leaving their keys laying around. Even if they do leave the keys around, you're relying on finding them right away. You're also relying on the owner of the keys not reporting them missing before you can use them.

Everything goes your way. You didn't get recognized and now you have these magical keys and use them to open a display. Most items in displays still have spider alarms or RFID strips that need to be removed or demagnetized with a completely different device, so you're relying on the item not having those. If the item has no added security, you're relying on nobody questioning why an employee is removing an item from the store or stopping you.

Maybe you use the keys to unlock the store after hours, if the store can even be locked in the first place. Many stores have one keyholder for a reason. By misplacing the keys, security is alerted and extra precautions are taken to lock the store. But magically that doesn't happen. Now you're relying on the alarm not being activated as well.

Finally, you're relying on LP not doing their job. Even if they don't recognize you at any stage of any of these activities, and you do successfully manage to get items out of the store, you are still on camera. And since you also went wandering in the back, they will literally have shots of you from ALL of their cameras and from all angles. If you arrived in a car, they will have your license plate number. They will track you down, or at the very least, know your face intimately.

If you absolutely have to go this route, you are better off wearing some kind of maintenance outfit and tool belt. During your recon phase, learn the names of the store and warehouse manager. If you're feeling extra, find out the name of the security company that is employed by the store. But even then, this only gets you into the store unnoticed better than wearing employee disguise. Its also easier to get a disguise like this than a legit employee outfit. Literally every single other unreliable factor still applies.

So truthfully, you're probably be more successful sleeping with the manager and stealing her key than literally doing any of this lol.

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snugglepug wrote (edited )

Be careful with magnets. Some security devices can detect them as soon as you walk into a store and silently alert security. My suggestion is bring the magnet into the store (possibly stitched into your jacket or something) a couple times to case the place, maybe even go as far as to deliberately seem MILDLY suspicious. Keep some kind of cute magnet keychain on your person as well so you have an excuse (albeit a relatively weak one since those machines aren't set off by regular magnets lol). Regardless, if they pull you aside, you'll know that they can detect the magnet.

Since you won't have stolen anything, you'll be free to go, and since all stores in a chain generally have the same types of security, you'll now know that entire chain can (or can not) detect magnets. I found this out doing extensive research on different types of LP detectors and I'm glad I did. I added this as part of my "casing a place" research and found two stores that detect magnets where I otherwise might have been caught.

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