Stolen Switch

[Rev]

Went to pick up Mario Odyssey at Wal Mart tonight, and the shelves were empty. Come to find out from an employee that last night around 2am some guys put on Halloween masks and broke open the cases for Switch and ps4 and Beats headphones and jacked everything in all 3 cases. They said no good video of them without masks.

 

Guess Ill go to Target. ?

 

[adamchevy]

Wow! Guess I’ll check ebay. That’s what happens when Nintendo keeps limiting supply. People have finally had enough.

[StopDrop&Retro]

How the hell does that happen? Is that Wal-Mart not 24 hours or what?

[Rev]

How the hell does that happen? Is that Wal-Mart not 24 hours or what?

Yep. Open 24 hours. Happened during open store hours. The employee said it happened during a shift change.

[Punisher5.0]

Wow! Guess Ill check ebay. Thats what happens when Nintendo keeps limiting supply. People have finally had enough.

Quite clearly they went for valuable items in demand. Nintendo related or not. How else do you explain the PS4 and Beats headphones getting stolen too? More importantly what does this say about the Xbone?

[SIO2]

From locked cases, under cameras, presumably through the security scanners at the front door. Boggles my mind.

[StickerPeeler]

Broke open glass doors, didn't break them, shift change at 2am. Hmm, I'm guessing at a minimum someone has some intimate knowledge of the workings of Wal-Mart. Especially if the cameras didn't have a single clear shot of them. Sounds weird to me. Wonder what that person is going to do with all those copies of 1-2 switch and bomberman-r?

[SignGuy81]

They should have been forced to leave as soon as they came in wearing masks, and if refused had the cops called on them.

Edited October 28, 2017 by SignGuy81

[Tanooki]

I can't say I'm surprised. I have a co-worker who is with Target and the stories he has told me about their security setup makes me think Walmart probably has the same stupid system in place.

 

At Target they may have security officers, but they are not allowed to brandish any kind of offensive or defensive gear. They also are not allowed to touch or confront more than verbally or they can be fired. The job is to contact the manager and just tail, tail out the door, and hope they can stand in front of someone to block them at best because the franchise will fire them. The manager can lay a hand but that's it, after the goods leave the door as it's not shoplifting yet. Also almost all the cameras other than up by the register are empty domes with faux cameras inside to freak out would be thieves. Given this happened at 2am in a shift change that would fix walking in with the door unwatched by some greeter, and with nearly no functional cameras in the store and because they have no actual security other than a decent pair of brass balls it wouldn't be hard to walk in dressed like a few dead presidents or the looney tunes and walk out with thousands of goods unstopped.

 

It would explain the no good view of them without the masks if they're using dummy cams too. If you've been there enough times you can figure out which are real and just don't look that way and part/mostly block your face from fuzzy camera video. Once you are back at the other end of the store with the goods you pop on your masks and go to work. That wouldn't raise any alarms had they done that. For all you know one of the employees could be in on it for a cut who let them know where the few true cameras are and where they face.

[KeeperofLindblum]

I can't say I'm surprised. I have a co-worker who is with Target and the stories he has told me about their security setup makes me think Walmart probably has the same stupid system in place.

 

At Target they may have security officers, but they are not allowed to brandish any kind of offensive or defensive gear. They also are not allowed to touch or confront more than verbally or they can be fired. The job is to contact the manager and just tail, tail out the door, and hope they can stand in front of someone to block them at best because the franchise will fire them. The manager can lay a hand but that's it, after the goods leave the door as it's not shoplifting yet. Also almost all the cameras other than up by the register are empty domes with faux cameras inside to freak out would be thieves. Given this happened at 2am in a shift change that would fix walking in with the door unwatched by some greeter, and with nearly no functional cameras in the store and because they have no actual security other than a decent pair of brass balls it wouldn't be hard to walk in dressed like a few dead presidents or the looney tunes and walk out with thousands of goods unstopped.

 

It would explain the no good view of them without the masks if they're using dummy cams too. If you've been there enough times you can figure out which are real and just don't look that way and part/mostly block your face from fuzzy camera video. Once you are back at the other end of the store with the goods you pop on your masks and go to work. That wouldn't raise any alarms had they done that. For all you know one of the employees could be in on it for a cut who let them know where the few true cameras are and where they face.

 

Having worked previously at a Wal-Mart in electronics. I can confirm a good portion of the middle paragraph is right.

 

Even if you see them stealing, you can't actually deter them or point the finger at them. You have to inform the AP (asset protection) people, and they go after it.

 

I'll be honest though... Our AP people were always super obvious and like wore the same getup every day. If you shop a place like that daily and learn the people and routes... It wouldn't be hard to steal stuff. I will say breaking those game cases would be fairly easy, but it's gotta be uber noisy as well. I can tell you the average Wal-Mart person is kinda uncaring in that capacity and probably wouldn't look into this generally.

 

I don't think our store had any dummy cameras though. Pretty sure all of them had a camera in them. I could be wrong though as I rarely visited the AP office.

 

Final thought here... I'm unsure how they couldn't have spotted the people putting the masks on (unless I'm misunderstanding it). Sounds like they put the masks on after they got in the store. If they came inside with masks on, they'd be considered super suspicious then and there. If they put them on AFTER coming in... I feel like there would be footage somewhere of that. Even if they went to the Halloween aisle and grabbed something there. Enough cameras and time to be able to spot SOMETHING.

Edited October 28, 2017 by KeeperofLindblum

[Video]

Sounds like an inside job, or at least a recently fired employee job. Lol, didn't steal the xboxone stuff though? But my hands were already full. Wouldn't say the ps4 is more valuable (haven't checked eBay) but I doubt xbone is less valuable.

 

Yeah, this day in age, there's little excuse for "fake" cameras, the dummies cost damn near ad much. Now, having them hooked up and actively recording is another matter, the computers are still pretty pricey, and digital space still an issue. Still, those domes aren't exactly hidden, and aren't everywhere, a small bit of attention paid, especially if you been there before would allow one to skirt around little seen, though most places do have the doors at least watched (at least the main one) I don't know how much the parking cams see, but unless its a inside job out the back door or something, they'll likely be caught quickly.

[Rev]

They also stole all the 3ds consoles.

 

Funny, right before I asked the employee where Mario Odyssey was. Not far from the game area was a few teenagers running around with those plush dinosaur masks and not even an eyebrow was raised. Of course they were just playing around. Meanwhile at the front self checkout registers is the hired police officer just watching registers. Even the Walmart lady said if she is there and sees it happening she is going the other way and her safety isnt worth it.

[BillyHW]

I think it's a good sign for Nintendo if they passed on the Xbone stuff.

[spacecadet]

Went to pick up Mario Odyssey at Wal Mart tonight, and the shelves were empty. Come to find out from an employee that last night around 2am some guys put on Halloween masks and broke open the cases for Switch and ps4 and Beats headphones and jacked everything in all 3 cases. They said no good video of them without masks.

 

I hope that night shift worked out the details of their story so they can all keep it straight.