Ok, so I'm on vacation in FL, and I needed a new pair of sunglasses.
Someone who isn't me (SWIM) went to CVS (a pharmacy) and shoplifted a nice-ish ($18.95) pair of Panama Jacks.
He bought some gatorade as a coverup, and proceeded to walk out casually but confidently. However, the anti-theft thing went off as he walked through the sensors. He couldn't be knocked off his stride though, as he knew he had done nothing wrong (;P). He immediately crossed the (fairly busy) street and headed towards the beach. he noticed two customers from the store walking behind him, about 40 yards back. When he got to the beach, he began to walk north, noticing that the "customers" stopped at the boardwalk and, while still watching him, got on the phone. When he was out of their sight, he moved the glasses from his pocket into his backpack. Shortly, a cop on an ATV pulled up next to him. SWIM greeted him with a friendly hello, and the cop simply stated that someone closely matching his description had triggered the alarm at CVS and asked if it was hime. SWIM told the cop that he was there, but simply purchased a 4-pack of gatorade. He said that he had heard the alarm, but assumed it was his laptop that was in his backpack that had set it off, and he really did have his laptop in his bag, so he wasn't lying. The cop said it sounded reasonable, and asked if he could search his bag. SWIM declined, and the cop said that that was about all he could do, so he would have to let SWIM go. SWIM walked away scot-free.
But here's what's interesting. When SWIM got to his hotel, he took out the sunglasses and looked at them. Much to his bewilderment, there were no apparent security devices on the sunglasses. There was a sticker on the lense, and a dense cardboard tag about 2mm thick.
SWIM thinks there was some sort of RF chip in the cardboard, but what does the Temple of the Screaming Electron think?
Comments
I ditched it as soon as I was out of sight of the "customers" because at that point I was pretty sure they were secret shoppers.
Definitely a possibility.
It'll help the next poor schmuck that tries to steal a pair of sunglasses.
And it's not every day you come so close to getting caught lol. :thumbsup: