$50K of kit stolen from FLIR and sold on eBay by Nashua FLIR employee - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 07:22:51 pm
content: I just stumbled upon this story. An employee of FLIR stole over $50K of equipment and sold it on eBay. FLIR thought they had lost $15K but eBay records secured by the Police proved she had stolen much more.https://patch.com/new-hampshire/nashua/50k-internal-theft-nashua-flir-cameras-policeThis is why you need to be careful when buying Expensive FLIR kit on eBay..... there is always the chance it was stolen from FLIR, a FLIR dealer, or its legitimate owner.Fraser

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 07:47:09 pm
content: You have to be some kind of STUPID to steal something as unique as that and then go sell it on E-bay! That was probably theeasiestto solve, and to PROVE, case that the police ever had.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 09:23:50 pm
content: So what is the US law on this?In our country if you bought the device in good faith for an reasonable amount of money you may keep it.So if the device was new $5k and on Ebay 2nd hand for 2-3k$ the new owner is legit. If for instance you bought it on the corner of the street from someone for $500 than you could even be prosecuted for transaction in stolen goods.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 09:37:56 pm
content: Quote from: Fraser on April 02, 2018, 07:22:51 pmThey did not say if those$56K of equipment were sold by that same person.Also interesting about eBay providing records to the police. I do not think i heard of this type of thing before.

author: Vipitis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 09:49:06 pm
content: In Germany, buying stolen goods is really shit, as you are forced to hand them back and you won't see any money again.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 09:50:09 pm
content: There is no US law here but each state has it's own set of laws and every state's laws are different, some more and some less. But that opens a REAL can of worms. The seller was in New Hampshire, E-bay claims that they're located in California and that California's laws governs it's sales and let's say the buyer is in Louisiana which still has the Napoleonic law code. So I don't even know which state would have jurisdiction. So you can see how it gets complicated very quickly. Also pawn brokers no longer have to return stolen property, at least not here in Florida. So if the buyer was a pawn broker in Florida then they would not have to return the item, at least in Florida. If another state such as N.H. demanded the return who knows as to which law would govern. In addition, if the stolen items were shipped via the US Postal Service then the US Federal Postal Inspectors could get involved. it's also possible that they've violated some state or federal banking law. And the seller must likely did not declare her E-bay income so she could be facing state and/or federal income tax evasion charges.OTOH someone that I knew sold some military grade equipment that was NOT supposed to released to the public on Ebay and the company that built the equipment found the sales listings and they tracked the items back to the surplus company that had bought them but that was supposed to destroy them. Yeah, the US .MIL contractors DO have records of EVERYTHING. The manufacturer went after the surplus company and the seller who was selling on their behalf and bluntly told them that they wanted the stuff back and that if they didn't get that they would make sure that that companynevergot another piece of surplus again, from anyone, ever. In the end, the seller bought the items back at about 7 times what it sold for and then had to return it to the manufacturer and I suppose that they destroyed it. So if the buyer was a reseller or anyone that deals with FLIR then they do have leverage to force the return of the stolen items.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2018, 09:57:48 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on April 02, 2018, 09:37:56 pmEbay has been cooperating with the police regarding stolen items for a LONG time now. If E-bay didn't cooperate voluntarily then it would be easy for the police here in the US to get a warrant to force E-bay to turn over the records. The page showing the closed sale would be enough to justify a warrant. They've also been sharing their sales records with the IRS! And the IRS has prosecuted people for Income tax evasion due to failing to report their E-bay earnings. Not every person of course, but several big sellers have gone to jail. Usually they were also involved in other crimes that originally got the feds attention.