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Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term identity theft was coined in 1964. Since that time, the definition of identity theft has been legally defined throughout both the U.K. and the U.S. as the theft of personally identifiable information. Identity theft deliberately uses someone else's identity as a method to gain financial advantages or obtain credit and other benefits. The person whose identity has been stolen may suffer adverse consequences, especially if they are falsely held responsible for the perpetrator's actions. Personally identifiable information generally includes a person's name, date of birth, social security number, driver's license number, bank account or credit card numbers, PINs, electronic signatures, fingerprints, passwords, or any other information that can be used to access a person's financial resources.
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket.
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from a retail establishment during business hours. The terms shoplifting and shoplifter are not usually defined in law, and generally fall under larceny. In the retail industry, the word shrinkage is used to refer to merchandise often lost by shoplifting. The term five-finger discount is a euphemism for shoplifting, humorously referencing that stolen items are taken "at no cost" with the five fingers.
Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans. Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%. Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.
Stéphane Breitwieser is a French art thief and author, notorious for his art thefts between 1995 and 2001. He admitted to stealing 239 artworks and other exhibits from 172 museums while travelling around Europe and working as a waiter, an average of one theft every 15 days. The Guardian called him "arguably the world's most consistent art thief". He has also been called "one of the most prolific and successful art thieves who have ever lived", and "one of the greatest art thieves of all time". His thefts resulted in the destruction of many works of art, destroyed by his family to conceal evidence of his crimes.
A changing room, locker room, or changeroom is a room or area designated for changing one's clothes. Changing-rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to change clothes with varying degrees of privacy.
Metal theft is "the theft of items for the value of their constituent metals". It usually increases when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise, as has happened dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China. Apart from precious metals like gold and silver, the metals most commonly stolen are non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminium, brass, and bronze. However, even cast iron and steel are seeing higher rates of theft due to increased scrap metal prices.
A fence, also known as a receiver, mover, or moving man, is an individual who knowingly buys stolen goods in order to later resell them for profit. The fence acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may not be aware that the goods are stolen.
Edward Forbes Smiley III is an American former rare map dealer and convicted art thief. He was found guilty in 2006 of stealing 97 rare maps originally valued at more than US$3 million, and sentenced to 42 months in prison.
The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves is one of the "oldest continually existing horse thief apprehending organization in the United States, and one of Dedham's most venerable social organizations." Since its founding there have been more than 10,000 members including heads of state, Supreme Court justices, governors, popes, professors, generals, and other notables.
Horse theft is the crime of stealing horses. A person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief. Historically, punishments were often severe for horse theft, with several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presumed thieves. Several societies were formed in the United States to prevent horse theft and apprehend horse thieves. However, horse theft continues to occur throughout the world, as horses are stolen for their meat, for ransom, or in disputes between their owners and other persons. Horse theft today is comparable to automobile theft, a crime punishable by felony jail time.
Book store shoplifting is a problem for book sellers and has sometimes led stores to keep certain items behind store counters.
A hotel amenity is a desirable or useful feature provided when renting a room at a hotel, motel, or other place of lodging. The amenities provided in each hotel vary. In some places of lodging, certain amenities may be standard with all rooms. In others, they may be optional for an additional cost.
John Charles Gilkey is a prolific serial book and document thief who has stolen approximately US$200,000 worth of rare books and manuscripts. Gilkey used Modern Library's List of 100 Best Novels as a guide to what items he would steal. Unlike most book thieves who steal for a profit, his motives for the thefts were personal: he saw an expansive library as a sign of being upper-class.
Theft from libraries of books, historical documents, maps and other materials from libraries is considered a significant problem. One study commissioned in the UK estimated the average loss rate of libraries to theft at 5.3%.
The Cannes jewel heist was an armed robbery at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, a city on the French Riviera. The thief stole gemstones and watches ultimately valued at $136 million. .
Bicycle theft is the crime of stealing a bicycle. It is a common crime due to the relative ease of reselling bicycles, which have a large second-hand market. This makes the crime attractive to those needing to obtain currency quickly, such as people with substance addictions. Bicycles are also easily accessible, often being locked up outside in public places in urban areas. Despite the developed market of bicycle locks, it is estimated that millions of bicycles are stolen every year. Thieves use a variety of methods to bypass locks, including taking advantage of bicycle owners' poor locking practices. Bicycle owners can take action to reduce the chances of theft, including utilising facilities such as bicycle lockers and parking racks.
In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, 13 works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Guards admitted two men posing as police officers responding to a disturbance call, and the thieves bound the guards and looted the museum over the next hour. The case is unsolved; no arrests have been made, and no works have been recovered. The stolen works have been valued at hundreds of millions of dollars by the FBI and art dealers. The museum offers a $10 million reward for information leading to the art's recovery, the largest bounty ever offered by a private institution.
On 25 November 2019, royal jewellery was stolen from the Green Vault museum within Dresden Castle in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. The stolen items included the 49-carat Dresden White Diamond, the diamond-laden breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle which belonged to the King of Poland, a hat clasp with a 16-carat diamond, a diamond epaulette, and a diamond-studded hilt containing nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, along with a matching scabbard. The missing items were of great cultural value to the State of Saxony and were described as priceless; other sources estimate the total value at about €1 billion. However, in the years following the burglary, more accurate estimates place the total value of the stolen items at around €113 million.
California nut crimes refers to the organized theft of nuts in California. Reported cases of nut theft go as far back as 2006 with the worth of stolen nuts being millions of dollars. The thefts demonstrate a high level of sophistication, encompassing identity theft and a deep understanding of computer security and logistics.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Sandoval-Strausz, A. K. (2007). Hotel: An American History . Yale University Press. pp. 213–215. ISBN 9780300106169.
- ↑ Jones, Thomas J. A. (2007). Professional Management of Housekeeping Operations. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 320–321.
- ↑ "St. Louis has man Sing Sing wants" (PDF). The New York Times . 4 January 1917. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
- ↑ "Mattresses, coffee machines and a stuffed boar's head -- the surprising things stolen from luxury hotels". CNN . 9 December 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ↑ "Study: Theft in Hotels – Which items are stolen the most?". 3 December 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
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