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Posted

Which one of you is this?

http://www.ladbible.com/news/weird-man-arrested-after-50000-of-stolen-lego-found-at-his-house-20180502

 

A man was arrested in Portland, Oregon last Thursday after having been found to have $50,000 (£37,000) worth of stolen Lego in his house.

 

40-year-old Raji Afife Azar stands accused of stealing huge amounts of Lego and then selling them on at a huge mark-up online.

He was finally arrested after he allegedly bought about $13,000 (£9,600) worth of stolen toys from undercover investigators, according to a report on local TV station KGW8.

Credit: Portland Police Bureau
Credit: Portland Police Bureau

 

He was also under investigation by the retail theft department of a supermarket that had identified him as the head of the illegal Lego ring, between the two forces they closed the net around him and managed to build a case.

After police searched his home in the south of Portland they found a massive haul of Lego sets that were stolen from local branches of the supermarket Fred Meyer.

Azar is thought to have been using a network of thieves - many of whom are addicted to drugs - to steal the toy sets after meeting up with them and arranging the thefts on sites such as Craigslist.

He would then get the stolen Lego from them and buy them for less than their sale price, before selling them online for much more than that.

Credit: Portland Police Bureau
Credit: Portland Police Bureau

Basically, it's the perfect crime. Lego is basically untraceable and sells very quickly. It is also expensive and collectable, meaning that there is fast money to be made if you can get your hands on the right sets. Certain Lego sets can sell for upwards of $1,000 (£735).

Sets of Lego also have no serial numbers, making it very difficult to tell if it has been stolen or not.

The Portland police issued a statement warning buyers to beware of things that are being sold as new online for a significantly lower price than retail.

It read: "Investigators remind anyone purchasing items from a non-retail location to be aware of items sold as 'new' or in unopened packages with prices that seem too good to be true - the items may be stolen,"

Credit: Portland Police Bureau
Credit: Portland Police Bureau

They added: "As part of Azar's fencing operation, people who often times suffered from addiction to opioids and other drugs would enter stores and steal items to sell to Azar.

"Azar would in turn buy the stolen merchandise for a small percentage of the items' actual worth and sell the stolen merchandise at a large profit for himself."

Azar has been charged with first degree theft, computer crimes, and laundering a monetary instrument.

Featured Image Credit: PA

  • Like 2
Posted

I wonder how quickly Fred Meyer caught on. Assuming most of this came from there I'm sure they'd be able to see missing inventory in their numbers pretty quickly. 

  • Haha 1
Posted

I'm convinced there's someone in my area doing the same thing, its the only way I can explain ghost stock of 10-15 items at some local Walmarts and Targets.

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Posted
25 minutes ago, fourkidsbuilding said:

How do you just walk out the door with even just 1 or 2 lego boxes and not get caught sooner..??  That is a ton of Lego....

 

It's really easy.

First you have to become hopelessly addicted to Class A drugs - meth, or heroine should do it.

Second - run, don't walk. ;) 

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Posted

That explains why every set above $29.99 at my Fred Meyer now has anti-theft tags on it.  I guess I would care more about the anti-theft if FM had a decent Lego sale, but I haven't seen one in ages.  Before they excluded Lego from coupons I would buy a ton there, 20% off plus a 10% off coupon, now nothing.

Posted

 

18 hours ago, JimboJet said:

That explains why every set above $29.99 at my Fred Meyer now has anti-theft tags on it.  I guess I would care more about the anti-theft if FM had a decent Lego sale, but I haven't seen one in ages.  Before they excluded Lego from coupons I would buy a ton there, 20% off plus a 10% off coupon, now nothing.

Really the only thing to do is to watch out for those flash 50% off or more sales. Rare, little to no notice, unclear list of items on sale (scan everything suspect). 

Posted
19 hours ago, fourkidsbuilding said:

How do you just walk out the door with even just 1 or 2 lego boxes and not get caught sooner..??  That is a ton of Lego....

 

The problem has been walking out with carts full of LEGO, not 1 or 2 sets. The other popular thing is Tide detergent.

Acting determined while looking intently at a piece of paper (in this case, a long receipt) will allow you to get away with many things in life.

Posted

No, STEALING or illegally acquiring anything to sell for a profit is something a loser would do. Big difference.

Not that there is anything worth getting arrested for, but that is pretty much rock bottom.

  • Thanks 1
Posted
On 5/2/2018 at 3:28 PM, RKI_Fismo said:

It's really easy.

First you have to become hopelessly addicted to Class A drugs - meth, or heroine should do it.

Second - run, don't walk. ;) 

Last night at WM I had a clerk open the glass cases for me.  I put $600 RRP of Lego in the cart.  She asked me "You're not going to run out of here with the cart are you?  I don't want to lose my job."  We laughed, but in light of this story?...

15 minutes later I get through check out, and the security guy with the highlighter is checking someone's bag with a head of lettuce in it, while I walked out the door with an overflowing cart of Lego with no bags, no questions asked.

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