A theft where the machines are stolen

Shaggy October 2, 2008 6

 

With all the work, money and risk I am putting into my own arcade business, I can really feel for the owners in this bizarre theft story where the owner arrived one morning to find all of her machines missing, arcade and slot. It was a brand new business as well and they were cleaned out of $150,000 worth of merchandise and because of what was taken and the fact that there was no evidence of a break-in so it likely was an inside job. It’s certainly strange for actual machines to be taken since you would expect someone to notice that and it takes some time and manpower to move most games around. Hopefully they will be able to recoup their losses and come back out on top but this certainly underscores the need for good security and to hire people you can trust (which is probably one of the most difficult things to accomplish as a business owner).

[Via Call 4 Action news, Texas] [Discuss on the Forum]

6 Comments »

  1. Phil Arrington (Phil ver Zer0) October 2, 2008 at 8:10 am - Reply

    I can’t tell to LOL or be in shocked and awe. That’s impossible for anyone to do something like that and no one picks it up.

  2. Shaggy October 2, 2008 at 2:10 pm - Reply

    Agreed. There’s no way it can’t be an inside job with no evidence of a break in and I doubt with them being a new biz that they gave the key to that many people. Unless the thieves got a really good locksmith and they went all spy movie on the thing.

  3. Jeremy White October 2, 2008 at 3:15 pm - Reply

    They would have to be REALLY good to get in and out with no evidence… Plus whoever stole them HAS to have a quick and easy way to unload them. Or a warehouse. That’s awesome that you’ve got your own arcade – way to keep the dream alive. I used to love arcades when I was a kid.

    Here’s a video of my security company scaring some girls who were trespassing at a pool: Two Girls Flee Pool After Warning from Pro-Vigil… I wish we could have had video cameras up at that arcade…

  4. Shaggy October 2, 2008 at 5:22 pm - Reply

    This had me thinking – I wonder how much it would cost to install GPS units in your games to track them. Of course that would mostly be an unnecessary expense for something that is very unlikely to happen.

  5. Paul October 3, 2008 at 5:40 am - Reply

    Somebody has a really pimped-out game room in their basement now. LOL

  6. SaraAB87 October 3, 2008 at 6:16 pm - Reply

    I could totally see someone lifting a game off a back porch or from someone’s garage (especially where I live!) however stealing actual machines from an arcade would be incredibly difficult. Perhaps it was someone from a shipping company like UPS dressed in uniforms and everything, they had to have been posing as deliverymen or workers of some sort. Also there is no way you could move many machines out of somewhere without knowing something about arcade games, so its likely someone who is in the arcade business in that area.

    I wouldn’t go with the GPS tracking, the thief would just find it and disable it, then it becomes useless.

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