step56 wrote:
My trick whenever doing in person demos is to take a picture or video of the potential buyer. Then take the memory card out when you are doing the transaction itself and having the buyer pull up PayPal or Venmo or cash. This means you have a high res image/video of the person, far better than any security camera.
In my case with the GFX 100S (which happened in a McDonalds + gas station in Richardson/Garland, TX), it helped them identify the guy immediately (he's in prison for 12 years now, he was a serial robber, and did the "just walking away trick") though it took 2 months to actually arrest him and another 3 months after that for me to get the camera back (damaged). https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1877707/...Show more →
Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about this. Fortunately my camera is totally fine exactly as it was when stolen. Good that that guy is serving jail now!
chiron wrote:
Congratulations on getting the camera back! You ought to put this up on the main Sony forum--it's interesting and a good cautionary tale.
Did they arrest the psychopath who stole it? And was the pawn shop implicated? How did actually find it and how did you get so many police departments involved? And why Framingham school police? Was the perp a student?
i'd be interested to hear more of the true-crime details.
It's nice when a crime has a good ending, with retribution!
Sure, that is a good idea. I shall later on post for awareness for the community in sony forum. I think perhaps my broadcasting enough helped a lot.. a lot of people reached out to me after seeing my social media posts. many wanted to help. many offered to keep an eye on listings. one person offered details about owner of dunkin lot who can offer camera footage. at any rate, couple of days later after seeing my posts about stolen camera on buy sell forums and social media, another photographer from framingham reached out to me.. well now we are actually good friends as he is also a wildlife photographer literally living within 5 min of where I am. Turns out same guy robbed him of his Sony A1 in framingham state university. He had given up and did not even file a case. I encouraged him to do so. Then he did that. right there is another victim. Then there are two more victims in boston area.. so that is how boston PD got involved. that can explain why more departments were involved. I doubt if it was just me filing a case if anything would have happened. this dude is going to be arrested soon. Police has all the details including where the dude lives etc. There will be some long court case based on what I was told. Frustrating and disturbing part for me was my being violated like that! I guess this ending gives me some closure about - camera being recovered and in same condition and that guy will face the consequences. I don't wish any bad for that guy but what he did to many people is not excusable. Hopefully he faces charges and learns from it in future and doesn't cause harm to others.
thanhdatleca wrote:
I’m really sorry. This must be scary. I’ve had similar incidents in Boston, MA, and found another member on FM in Framingham, MA whose Sony gear was stolen in a similar situation involving the same person on Facebook Marketplace.
I’m wondering if it could be the same group operating across Massachusetts.
MazeRunner wrote:
I'll keep a lookout as I'm a moderator on a bunch of Facebook camera + car buy/sell groups.
sorry seeing some messages now. thank you for your support! as you may be aware now .. camera has been recovered and is in great shape as it was! appreciate all the support!
drip01 wrote:
This really sucks. I wouldn't imagine thieves are so brazen to rob people in broad daylight at a public place. I have done face to face transactions a few times, but all were low value items and with established members here. I'll think twice when selling high value gear next time.
To make you feel better, I had my Canon 1D and 300/2.8IS stolen in Canada more than 20 years ago. Because I had the serial numbers reported to the RCMP, they actually found my 1D when they raided some kind of gangster's hangout. They mailed me back my 1D for free and with a bonus 17-40 attached to it (not mine). My 300/2.8IS was never recovered but at least it wasn't a totally loss. There's hope, be strong....Show more →
Thank You 🙏 for your support. Camera has been recovered as you may have learned by now..
yukosteel wrote:
Sorry to hear about this, and hope you'll find the camera.
What a great shot with owl, just amazing!!!
BTW, filing a police report may be useful for dealing with insurance. In some cases if home insurance covers personal property, it may also cover the loss even if it's stolen from your hands far away from home.
When I heard about that first time I couldn't believe it's true, but it's a first person story by my friends. They accidentally forgot a backpack with spare camera equipment on the bus station, and of course it vanished when they urgently returned. It happened in state far away from home, yet insurance called to police department, confirmed report and paid for the loss....Show more →
sorry to hear about this incident that happened to your friend.. yes insurance does cover personal property loss. btw my camera has been recovered now.. as you might have seen my update! thanks again for the support!
yukosteel wrote:
Sorry to hear about this, and hope you'll find the camera.
What a great shot with owl, just amazing!!!
BTW, filing a police report may be useful for dealing with insurance. In some cases if home insurance covers personal property, it may also cover the loss even if it's stolen from your hands far away from home.
When I heard about that first time I couldn't believe it's true, but it's a first person story by my friends. They accidentally forgot a backpack with spare camera equipment on the bus station, and of course it vanished when they urgently returned. It happened in state far away from home, yet insurance called to police department, confirmed report and paid for the loss....Show more →
Thank You 🙏 seeing all these message now. appreciate your support. so many people reached out with many angles and suggestions. appreciate it. btw the camera has been recovered now as you may know as I updated the post! Yes in my case I later filed for insurance and they paid me as well. But now that its recovered, I reported back to them that its recovered so that they can tell me about the next steps.. perhaps they will ask for money back or may be want camera back. lets see what they say.
Danrdz10103 wrote:
I dont get this whole discussion. isnt it simpler just to file with his gear insurance like PPA? he already has a police report.
what am I missing?
(also if I were the thief, I would scratch a few digits of the serial number and argue it was brushed against something while taking photos)
thank you for all the support and suggestions.. yes after I filed a report I didn't know it could be also covered by insurance.. some folks suggested that and about a week later after incident I did file insurance claim.. they also paid me depreciated value for camera. Now that you may know its recovered so I reported it back to insurance that its recovered so that insurance can provide guidance on next steps. My guess is they will probably want camera back Or want money back. I don't know yet. lets see. But yes the fact that insurance covers it is true and really grateful that many suggested that. I didn't even know. Either way I am really glad that camera has been recovered and that guy will be arrested. He robbed many more people .. that part is not cool at all.. justice being served is good in this case!
Danrdz10103 wrote:
Thanks, what is your view based on this experience, about the role of insurance? At face value, it seems to me that getting a police report and using it to get your money from insurance like PPA, is way less stressful and time consuming. in all, how many hours you spent on this (roughly)?
I hear you, yes you are right insurance does cover the cost. I wasn't aware earlier but as more people suggested I did file a claim and they paid me. Now that camera is recovered I reported back to insurance of the recovery so that they can guide me about next steps. Either way I am glad that camera has been recovered and in great condition as before and that guy will be served justice.. he robbed more people. Hopefully that teaches him a lesson and other thieves who would probably not do this again. As a community of photogs we need to be aware and vigilent and certainly file the case and persist. The more this happens and thieves get caught the better it will be for all of us.
Again appreciate all the community support here. I feel so much better if not exactly but kinda feeling of Undoing of my being violated then.
cybersimba wrote:
Sure, that is a good idea. I shall later on post for awareness for the community in sony forum. I think perhaps my broadcasting enough helped a lot.. a lot of people reached out to me after seeing my social media posts. many wanted to help. many offered to keep an eye on listings. one person offered details about owner of dunkin lot who can offer camera footage. at any rate, couple of days later after seeing my posts about stolen camera on buy sell forums and social media, another photographer from framingham reached out to me.. well now we are actually good friends as he is also a wildlife photographer literally living within 5 min of where I am. Turns out same guy robbed him of his Sony A1 in framingham state university. He had given up and did not even file a case. I encouraged him to do so. Then he did that. right there is another victim. Then there are two more victims in boston area.. so that is how boston PD got involved. that can explain why more departments were involved. I doubt if it was just me filing a case if anything would have happened. this dude is going to be arrested soon. Police has all the details including where the dude lives etc. There will be some long court case based on what I was told. Frustrating and disturbing part for me was my being violated like that! I guess this ending gives me some closure about - camera being recovered and in same condition and that guy will face the consequences. I don't wish any bad for that guy but what he did to many people is not excusable. Hopefully he faces charges and learns from it in future and doesn't cause harm to others.
I do wish proportionate bad for the career criminal and I hope they follow through with jail time. There is a moral hazard in not punishing crimes. One of the best deterents to crime is the certainty of real punishment.
cybersimba wrote:
I hear you, yes you are right insurance does cover the cost. I wasn't aware earlier but as more people suggested I did file a claim and they paid me. Now that camera is recovered I reported back to insurance of the recovery so that they can guide me about next steps. Either way I am glad that camera has been recovered and in great condition as before and that guy will be served justice.. he robbed more people. Hopefully that teaches him a lesson and other thieves who would probably not do this again. As a community of photogs we need to be aware and vigilent and certainly file the case and persist. The more this happens and thieves get caught the better it will be for all of us.
Again appreciate all the community support here. I feel so much better if not exactly but kinda feeling of Undoing of my being violated then....Show more →
I think I understand your point. yet I am more practical I think. I am not in the crime solving business. I am not in the teaching lessons business. I am in the photography business. as I see it, the moment you listed the camera, it meant you were willing o let it go for a fair amount. so as long as the insurance paid you that, I dont see the point to spend a single minute in the justice process (after filling a police report which was already quite helpful for everyone). using your language if the insurance paid you, you were not really violated to start with. the other lessons I would get, if the camera is really that special to you, dont sell it to a stranger anywhere, in person or ebay or in here.
anyhow, we can now all go back to what we like best, to take photos. best wishes in your photography journey. cheers.
Danrdz10103 wrote:
I think I understand your point. yet I am more practical I think. I am not in the crime solving business. I am not in the teaching lessons business. I am in the photography business. as I see it, the moment you listed the camera, it meant you were willing o let it go for a fair amount. so as long as the insurance paid you that, I dont see the point to spend a single minute in the justice process (after filling a police report which was already quite helpful for everyone). using your language if the insurance paid you, you were not really violated to start with. the other lessons I would get, if the camera is really that special to you, dont sell it to a stranger anywhere, in person or ebay or in here.
anyhow, we can now all go back to what we like best, to take photos. best wishes in your photography journey. cheers....Show more →
Sure, you may have your own point of view. One thing to note though when I reported to police and did all the initial work that time I didn't know that home owner's insurance would cover this. So naturally at that point it was the best I could do to make sure I report it and broadcast about it to make it harder to sell in order to recover it.. Only after a week or so.. after few people strongly suggested still contacting insurance.. that I did contact them. At that point I wasn't even sure if insurance would pay for it.
Also about solving crime etc., I also am not in solving crime business however I do care about community. It is this community whether here at FM or otherwise of all of us photographers that we learn from each other - whether its photography or anything else that is related. So this being related to it - I as a part of that community much like how I would want to learn and get help from others - I do like to share and help others - surely that is my choice and I don't expect everyone to do the same.
As an example - because of my broadcasting - the other photographer who got robbed came to know and I was able to encourage him to file a report and he also got paid by his insurance. He had given up and didn't even file a case. So yes that community feeling you get is priceless. I felt so much better then - at that point when my camera was not even recovered that someone else could get help and actually got paid for their loss which they would have otherwise not.
Also note one thing which you were totally missing when I said I was violated. If something like this had happened to you in person where someone snatches your item from you.. that is the feeling of violation. Whether insurance pays it or not.. that doesn't go away... that really almost went away after I got my camera back & that I learned that the dude shall be dealt with in justice system! Yes insurance paying back did help. I don't say it doesn't but someone violating you is that feeling of someone robbing you in broad daylight!! Its hard to explain but if that happens to you, you shall know. And of course I sincerely wish it doesn't happen to you or anyone else for sure!
Camera being special yes... that doesn't mean I don't have to sell it - that is my own choice. as I upgraded sure I felt like I could sell this one - either way it going to another good photog is something I would have liked than someone stealing like this from me. That is not cool at all of the dude who did it. Would not be cool to anyone.
Again I totally appreciate everyone's support here. Anything any of you shared here and asked about - always educational to me!! Thank You 🙏
Yes, lets continue capturing memories with our camera gear!
If I sell anything online as an in person transaction, I meet inside my bank where there are plenty of security cameras and a teller who can count and verifty the cash is real and the person buying can also feel secure.
pasblues wrote:
If I sell anything online as an in person transaction, I meet inside my bank where there are plenty of security cameras and a teller who can count and verifty the cash is real and the person buying can also feel secure.
interesting, but why would the bank teller bother to count the cash if the transaction has nothing to do with the bank? do you tip her/him? it sounds weird, I would suggest to go to the specific designated places which are typically near police stations.
Danrdz10103 wrote:
interesting, but why would the bank teller bother to count the cash if the transaction has nothing to do with the bank? do you tip her/him? it sounds weird, I would suggest to go to the specific designated places which are typically near police stations.
The reason for the bank connection is that I would be making a deposit of the funds from the sale into my account at that bank.
If I met someplace else and the buyer is handing me cash, I have no way of knowing if those bills are legitimate. The bank obviously does know if the bills are legitimate. The bank lobby is full of security cameras and personnel. The transaction is taking place in front of all that security. A written receipt for the sale can be exchanged at that time also. There can be no argument about what happened at the transaction. No one can say "I didn't receive the item" or "I got shorted on the money" or God forbid, "I got held up at gun point and the item stolen."
