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Dozens of suspicious cellphone purchases at three Missouri Walmarts
- Thread starter M52B28
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cheststrongwell
my cake, fuck off
Honestly, I probably wouldn't.
DigitalDevil
Member
I don't see anything unreasonable about following up on this. We can't push being PC to the point where we are ignoring possible threats. Would you rather protect someone's feelings or potentially thwart the next attack on US soil? And I'm not suggesting targeting specific races, but actions. Buying this many phones with cash should be investigated period, regardless of ethnicity.
Milksheikhs
Member
Yeah seems pointless as it would interfere with any investigation they were may have been pursuing.
yes it must be terrorists
terrorists too dumb to also buy 50 packs of energy bars, 50 bottles of gatorade, 50 pairs of sunglasses and say it's for an outdoor survival race the guy is organizing (the phones are for emergency contact but they dont want people cheating with gps in their normal phones)
thank goodness our freedums and 2nd amendments were protected though
terrorists too dumb to also buy 50 packs of energy bars, 50 bottles of gatorade, 50 pairs of sunglasses and say it's for an outdoor survival race the guy is organizing (the phones are for emergency contact but they dont want people cheating with gps in their normal phones)
thank goodness our freedums and 2nd amendments were protected though
The Lamonster
Member
there aren't a bunch of white guys in ISIS
I'd still be suspicious but I wouldn't go right to "terrorism"
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
The Lamonster
Member
btw, thread title is wrong, it was four Missouri Walmarts
Zoe
Member
On the other hand, there might be other stores where this is happening but it never occurred to them to alert authorities.
This was what I expected. I think that's the problem.
It's just incredibly exhausting watching the ridiculous lengths we go through to "Protect the Homeland," and really all that gives us is an illusion of safety. "See something, say something" sounds straight out of some dystopian novel.
And I wouldn't go right to terrorism, regardless of their ethnicity.
alfredofroylan
Member
More like a blast from the past.
Doesnt this picture display the opposite though? That you should keep your mouth shout, because they could be listening.
The Lamonster
Member
This is a stretch. Do you really see nothing suspicious about this? Did you see this guy's post?
Security experts worldwide agree that no amount of technology or security personnel will ever be as good as a watchful public eye. "See something, say something" is not in the same ballpark as something actually controversial like "don't ask, don't tell."
Do you have a problem with "better safe than sorry?"
huh? This isn't a Donald Trump thread. No need to start accusing people of racism. We don't even know if there is a problem yet.
cpp_is_king
Member
A hell of a lot better than "see something, keep quiet". Is it just the fact that it sounds catchy that bothers you? How about "If you see anything suspicious, notify authorities". I mean isn't that, like, common sense?
DrGonzo615
Banned
Back when I worked at Target I had a guy come in and buy ever single PS2 that we had in stock (We had somewhere close to 30 of them I believe, this was after the PS3 came out so they werent selling anymore).
The guy buying them was of some kind of eastern European origin (Polish maybe?). But once he bought all of our stock, he wanted to know if any of the other surrounding Targets had any PS2s in stock as well because he wanted those too. I called around and placed another 15 system on hold for him to pick up. Oh and he paid cash for all of it.
I asked the guy what he needed all these systems for; he told me that they couldnt get them "in his country" and was taking them home to sell.
I still dont know what to make of the whole thing but this cellphone business sounded oddly familiar....
The guy buying them was of some kind of eastern European origin (Polish maybe?). But once he bought all of our stock, he wanted to know if any of the other surrounding Targets had any PS2s in stock as well because he wanted those too. I called around and placed another 15 system on hold for him to pick up. Oh and he paid cash for all of it.
I asked the guy what he needed all these systems for; he told me that they couldnt get them "in his country" and was taking them home to sell.
I still dont know what to make of the whole thing but this cellphone business sounded oddly familiar....
outunderthestars
Banned
So now I assume the FBI has the ESN's of the phones. That should mean that they are already being monitored for unusual patterns.
cpp_is_king
Member
Can't monitor prepaid phones. Which is... kind of exactly the point and why people buy them.
Why are people bending over backwards to act as though it's not suspicious? Suspicious != guilty. It just means it's odd behavior, which happens to be associated with criminal activities.
Well, I've seen The Wire so I'm an expert. I thought the main reason they were hard to track was due to the fact that if you're paying cash, there's no link between you and the phone. But, if the FBI has a record of all the phones that were purchased, they should be able to track them pretty easily considering they giggle at warrants.
Well, I've seen The Wire so I'm an expert. I thought the main reason they were hard to track was due to the fact that if you're paying cash, there's no link between you and the phone. But, if the FBI has a record of all the phones that were purchased, they should be able to track them pretty easily considering they giggle at warrants.
Arthr2ShdsJcksn
Banned
I'm not sure if its related, but people using free government cellphones just got offered a $4.87 chance for an upgrade at Walmart. I know this because I got the text myself. Maybe some bonehead is trying to scavenge as many $5 phones as possible hoping to resell them higher.
outunderthestars
Banned
Oh, you totally can monitor them if you know what batch they came from. The Walmart will have a record of all of the ESN's which can then be tracked.
cpp_is_king
Member
Damn, my amrchair law enforcement knowledge has failed me today. Thanks though!
You can't monitor them if you don't know their serial numbers, which they should know in this case because they know when and where they were purchased.
Edit:beaten
More like a blast from the past.
why are they so afraid of charlie chaplin?
CadetMahoney
Member
roff
Just as easy to track as postpaid phones.
Cell networks don't work if the network doesn't know where the phone is located.
If you have a serial number, the provider knows where the device is located when it is on.
If you have a Stingray and know the location of the device, you can intercept pretty much everything it sends or receives.
Christopher
Member
This is Neogaf - of course that's what these people were doing!
NoblesseOblige
Banned
I have the feeling this is still pretty uncommon. Especially if flying to Iraq with 50 phones.
Here in southern California I used to work in an electronics store during college. We had 360's and PS3's & Wiis and every so often some guys from Mexico would come in and buy out our entire stock. It'd be some 20-30 systems at a time in all along with clearing out our DVD players and such. Apparently they took them back south and made a killing. If anything I'd imagine it might be the same deal.
I'm assuming the IMEI numbers of the phones would have been recorded at some point.
Tell the carriers to keep an eye on those.
Tell the carriers to keep an eye on those.
They already sell dirt cheap phones in the developing world. It would probably cost more to transport these there. The black market is mainly for luxury phones.
SecretMoblin
Member
yeah this is where I'm at.
Whenever there's a massive tragedy we always wring our hands about 'red flags' that nobody followed up on. It's hardly dystopian to cock an eyebrow at dozens of prepaid phones being purchased with cash at several places in smallish areas all around the same time.
I think you would be surprised at the amount of dumb stuff criminals do.
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