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Problems with office theft

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by itgirli

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What has been stolen from your office? My boss and I share a cube. When we left work on friday, we had two PCs sitting next to a cabinet. Beside them was a box of trash. We put a sign that said "trash" on the box and a sign that said "not trash" on the PCs. Monday morning we went looking for the PCs. We couldn't find them anywhere. The only person in over the weekend that we have record of was the cleaning lady, and at 60-something years old, I don't think she's going to have the strength to toss them. We're pretty sure that she didn't touch them. So where did these 2 brand new PCs go? Has anyone else had such a problem? What was done about it?

48 replies

by techno2005

It was just two little machines, not even servers, so what is all the fuss about?

OK, OK, Now you know the territory there is unsafe, next time rely on iron cables to tie down equipment to the fattest column nearby, place invisible marks to identify recovered property, like chemical tags, and some nice video surveillance cameras on sensitive areas, to have some video to share on those ?caught on video? shows...

I don?t know if there is still something to do about those missing machines, so at least leave the hardware passwords written on a piece of paper in the box of trash, in case she needs to access them?

by itgirli

What's the fuss about? our budget. IT doesn't always get the biggest budget and we needed those. And , duh, we don't have a budget to chain them to the desks with those little chains the banks use for their pens.

by techno2005

No I wasn't serious, just a joke to aleviate the crisis, the machines are missing and a lesson must be learned.
Despite if recovery of machines is viable, from now on that property must be handled in a more distrustive way. Sad but true. So as I said before, now you know the kind of territory you are, and the kind of security you will be requiring from now on.
At the end which loss was more valuable? the machines or the data they contained. The latter can be assured with a backup plan enterprisewide. Only on this kind of crisis, we lwarn what must be done.

by why me worry?

I stepped away for 2 minutes, only to come back and find my PalmPilot no longer in the cradle. Luckily, the company was nice enough to reimburse me for a new PalmPilot, but they eventually caught who it was and had him prosecuted. It was some new punk ass kid they hired to work the mailroom. It's funny but before him, nothing was ever stolen from anyone. When he started, we had laptops, cellphones, PDAs', blackberries, etc being stolen from both IT staff and attorneys in our firm. Anyhow, people have learned to lock up their stuff now and not take anything for granted. I sure learned a good lesson as to having a false sense of security.

by tonythetiger

will hold them in place :)

Or drill a hole through the bottom, and a corresponding hold in the desk, open the case and put a big bolt through everything.

by it_lobo

You may want to contact the police on this matter since the total value is over $1000 (I am assuming since they are brand new).

We had a projector stolen at the school I worked at and we ended up finding it for sale on eBay. We contacted the police and they purchased the project and setup a sting. The turd was arrested and we recovered the projector.

by itgirli

That could be a possibility. Thanks for the help. I don't know if I would involve the police, but I could definitely check ebay and local pawn shops. thanks.

by jdclyde

Even if you don't get these systems back, the insider who is your theif will know that this will be too hot an area to try again. If they can feel like they can just walk off and no one will do anything it will happen again.

Also, with a police report you can turn this in to insurance and maybe get them replaced.

Any time there is something of that much value just walking off I would take it very seriously. Then when the police show up, watch for who looks nervious. Also make it known that if someone "accidentally" moved the two systems, you would apreciate if they would be returned. Gives an out if they know it will be dropped if the equipment is returned.

by anykey???

actually, we had an employee that would hide at the end of second shift on friday nights until everyone left and then just take what ever he felt like taking.He would use a shipping dock door with a door opener to get out and not be detected, that is until he walked out and was seen by our general mgr.(he was throwing away his garbage in our dumpster)and was promptly fired, any action after that has been kept confidential.

I do believe that if you can prove who it was and the value was high enougn the are also legal options also(if it wasn't a mistake by a well meaning cleaning lady).

I have things grow legs quite often because of our recieving procedures, but no one will do anything about it because I have no proof that it was stolen.

Several years ago we had all 4 computers stolen from our quality dept.Someone walked in an open door on a weekend when there was only like 3 people here and took them all.We never did find out who it was.

by itgirli

Everyone here has to use a code to get in here. I'm not sure if the cleaning lady could have even lifted them, but if she did, I'm sure it was a mistake. It's a real set back.

by brentc76

you mentioned that everyone needs a code to get into your area(office), if they are anything like ours, we have the RF IDkey fobs, or the number pad onthe door. we can go into each and everyone of our locks and see who and when someone entered. each fob is assigned to a specific person. ex.. fob# 243 = John Doe, fob# 133 = Jane Doe. Maybe look at that.

by dbertsche

I assume you might have security people or contract out security. While most security people are OK and do their job and are honest, it's possible they may know something.

Surely someone else had access. Perhaps they didn't read the sign on the PCs although you probably had it in an obvious place.

My company hasn't had a problem like that recently.(we haven't bought PCs for awhile!)

We did have a problem in another building with people coming up off the street and stealing from people's jackets etc. but that was bascially billfolds and purses. We adopted a policy where anyone on the floor that was not recognized was challenged or security was called.

Your situation is not like that though. I think before you can implement any kind of a preventative program you have to make some kind of determination as to what really happened. Perhaps new equipment should be put under lock and key until you've had a chance to install it wherever it's going. I know that's kind of a pain but better to spring for a couple of locks on a cabinet somewhere than to come up with pcs missing.

by itgirli

we're now storing everything in the server room. We have security and lock and codes. If it was stolen (and not accidentally thrown away) it would have to be an internal person. We had a digital camera that was signed out and disappeared and the guy that signed it out claimed he never had it (I watched him sign it out, I put new batteries in it for him, I had the paper with his signature) and a month later it ended up on my boss' desk. I'm hoping they show back up by some miracle. Thanks.

by salamander

You could do a couple of things:

1. Call a meeting including all those who have access to the area. Explain that some PCs have been "moved or misplaced, due to some oversight." Explain that whoever moved them needs to place them in such-and-such location within 48 hours, no questions asked. Keep it benign and neutral, but make sure you've got all the parties in the room to watch for reactions.

2. Contact the police. As the previous poster said, if the value is over $1,000, it's grand theft in most jurisdictions.

Good luck.

by dr dij

theft of PCs. At a major co's HQ I worked at, after start of lunch time when people were out, someone came in, flashed a badge of some company (repair etc), signed in with a scrawl, took elevator to 2nd floor, found two notebook PCs on a desk; folded them up and walked out with them.

I tried to slow down surveilance tape to get pic for police but was recording several cameras onto one tape, pic very blurry.

at another place, we're open 2nd shift till 11pm and after 5:30 someone walked in, entered unlocked upstairs offices and took notebooks again. (thank you clever sales persons who didn't lock their office). We got a guard and it happened again, someone took a 17" LCD screen and walked out right by the guard who sits in his car all the time smoking. (and thinking it is the end of the world soon - I chatted with him at lunch one day, 'end times'; thanks to his smoking it may be for him).

label EVERYTHING; call police to report crimes even if you don't think they can do anything; We still don't have a camera on the two spots a thief would have to go by. There's PC software about $70 that records from PC cams only if the scene changes, i.e. someone walks by.

At an industrial plant in a not-so great residential neighborhood, kids loved to break in, and thieves did, took terminals; when caught, they told police they shouldn't be guilty because they turned the terminal on and nothing happened! Pretty funny.

One weekend, I came in to work on a project and found owner and police there, seems a thief had spent greater part of weekend with a forklift, dragging a safe around, and bashing it on floor trying to get it to open. (I think he did eventually).

Never bring your own stuff to work; I had a nice paper punch on my desk disappear. One time I came in to work on weekend and door was unlocked. I walked into my office, did the work in about 15 minutes, left, never seeing anyone.

Needless to say, I had to complain about the cleaning person who had left it unlocked. Their response was they 'were taking gear out to their van'. Since then it has been locked when I've come by and they're here.

There are several pc packages that even resist disk formatting, that 'phone home' over dial up or direct connect when a stolen pc is connected to the internet, these have various features and costs.

Another place I was doing contract work, next door biz had left doors open, and were all in a meeting, someone dressed as delivery guy walked in, cleaned out wallets and purses and disappeared.

by itgirli

I wish people could respect another person's property. I always thought that if you can't afford it, you probably don't need it.

by anykey???

19" lcd displays grow legs and walk off before I even knew that they had been delivered, this time I might see some actions taken to fix the problem since they were for the general mgr and the vp (but ya never know)

I have heard of all kinds of things dissappearing around here over the years including entire roll around tool boxes,welders,plasma cutters,misc.tools,computers and parts, and just about anything else you can think of that you would find in a manufacturing enviroment.We have even had people break in on the weekend(not tripping the alarm) and completely wipe out our vending machines.

by gralfus

During a plant shutdown, we had someone suit up, go into a cleanroom and snag a newly deployed PC. All kinds of huffing and puffing from management, but no real measures put in place to keep it from happening again.

Surveillance cameras are useless, unless high enough quality to identify the people it is capturing.

by itgirli

we have one code for both doors and everyone has the same code, but only employees (and cleaning)have the code. And it changes anytime someone leaves the company or if we find something missing. We have a set of main doors, but those were locked during this time.

by itgirli

If we have anyone come in the office, they wait in the reception area until someone comes out to meet them. All packages that arrived are added to a sheet and the appropriate people notified and then they are locked away until they are claimed. Normally everything is done so cautiously. I can't believe this is as common as it apparently is.

by jdclyde

Flash an ID and look like you belong and most people are too busy to question it. And in bigger businesses where you only know a handfull of the people it is even easier.

It is VERY common for PDA's and laptops to disapear from right next to you when waiting for a plane, talking on the phone, let alone sitting on a desk in a busy office.

by dr dij

there are all sorts of delivery / repair / 'others who think they're special' people who can't be bothered to get a guest pass, and walk in the employee doors. Late at nite I was here one day and dely driver was wandering around at 9pm. He did have a valid delivery but was wandering around an office area that should have been locked.

by itgirli

brand new. out of the box. nothing loaded. blank.

sorry, I'm normally a very funny person, but I'm not amused by theft. kind of funny looking back on it. but not very.

by dc_guy

It's especially true if the building primarily houses the IT department. But many companies figure that if you don't serve the public, there's no need for a public entrance. Everybody has to swipe a security badge to get in or out.

Small companies will say they don't need that, but how many times has every purse in their tiny building been cleaned out?

As Sherlock Holmes would advise, first eliminate all the impossible scenarios like Martians or computers that become self-aware and walk out. Then what you have left, no matter how improbable, deserves investigation.

I had to laugh at your dismissal of a sixtysomething's strength. We all work out, girlie, and many of us are stronger than many of you. My wife could easily carry a complete computer system out of your office in one load.

I shouldn't be telling you this. People of my generation can get away with crimes because people of your generation automatically assume we couldn't do it!

by itgirli

Well she's 60 something, around 5 feet tall and probably about 80lbs. She doesn't know what a computer really is (nor does she speak much english) or how to use it. She may have thrown it away. who knows. we don't.

by jbaker

Did you ask the cleaning lady? If she does not speak much English, she may have thought that "not trash" and "trash" were the same thing (they both say trash). She may have thrown them away, not realizing that they were not trash, but I bet she would remember.

by tomsal

On everything you said...

As for an educational note of the strength of the more aged among us....

I'm in my early 30's -- not in the worst shape, not in the best shape anymore. But I'm getting back to where I was gradually.

AT the gym I go to there is this guy I see all the time...he's in better shape than probably 80% of all the 30 somethings in the world... This guy is easily in his upper 50's or low 60's as you can see it in his face, skin and hair... Very nice guy, I talk to him on occassion when he's using the equipment next to me.

Built like a tank this guy is.

I say good for him! I hope I'm that fit soon. lol

by nonamepipes

3 Years ago at my former employer someone who knew our office and security system, broke in and stole 8 laptops including the CEOs. That really wreaked havoc for several weeks until we got replacements. The cops came in but never followed any of the leads we gave them. I'm pretty sure one of the "former" employee who was involoved. After that everyone locked everything up. In my current position we have lost 2 new desktops that were shrink wrapped on a pallet in the warehouse. No one knows where they disappeared to. IMO, if you want to keep it, lock it up or it will grow legs and leave.

by itgirli

We're keeping everything in the locked server room now, but what about the PCs at people's desks. Those could be lifted. And the bosses don't want to pay for them to be locked down. If it happens again, I'll bet they change their minds pretty quick.

by nonamepipes

Pay to have them locked or adding a security/surveillance system or the possibility of losing hardware.

by sleepin'dawg

Several years ago we arrived in the office on a Monday morning to find only one computer would boot, the others were all missing there hard drives. Luckily for us, several of our boxes had material of a national security nature and while it was all encoded it allowed us to call in the feds and we had everything restored within forty-eight hours. In this type of situation forget your antipathy to the cops. They are actually quite good at this sort of thing.

Dawg

by itgirli

But I don't think she'll want to do anything about it. She's rather passive.

by jdclyde

then forget it ever happened and move on. Don't make any waves for yourself over this.

by itgirli

but not so much as she would want to upset anyone else. She doesn't want to involve the cops because the people in the office might feel uncomfortable with police in the building.

by dwiebles

We had several notebooks go missing. no real mystery tho. Our VP loved to leave her notebook on her desk, in her main floor window office. On 3 separate occasions, the window was smashed and the notebook taken. Finally, we told the VP if she continued to leave the notebook on the desk with the blinds open, she is not getting another. They never did put in a camera, except they wanted one in the call center to monitor the staff, who the assumed were goofing around (we can let the theft slide, but no goofing around...?). They did apply some film to the window to make it more "smash resistant". Genius, pure genius...

by itgirli

How they don't care about equipment and such, but "let's not let anyone have any fun!"

by dwiebles

you gotta have em. Spying on staff, that's a priority, building a gym for management use, that's a priority, management meeting in Hawaii/Vegas is a priority, keeping the the stuff we have purchased from being stolen, not a priority. My brain just exploded and I am slowly wiping it from the computer screen (my motor functions are messed up from the lack of grey matter)

by dc_guy

The windows in almost all businesses in L.A. are filmed for earthquake safety. A thief tried to drive a car out of the showroom and the window stopped him.

Our company discourages theft by using old-generation equipment. My PC still has the tag proudly proclaiming that it was "Designed for Windows 98."

That, and a really good security system with mag stripe badges and cameras at every exit. If something goes missing it was absolutely an inside job, and if it's too big to stash in a briefcase there's no way to get it out without being caught on video with it.

The only thing that ever gets swiped here is cash. Women picked up a lot of the wrong male behaviors during the women's lib movement. They really need to figure out a way to carry valuable stuff in their pockets like we do. My wife hasn't carried a purse in 25 years. "That's what glove compartments are for. I can carry one credit card and one car key in my pockets."

by itgirli

but my boss has spoken with her boss. I don't speak japanese very well and (i think)she speaks Korean so it really don't matter how well my japanese is.

by munezrhep

I think you're dealing with an inside job. We have similar experiences with that of your office. But we never solved any cases of office theft. You know why? Because the crime was clean enough for traces to be found. And when we tried to look at the bigger picture we knew that these were the acts of individuals who knew your office well. They knew so much that they were able to find lapses in your security measures/policies.

I just hope that with your advanced crime busting techniques you'll be able to at least identify the culprits. And maybe improve your office procedures and policies to prevent office theft to ever happen again. Good luck!

by salamander

That seems a little strange to me. At least in my city, uniformed officers are very commonly in public places, and it's no big deal. Heck, the mounted police are great for public relations. I never pass up an opportunity to pat the horses' noses if I encounter them on the street. I mean...we tell kids not to be afraid of the police, but the adults are? Weirdness.

by maxwell edison

.
....but a whole PC is a pretty big deal.

I've experienced a stolen hard drive that I once left laying around, but never a whole computer.

I'd call the cops. If it didn't get the computers back (which it probably wouldn't), it would sure send a message that you're serious about theft.

By the way, I record the serial numbers of each and every component that's inside all my computers. If one ever is swiped, and we have probable cause to suspect anyone in particular, I can prove that it's one of mine.

by jdclyde

that the next computers may not be blank, but have confidential data on them.

If someone feels like they can get away with this, they will just be emboldend (sp?) to do it again and again.

The only thing that gets a thief to stop stealing is for them to get caught or feel the risk is too high so them move on and victomize someone else.

If She does nothing, then she is sending a sign and things will only get worse.

I feel your pain as my boss is real slow to stick his neck out of his shell for fear of doing the wrong thing.

by itgirli

is a she, so I kind of think that explains a little bit. I agree that the police should be informed. and before it gets too late.

by sleepin'dawg

She sounds like a victim just waiting for the next misfortune to befall. Turning the other cheek will only leave you with a smack on the other cheek. It's either that or she herself is involved in the theft and does not want any police investigation coming so close to home. Either scenario is viable. Victim or perp??? Can you be absolutely certain which way the snow drifts??? Go up the ladder if she won't act unless you are prepared to be further ripped off. This could be indicative of further thefts to follow. Next time it could include theft of critical information such as employee files c/w addresses, private phone numbers and social security numbers. Then you and your fellow employees would be potential victims of identity theft, with all the attendant hassles that could entail. Time Warner is presently caught up in just such a fiasco in that they have lost back-up tapes containing the personal details of over 600,000 employees. Your boss sounds like she needs a good smack up side the head and told to wake up and get real.

Dawg ]:)

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