Intellectual Property Law

Using Social Tools to Rob Banks

By Deven Desai

CNET reports that a man has used Craigslist to rob a bank. O.K. more precisely, he posted an ad on Craigslist and that was a key to his scheme. The robber wore “a yellow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt, and a respirator mask,” approached a bank guard, disabled him with pepper spray, took the cash, and escaped. You might think such an outfit would be obvious and easy to track. That’s where Craigslist comes in. The robber had posted an ad for road maintenance workers on Craigslist. The ad told interested candidates they would be paid the going rate of $28.50 an hour and they should show up wearing, you guessed it, the same outfit as the robber. The potential workers became unwitting decoys. The case is even more odd in that the inital vehicle of choice was an inner tube.

For the tech/law folks out there, yes the police are seeing whether Craigslist’s records can help trace the robber.

Image: DB COOPER Source: WikiCommons

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Full post as published by Madisonian.net on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).