COIN THIEF IN THE AREA ?

[drock2]

I fear we have a coin thief in our area. There has been several coins that have turned up missing in my area and my concern started, when A: a coin I had brought back from CA. went missing just days after I had placed it B: the same thing happend to beautiful coin that I happend to be the first to find. not to mention a couple other coins that have gone missing. THIS all within a few miles of each other.

 

Now we all know that they are prone to disapprence and such, not to mention WHY? you can't sell them to the public ie. e-b** and you can't share them. So again why?

 

Anyways has anyone ever caught a thief or divised a plan to accomplish this feat. I know in the end it's surely not worth, and to take it for what it is. But a friend and I thought about putting a web cam up at a cache and placing a trail cam not sure of the details on how. But let me know what you think

 

Signed (like others im sure) Fed up

[+zazth]

Good luck with that. We definately have one in our area, or maybe more than one. I went to snag some travel items today that have been a cache for far too long only to discover all three are gone! 2 TBs and a Symbology geocoin that was put in there in April and gone by May according to the logs. The clincher is the items were not all taken at the same time BUT at different times. One disappeared in 2005, the other two between the end of 2006 and May of this year.

Very disheartening.

[drock2]

Do you think the idea of the web cam would work? Were having problems as to how to identify who is on the camera

[+BlueDeuce]

Do you think the idea of the web cam would work? Were having problems as to how to identify who is on the camera

 

And if you knew who it was, what do you plan on doing?

[+TrailGators]

We have one in our area too. I think it may be some ignorant newbie(s) that trades for it, and doesn't know what it is. The other thing they do is leave them in a cache with a lot of muggles nearby. So we recommend that people only leave coins in MOC caches. They also need to leave them in MOC caches that are not highly visible to muggles. Most members understand what you are supposed to do and the theft rate seems to be much lower with MOC caches.

[+zazth]

My ship uses the motion detector cameras for unmanned spaces. The pictures are not that great. I would also be concerned about the camera being found and stolen!

[+Cav Scout]

Ok, so lets say you put the cameras in place and ID someone . What do you do next? Set up a OP and wait patiently for them to come back? Will you detain them ? Just being curious. Sounds cool.

[+ScoutingWV]

We've had one in our area too. Why can't folks just let these things be the game pieces they are meant to be?

 

No one steals my Monopoly hotels or little top hat ...

[drock2]

Sorry for the late reply, thats just it ,I'm pretty sure there's nothing I could do even if I did manage to catch someone, although I think I would have some words to say ( what else could one do?) I just felt compeled to find others opinions on this matter. I know... I myself am not a premium member but I do have respect for this past time and know the time and effort that goes into mantaining it but thats another thread With that said even being new this matter still upsets me espeacialy when im the one that looks like the thief

[+007BigD]

If they are in fact taking the coins, knowing that they are travelers and keeping them. I would definatley let them know that they are now known as the coin theif and give them a peice of your mind. Thats all you can do...Nothin worse than public humiliation, I guess you could rat em out to all the locals so everyone knows where the coins may go. That alone may stop em...and if it doesnt~Go 007 on their hiney!...a big club works well

 

Dont threaten them, that will just make them mad. Just let them know that you are on to them and know what they are doing, If they continue, I guess you could threaten them with Geocaching Exile and inform the local reviewers to possibly have them banned...Not sure if that will fly though.

 

I know if our coins here were at the mercy of a theif, I would be mad I like you would want to do something...just not sure what!

[+wavector]

I had a travel bug and I attached a Lemon Fresh Dog geobone to the TB so that other cachers who had never seen one of these rare geocoins would have a chance to see one. It was dropped off in a cache in the country and the next log on the TB noted that the geobone geocoin was gone! I wrote it off to a thief and that was that. When I visited the cache I found a log from a new geocacher that said they had taken the TB. I reread the logs and discovered that an experienced geocacher in a nearby city took some brand new geocachers out geocaching and they drove almost 1/2 hour to get to the cache that contained my TB. Once there the new geocachers (it was their very first cache) apparently took the TB but never logged it online and dropped it off in another geocache that same day. I wrote them an email asking for my geobone back and I cc'ed the experienced geocacher who had taken them out geocaching. I never got a reply from either of them so a week later I posted the email on the experienced geocachers cache page, he replied immediately.

The gist of the reply was that neither he nor the new geocachers had any idea if there was a geobone attached to the TB, he said that they never noticed.

I thought it was very peculiar that the experienced geocacher never logged or mentioned the TB at all. The new geocachers never did respond to any emails, the experienced geocacher was the only one who responded and he told me that the newbies never logged the TB because they had problems, apparently they never asked him for help logging the first TB they ever found at the first cache they ever went to, apparently he never saw, mentioned or viewed the TB (he logs other trackables). He told me that neither he nor the brand new geocachers noticed if there was a geobone attached to the TB when they found it. If you have ever seen a geobone you will know that they are very hard to miss and if you were a brand new geocacher you would probably look at the item you were taking from the cache.

 

The upshot of this is that the LF060 was stolen by parties unknown. If you see LF060 it is a stolen geocoin and the person who has it has obtained it from a thief or they might even be the thief. The experienced geocacher told me I had created the problem by placing the geobone on the TB in the first place. Apparently the thieves are not to blame for stealing this item because as the experienced geocacher pointed out "it has perceived value".

 

We have a geocoin thief in this area, it is never possible to tell when a geocoin is going to be stolen but they are stolen regularly from caches. It started quite awhile ago now and it continues today. There is some geocacher who has a collection that includes a lot of stolen geocoins and apparently they think their collection is fine, I think their collection is like a scarlet letter.

[+jAY miLLS]

Do you think the idea of the web cam would work? Were having problems as to how to identify who is on the camera

 

And if you knew who it was, what do you plan on doing?

 

[+fairyhoney]

We have one in our area too. I think it may be some ignorant newbie(s) that trades for it, and doesn't know what it is. The other thing they do is leave them in a cache with a lot of muggles nearby. So we recommend that people only leave coins in MOC caches. They also need to leave them in MOC caches that are not highly visible to muggles. Most members understand what you are supposed to do and the theft rate seems to be much lower with MOC caches.

SO, what does MOC stand for ?

[+IBcrashen]

Members Only Cache

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

We've had one in our area too. Why can't folks just let these things be the game pieces they are meant to be?

 

No one steals my Monopoly hotels or little top hat ...

 

That's because nobody wants to be the top hat - we all want to be the car!

[+fairyhoney]

We've had one in our area too. Why can't folks just let these things be the game pieces they are meant to be?

 

No one steals my Monopoly hotels or little top hat ...

 

That's because nobody wants to be the top hat - we all want to be the car!

Or even to be the little dog!

[+PSU Fan]

We've had one in our area too. Why can't folks just let these things be the game pieces they are meant to be?

 

No one steals my Monopoly hotels or little top hat ...

 

That's because nobody wants to be the top hat - we all want to be the car!

We would fight to be the Dog ..... very odd!!!!

 

on subject:

 

The advice to drill holes and strap wire to the coins have helped with keeping some of mine in play.

[+JIMBOBWE]

WE HAVE ONE HERE IN TOLEDO AND IM PRETTY SURE I KNOW WHO IT IS........MY SUGGESTION.

 

WELD A STEEL BEAM TO IT...........

[drock2]

You just may be on to something, plus that would make for a good pic on the trail cam LOL

[+Eartha]

Why don't you start by posting a note on each missing item with the logging instructions, in case this is a situation of someone just not knowing how to log, or even not knowing about trackable items?

If you did catch someone, just what would you plan on doing about it?

 

Then there are those who put "Stolen" in the title of their TB/coin, and sometimes they get logged. You can then take the "Stolen" out of the title once it moves. Although, sometimes I think accusing someone, who is simply ignorant about trackables, of being a thief would only humiliate them to the point of never logging it and it would disappear forever.

[+vegaschick]

Why don't you start by posting a note on each missing item with the logging instructions, in case this is a situation of someone just not knowing how to log, or even not knowing about trackable items?

If you did catch someone, just what would you plan on doing about it?

 

Then there are those who put "Stolen" in the title of their TB/coin, and sometimes they get logged. You can then take the "Stolen" out of the title once it moves. Although, sometimes I think accusing someone, who is simply ignorant about trackables, of being a thief would only humiliate them to the point of never logging it and it would disappear forever.

 

I agree. Some cachers are holding on to some of my TBs and I've e-mailed them nicely, but there's no sense in asking again because the TBs may just vanish.

 

I found a geocoin missing from a cache and didn't think too much of it, but I made a mental note of the last 5 geocachers--we'll call the 3rd or 4th person on the list Cacher A.

 

A couple months later, I was geocaching out of state and found two caches that were missing geocoins again. The last visitor to the cache was Cacher A and the visitor before Cacher A was the person that dropped the geocoin! So what are the chances?

 

I been a geocacher for over 2 years, and Cacher A was in it before me, so there's no way they don't know the rules. But am I about to accuse? Heck No! One of my other geocacher friends said that I should say something, but I'm not about to start an argument or single anyone (or myself for that matter) out of the crowd. That's like starting a war! There's nothing that can really be done, except perhaps set up Geocoin Geocache, camo yourself up, and sit nearby in the bush, logging descriptions and license plates of all geocachers that visit the cache. I guess if you have the extra time on your hands....

[+coreynjoey]

There's nothing that can really be done, except perhaps set up Geocoin Geocache, camo yourself up, and sit nearby in the bush, logging descriptions and license plates of all geocachers that visit the cache. I guess if you have the extra time on your hands....

 

 

I dunno if that would even work. I just had a coin stolen from a members only cache that was on the cache owners property, in an ammo can with a combination lock, chained to a telephone pole!

[+ChapterhouseInc]

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Edited September 20, 2007 by Eartha