Legos are in all places lately, together with legal enterprises. Earlier within the week, California’s Organized Retail Crime Taskforce carried out a sequence of raids towards an unlawful fencing operation unfold throughout 4 buildings in LA and Orange counties. Throughout these raids, authorities discovered a group of Lego sets estimated to be value $300,000 general.
Numerous gadgets have been stolen from standard retailers like Goal and Lowe’s, however the Legos have been stated to make up the majority of stolen product. Based on CBS News, there have been so many containers that they have been lined up throughout the partitions of the buildings, and in some instances, have been capable of contact the ceiling. (As an ex-retail employee, lemme inform ya: nightmare state of affairs having to tug from the center part of these stacks.) Lego units can get fairly dear the extra elaborate they’re, and containers can take up plenty of house, so it’s straightforward to picture how packed these buildings should’ve been.
4 arrests have been made in connection to the fencing ring, whose ages vary from 35 to 47 years outdated. The suspects have been then charged with organized retail theft, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit against the law. Per the LA Times, the quartet would go from retailer to retailer, with two of them swiping restricted version field units earlier than stashing them throughout their numerous safehouses earlier than promoting them in-person or on-line.
In the event you weren’t conscious, this has really been happening for fairly a while. In December 2023, Inside Edition printed a chunk on what’s successfully the Lego black market, whereby thieves stole Legos in the course of the holidays and promote them for an honest value, significantly the restricted version units. A Lego retailer in Las Vegas received hit 4 occasions inside a month of opening, and the shop proprietor on the time stated $2,000 value of product was stolen.
Comparable theft rings exist for stuff like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, so it’s not too shocking to listen to that is occurring with Lego. Some retailers are attempting so as to add some friction to the method, primarily by locking the toys behind a case or wrapping them in a safety bind you need to take away instantly on the register.
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