Stolen item - what would you do ?

[Rockettvr]

Evening gents
I had my lock up broken into last week and several items stolen. Reported to police given a crime number. On Monday while on the internet looking for replacements for the stolen items I stumbled upon one of them being sold on an online internet auction site. The item is very distinctive no doubt it’s the one stolen - item for sale is located about 3 miles from the lockup it was taken from.
I’ve phoned police - details taken by an operator who said that I’d be phoned about it - 36 hours later I’m still waiting to be contacted
I would have thought a clear cut opportunity to catch someone in possession of stolen goods would warrant a bit of hurry-up but obviously not.
Question is do I wait for plod to get into gear - chase them up or do I contact the seller and go round on the premise of viewing the item and confront the scum and get my stuff back
Item is worth several hundred pounds
Im concerned if left too long the item will get sold and that’s the end of any opportunity to get my stuff back and/or get him arrested
I’m aware that there may be problems if I confront the thief but I don’t see why I should let him possibly get away with it

[worsy]

It is very unlikely that there is a possible chance of conviction even if the item could be proven to be yours.

"I found it guv"

[Bigends]

Police should pursue this - whether or not they will is another matter

[Beetnik]

I've never had occasion to use it but the following seems like a plan that might work (you've already covered points 1 & 2):

1. If your item is spotted, phone the police. Many people will tell you to bring in the heavies yourself to get your item back but this will just land you in hot water.

2. If the police are truly unhelpful (and they may well be), then the following has proven successful for some.

3. Arrange to buy/win the item. When you've arranged a time/place to pickup (make sure it's a very public place or a house) contact the police again to see if they're more helpful.

4. If once again they tell you they have better things to do, go to meet the seller. Once you've spotted the item phone the police (out of ear shot of the seller, make up an excuse if needs be such as forgetting the money). Tell them you need help and to get to the address then hang up and put your phone on mute (they will try to phone you back). Act like nothing's wrong and waste time, if you can try and get the item off them using an excuse inspecting it at length is often a good trick). *

• Only do this if you feel it's truly safe to do so, you've got to remember these people are criminals having already stolen a bike, and they think your meeting them with a decent amount of money in your pocket. It's a good way to get mugged, so take extreme caution.

[SlowcoachIII]

Unrelated to the police could you report the listing on the internet auction site so that it is removed and ensure it doesn’t get sold?

[Carbon Sasquatch]

I wouldn't hold your breath.....

I had some bikes stolen - my neighbour disturbed them in the act & got the car registration number. I called the police immediately - they had the bikes in the car and had just driven off. The response ? "Do you need a crime reference number for your insurance ?" - well not really, I'd like you to go and get my bikes back - no interest at all.

That's why people are prepared to be so blatant selling stuff - there really seems to be no deterrent any more.

[stevensdrs]

The Police don't care about this kind of crime anymore.
Your best route is to bid on the item and win it.
Don't pay and tell the seller you will collect it and pay cash.
Go to his house mob handed and recover your goods.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

stevensdrs said:

Go to his house mob handed and recover your goods.

All well and good right up until someone gets stabbed..... Very easy to be all macho, but very few people can whip up that sort of mob - and the seller would need to be dumb enough to be home alone.

Not vey PH, but I'd actually consider just buying it back if not too expensive - and put it down to experience. Cheaper than buying a new one. Inform Plod and/or insurance afterwards - then get on with life.

[Hennerz1994]

I had something similar happen to me at my work a few years ago. 2 guys came in and bought a load of kit from us to the tune of about 2k was in and out in 10 mins paid by credit card using the pin which we later found out was a stolen card. They did most of the higher end shops in our town on the same day had over 10k worth in total.
A friend of my boss then spotted the items for sale on eBay even had the cheek to show our receipt in the pictures.
It was a business ebay account from a second hand car dealer in London. My boss must have spent 3 hours on the phone to the police nothing ever came of it we lost out on the money and they seemly got away with it.
They had lots of other expensive items up for sale that was all brand new so I imagine was also stolen.

[Buzz84]

Carbon Sasquatch said:

stevensdrs said:

Go to his house mob handed and recover your goods.

All well and good right up until someone gets stabbed..... Very easy to be all macho, but very few people can whip up that sort of mob - and the seller would need to be dumb enough to be home alone.

Not vey PH, but I'd actually consider just buying it back if not too expensive - and put it down to experience. Cheaper than buying a new one. Inform Plod and/or insurance afterwards - then get on with life.

Assuming it is the original offenders selling it on eBay, there is a chance they remember where it was aquired.
So they know where the lock up is and where to look for the OP after he steals it back. Can't see that ending well...

[T6 vanman]

Can you not buy it back ... then use e-bay seller/buyer dispute to get the paypal back ??

[Plymo]

If it's an auction, bid on it! Use a new account with a fake address if need be, but make sure you win!
Get the address to pick it up and scope it out, if it's insecure you could always steal it back!
If not make sure the police know the address - if they aren't bothered then, well what you do then is up to you...
But if you win it, it won't get sold to someone else

[survivalist]

Friend had the same thing happen. Bike stolen in London and then on eBay a few days later. Local police didn't give a monkeys. Bid on it and won. Then tweeted the local police force with his story, adding that he was planning on going to collect his bike and call the police once he met the thieves.

Once it hit social media the police couldn't have been more helpful.

Assuming its a cash on collection auction you have nothing to lose. If social media doesn't garner the required attention then maybe the local media might be interested, slow news days are pretty common at the moment...

[0ddball]

Awe, c'mon, where are our resident boys in blue? No comment? They are usually desperate to defend the indefensible.

[singlecoil]

I'm not a policeman but my guess would be, with the number of police that remain, and their workload, that their thinking is that you should stop your stuff being stolen in the first place, if that's not possible then insure it.

[Leicester Loyal]

Police don't give a st about this sort of stuff (to put it bluntly)

Unless you tell them there's a COVID party going on at the address, they'll be round pretty sharpish in that case.

[Drezza]

Could you plan to go collect it and ring the police explaining there's likely to be a breach of the peace?

[InitialDave]

singlecoil said:

I'm not a policeman but my guess would be, with the number of police that remain, and their workload, that their thinking is that you should stop your stuff being stolen in the first place, if that's not possible then insure it.

Well, that's fine, I think a lot of people are quite happy to protect (or retrieve) their own property.

As long as the actual victims of the crime don’t get into trouble for resolving the situation when the police wouldn't.

[J1990]

There's no winning situation here - At least not if we're being realistic. If you were the type to have a few 'heavies' in the waiting and a willingness to turn up at their door with them then I don't imagine you'd have bothered with this post, you'd have just done it.

You turn up, you plan to lay eyes on the item and then refuse to pay either by running away with it or by telling them they stole it from you and that they either sod off or you'll have the police turn up - At which point, is this a druggy trying to fund thier habit? If so I wouldn't be putting it past them to have a nice sharp stabby tool on them and to try cling on to something that might delivery a few days highs after sale.

You win it cheap and legitimately buy it back from them - Nah, just on principal I couldn't bring myself to give money to the scum, regardless of whether it's cheaper than buying elsewhere.

As another reminder, the one for sale on eBay may well be yours, that doesn't mean that the seller is the one who stole it. They might've purchased it cheap on Facebook marketplace the same day and be selling it on for a profit or something similar of that nature.
Underfunded and understaffed police aren't going to be of much help, I can't blame them as they seem to get a rough deal. It's just annoying when you've pretty much solved a reported crime and then they can't even do the admin bit of tidying it up at the end.

[Terminator X]

Carbon Sasquatch said:

stevensdrs said:

Go to his house mob handed and recover your goods.

All well and good right up until someone gets stabbed..... Very easy to be all macho, but very few people can whip up that sort of mob - and the seller would need to be dumb enough to be home alone.

Not vey PH, but I'd actually consider just buying it back if not too expensive - and put it down to experience. Cheaper than buying a new one. Inform Plod and/or insurance afterwards - then get on with life.

Now that deserves a

TX.