Attention Thieves: Check The Auto-Upload On Those Phones You're Stealing

from the pic-or-it-didn't...oh,-it-happened dept

Tue, Mar 4th 2014 2:09am — Timothy Geigner

Well, it's time to catch up on the latest iteration of dumb criminals being dumb with technology. Past stories, including frat brothers portraying their crimes on social media, criminals attempting to pass off ice blocks as iPads, and robbers bragging about their exploits on YouTube all enjoy the commonality of the criminals being tripped up by their own hubris rather than the trappings of misunderstood technology. Not so in this latest example.

In this case, we have a couple who have built their relationship around love, the fraternity of unfortunate looks, and the ability to be nabbed for stealing a smart phone by its auto-uploading feature. Victoria Brodsky of Brooklyn was at a street fair when her phone and wallet were lost to pickpockets. Having once planned to cancel her credit cards and phone service, she felt the spurs of Cowboy Justice at her sides when the alleged thieves began using her phone to engage in a little amateur self-porn, not realizing that the photos were automatically uploaded to Brodsky's Dropbox account.

“It’s one thing to steal, but they’re celebrating,” said Brodsky of the 26 pictures and one pornographic video that showed up in her account between August and September.

The photos started innocently enough with pictures of the woman and the man, but then a batch of racy selfies appeared on Sept. 1. The man and woman make kissy faces in some, and then disrobe. They lie naked on a mattress, staring into Brodsky’s phone.The final post of the day was an X-rated video of the couple half-heartedly engaged in a hardcore sex act.

So, hey, you know that whole "pics or it didn't happen" thing? Yeah, don't go looking into the articles for these pictures. Just...don't. They aren't appetizing. But they do teach all of you would-be phone-thieves out there a valuable lesson. Before you go snapping off horrible photos of you snapping off on one another with that cell phone you just stole, you might want to poke around the account settings so that your, ahem, exploits aren't uploaded to your victim's account.

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Filed Under: brooklyn, crime, smartphone, theft, victoria brodsky

10 Comments

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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 4 Mar 2014 @ 3:57am

Not to mention
Not to mention the GPS location data that probably went along with the photos and video... :-)
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miatajim (profile), 4 Mar 2014 @ 4:09am

Happend when my phone was stolen/lost last year. Been funny(kind of)looking at the photos.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2014 @ 4:43am

Ok, so I imagine an overzealous prosecutor charging the cell phone owner with some silly porno offense. Then threaten them with a maximum sentence, thus coercing a plea bargain. The prosecutor would add that to their long list of "convictions" because they are tough on crime and would like your vote.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2014 @ 7:02am

Thanks for giving them tips and ruining the fun.
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Annonimus, 4 Mar 2014 @ 7:43am

Go watch Radio Dead Air on Blip Tv
Nash does this sort of thing way better then you do: http://blip.tv/radio-dead-air/wtfiwwy-live-chainsaw-immortality-2-24-15-6741488
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2014 @ 8:31am

... or maybe they bought the phone on the street (which is very common) or possibly they found it ... or they could have been just borrowing it from someone else.

Just because these people had the phone doesn't necessarily mean that they are the ones that stole it ... or even that they knew it was stolen.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2014 @ 8:35am

"Police sources claim she told officers she lost the cell phone and didn�t think she was the victim of a crime."
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Michael, 4 Mar 2014 @ 8:59am

If she downloads and reproduces those photos, is she going to be prosecuted for copyright infringement?
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ColinCowpat (profile), 5 Mar 2014 @ 2:43am

Better example over here
That of Plumpergeddon - a guy mugged at a cashpoint in London, losing his wallet and MacBook. Then a long example of police imcompetence, closing the case for "lack of evidence" despite 6,000 photos and screenshots from the "hidden" app on the MacBook.

I think he's had a phone call do a sting, and the police are back - and now interested in persuing things. But a shocking read if you follow the story as it unfolds. See: http://plumpergeddon.tumblr.com/
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ColinCowpat (profile), 5 Mar 2014 @ 2:45am

Plumpergeddon II
S/phone call/film crew

Damn autocorrect !
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