Moment group of brazen thieves strip entire Best Buy display of PlayStation 5s and walk out of the store unchallenged
- A group of brazen thieves walked away with armfuls of PlayStation 5s from a Best Buy store without encountering resistance.
- Five thieves entered the store and immediately went to the display of Sony game consoles, which stood next to the facade.
- The criminals were seen leaning towards the exhibition stand and picking up 14 PlayStation consoles worth $7,000.
A group of brazen thieves walked away with armfuls of PlayStation 5s from a Best Buy store without encountering resistance.
The video captured the moment when the criminals entered the store and immediately went to the display of Sony consoles next to the entrance. The video was viewed by more than 200,000 people on social network X.
Five thieves were seen leaning into a trade show booth and taking 14 PlayStation consoles worth a total of $7,000.
But Best Buy employees could do little to prevent the theft and simply recorded faces as the brazen thieves left the store.
A group of brazen thieves walked away with armfuls of PlayStation 5s from a Best Buy store without encountering resistance.
The criminals entered the store and immediately went to the display of Sony consoles next to the entrance.
The clip shows the group crouching where the PlayStation 5 display was and grabbing the cars. One man is seen holding one console in each hand while the thief in front of him carries a stack of three.
Another thief takes a third PlayStation while the man kneels on the floor, collecting a stack to run out of the store.
The suspects quickly get up and walk out the door in full view of Best Buy employees, who can just watch and stare.
A woman who is part of a gang of thieves is the last to follow, trying to sort through her stack of PlayStations.
She is seen carrying three in her arms, as well as a bag on her shoulder containing another console.
A woman passes a worker who gives way to her on his way out.
“Dude, what the hell is wrong with this shit,” the person recording can be heard saying. ‘This is madness.’
It is unclear which BestBuy store the incident occurred at, and DailyMail.com has contacted the electronics retailer for comment.
Shoplifting has reached unprecedented levels across America, with brazen thieves leaving stores with their hands full of stolen goods.
The scourge, which has worsened during the pandemic, has cost the industry nearly $100 billion in 2022, the National Retail Federation said.
A video of the incident was filmed and posted on social media platform X on Tuesday and has been viewed more than 200,000 times.
The thieves quickly get up and walk out the door in full view of Best Buy employees who can just watch and stare.
David Johnston, representing the organization, said: “These activities are happening more openly and thieves have become more brazen and aggressive in stealing goods.
The nation’s shoplifting capital is Los Angeles, which has the highest rate of “organized retail crime” for the fifth year in a row in 2022.
The study contains information on 177 brands that had annual sales of $1.6 trillion in the United States in 2022.
San Francisco came in second, followed by Houston, New York, Seattle and Atlanta.
Sacramento and Chicago finished jointly in seventh place. The top ten was completed by Denver, Miami and Albuquerque, who tied.
Retailers have always been vulnerable to theft, but recently stores have been experiencing coordinated and organized robberies.
The report confirms that this trend is largely driven by large agglomerations. The top five seats are also Democratic-led areas.
This has led to a strong pushback from stores, with companies like Target and CVS blocking their products to discourage shoplifters.