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Gun theft--FBI presentation
Just attended a presentation by 3 FBI agents on theft and fraud of collector guns. VERY interesting. I'll elaborate after I get home tommorrow. They said some antique (high end) collectors are followed when they leave an exhibition. The trailing vehicle waits for them to stop at a McDonalds, etc., and while they are inside quickly raids and cleans out their van.
THey discussed several big time gun frauds. In one, a fellow wanted the finest collection of Colt Walkers, and had tons of money. He hired a couple of experts, offering them a 5-10% commission on any they got. They scammed him. A typical case involved finding a rare gun, price $600,000, and buying it. Then they bribed another expert to say he had a guy who wanted to buy it (from the original seller) and was offering $1.25 million. They showed that to the buyer and told him he'd have to match the offer. He did so and they pocketed the extra hundreds of thousand, plus a doubled commission.
Comments
The proper response, in my opinion, would have been to sue the broker for breach of contract ... you do not go out and get competing bids when you have contracted to buy an item for someone.
People just don't think when they get emotionally involved, I guess.
As for the theft from locked cars story ... many re-enactors use registered mail ( to themselves ) to move their own firearms, instead of the trunk ... too many horror stories about grabby highway police.
Posted by: Kristopher at January 8, 2007 05:37 PM