A band of Miami jewel thieves have been arrested in a high-tech burglary ring in which New York Yankees pitcher Aroldis Chapman was one of the targets.
You know that feeling you get when you come across a social media post that seems too good to be true? The perfect baby post; the perfect restaurant meal post; the apparent lavish lifestyle people pretend to live only inside of their phones? Well, for Xandi Garcia, the ringleader of a band of Miami-based jewelry thieves, his false social media persona was fueled by targeting “wealthy marks,” like New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman.
On Tuesday, it was reported that eight of the 10 suspected members of a group of high-tech jewelry thieves were in custody after leaving a “powerful digital trail of crimes stretching over 2-years.”
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In one instance, the ringleader incriminated himself when his own home surveillance system captured him and his crew planning a heist and then later returning home with stolen goods. In another instance, his own girlfriend incriminated him by posting pictures of herself wearing stolen jewelry… on Instagram.
The social media connection doesn’t end there, however. This band of jewelry thieves executed their robberies by first monitoring their wealthy marks’ social media activity.
Here’s an example of how this might work:
- 9:00 am – Wealthy mark posts an Instagram Story in his car, grooving to some tunes.
- 10:00 am – Wealthy mark creates a Twitter post, a picture in a baseball uniform, warming up.
- 3:00 pm – Wealthy mark posts to Facebook sitting in his locker room after a workout.
- 4:00 pm – Wealthy mark returns to IG for a Story about his drive back home.
The jewelry thieves would see that the target isn’t home between 9-4 each day and thus plan their robbery appropriately.
Fortunately for New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, he was never the victim of an actual robbery. He was, however, one of the “wealthy marks” being targeted by Garcia and his crew.
There’s a lesson to be learned here folks. Airing our lives out there for people to see on social media seems like good, innocent fun. However, sometimes, there is such a thing as giving away too much of our privacy.
Somethings are better left… unposted.