advertising criminal acts on social media...why?

[shootthebandit]

Over the past 2 days ive seen an incident of someone posting a picture of themselves jumping on the bonnet of a McLaren supercar and another incident of someone pretending to be disabled to so they didnt have to queue at thorpe park

The first incident is stupid because the picture was shared around facebook (with the guys name and face) not only will this attract the authorities but it also got the attention of the owner who is pissed off and has probably got a hell of a lot more influence. Needless to say the culprit has deleted his facebook account as the entire internet is after him

The second guy was at least a bit more clever. He was smart enough to get a fake doctors note but clearly not smart enough to keep quiet about his effort. He received a tweet from merlin (the guys who own theme parks in the UK) and hes now banned from them all.

I know we had stupid criminals before social media but social media has just given them a place to brag about their activity which basically gives the police a confession and/or photographic evidence.

Im not encouraging people to be criminals but if you are going to commit a crime or fraud someone then why plaster it on the internet for everyone to see. Surely the whole point is that you dont get caught?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Some people are just a bit thick. Mind you those ones don't seem that bad, maybe they didn't think there'd be consequences.

During the London riots, though, there were people taking pictures of themselves and what they'd stolen, and putting them on on FB and telling everyone that's what they were. Which obviously isn't wise.

 

[AmberSword]

Attention whoring at its finest, "just for the lulz" will probably be the answer, in fact this is nothing new, people do foolish things to get recognition, what better way than to share their endeavors on social media? Often they don't realize to what extent they've screwed themselves over until its too late, like with the latter example. In fact, the fellow who got banned from all US theme parks will probably proceed to post that fact everywhere as well, for the same reasons.

 

[Vegosiux]

Well, as I usually say, we never heard of a perfect crime, because if we heard about it, it wasn't perfect. Most people get caught because they slip up, and I surely do hope vanity remains one of the reasons to make people slip up.

 

[Zhukov]

*shrug*

Some people are just thick.

(EDIT: Ninja'd.)

Many a criminal has been caught after bragging about their nefarious deeds in the presence of the wrong person, or confessing to someone who wasn't as trustworthy as they thought.

Same thing, different stage.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Social media has done some weird things to people. It's created this disconnect from reality. People like to brag about stuff when they break the law. It's happened for years. Before it would just be at a bar or something, but now people can talk about it online on their front page. Even though it's common sense, the thought that people they DON'T want to see their bragging will see it never enters their mind. People still think that their facebook pages or twitters or whatever are private, even when they know they are not.
Which is why you get people doing things like this and they bragging about it to the entire world, and why some of them are truly shocked when the cops come knocking on their door a day later. They think they're only talking to their friends at a bar.

 

[Colour Scientist]

As others have said, these people just aren't that bright.

The people who do this probably just have a shit sense of foresight in general.

 

[senordesol]

Those smart enough to consider the ramifications about posting their criminal behavior on FB are probably smart enough to not commit criminal action in the first place.

 

[krazykidd]

I wouldn't call them criminals. That's kinda harsh.

Eh. Because people like to brag and feel awsome. People do it all the time. Plus they don't think anyone is actively looking for them.

 

[Genocidicles]

During the London riots, though, there were people taking pictures of themselves and what they'd stolen, and putting them on on FB and telling everyone that's what they were. Which obviously isn't wise.

This one in particular always makes me laugh:

Just why?

I can understand posing with a huge flatscreen you've just stolen. Sure, it's stupid, but at least it will get you some criminal recognition or something.

What the fuck does posing with some store-brand, value rice serve?

 

[ForumSafari]

Im not encouraging people to be criminals but if you are going to commit a crime or fraud someone then why plaster it on the internet for everyone to see. Surely the whole point is that you dont get caught?

Honest answer? It's because people don't 'get', on a visceral level, what social media actually is. When people post stuff like that they're posting it in the mistaken belief that people can't see it even when intellectually they know they can.

 

[Flatfrog]

Stupid criminals are by no means a new thing.

From the wonderful The Book of Heroic Failures, which has had pride of place on my bathroom bookshelf for many years:

Choosing the right moment is vitally important in any crime. Mr David Goodall of Barnsley, for example, set off in January 1979 to do a bit of shoplifting. He had hardly entered Barnsley's British Home Stores when he was simultaneously seized by eight pairs of hands. The shop was holding a convention of store detectives at the time

Clumsiness is an important quality in our sort of burglar and in 1978 Mr Christopher Fleming displayed this quality in gratifying abundance. His intention was to break into a Chinese restaurant at Tiverton in Devon via a kitchen window, remove as many notes as possible from the till and leave by the same route.
In a manoeuvre that required breathtaking agility, he climbed through the window, lost his balance and fell into a chip fryer. Covered in grease, he clambered out and dripped his way to the till.
Unable to find any notes, he loaded up with £20 in bulky loose change and, with the grease now congealing, walked out of the restaurant straight into the arms of a policeman

and my favourite

A New York burglar committed what many admirers regard as the perfect crime in 1969. Following a carefully prepared plan, he climbed up on to the roof of a supermarket which he intended to burgle.
Once there, he discovered that he could not enter the building since the skylight was marginally too small to slip through.
With a sudden flash of inspiration he removed all his clothes and dropped them through the skylight intending to follow them seconds later. Brilliantly, he was still unable to fit through and had to call the police to get his clothes back

 

[DementedSheep]

Because they consider it something to brag about and they're a bit thick. There a lot of people who don't seem to get that when you post something to social media its not only the intended recipient who can see it or that it can effect them in "real life".

But mostly some people are just thick and like to brag about stupid things. I don't there really needs to much more explanation than that.

 

[Something Amyss]

Some people are just a bit thick. Mind you those ones don't seem that bad, maybe they didn't think there'd be consequences.

I'm inclined to think the second, partially. I'm also not sure if they're thick or have just not adapted to social media. A lot of people still don't have this whole "stuff on the internet stays on the internet" thing down, and with the rise of social media we have a bunch of people who wouldn't use the net before if they were paid. And they're using it for socialising. And they forget, I think, that maybe the things you used to tell your friends about isn't Facebook material.

I mean, I did some stupid stuff as a kid. Some of my friends did some questionably legal stuff. I bet some of the stuff they did was illegal, but we'd joke about it. And now people do that sort of thing online, to larger networks of people, associating it with a more narrow experience.

Then again, we've had people getting caught on camera and shamed for like 60 years now, and they don't seem to learn, so maybe there's something to the answer that they're just "thick."

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

During the London riots, though, there were people taking pictures of themselves and what they'd stolen, and putting them on on FB and telling everyone that's what they were. Which obviously isn't wise.

This one in particular always makes me laugh:

Just why?

I can understand posing with a huge flatscreen you've just stolen. Sure, it's stupid, but at least it will get you some criminal recognition or something.

What the fuck does posing with some store-brand, value rice serve?

Fooken tescos rise m8. Gud shit m8.

I'd say it's a combination of attention seeking and a healthy dose of buttfuck stupidity.

 

[Parasondox]

This one in particular always makes me laugh:

Just why?

I can understand posing with a huge flatscreen you've just stolen. Sure, it's stupid, but at least it will get you some criminal recognition or something.

What the fuck does posing with some store-brand, value rice serve?

And here is how the prison meet would go;

Prisoner 1 (aka the idiot who stole rice): So what are you in for?
Prisoner 2: Thief, GBH, Murder. Doing life cause of it. You?
Prisoner 1: Stole some Basmati rice init from Tesco. It was a badman ting blud. Me and my boys went hard that night.
Prisoner 2: Rice? You stole fucking and you're in this shithole?
Prisoner 1: Yeah man. Ain't nothing big. The night was mad. Did a quick ting, in and out in no time. Then I had to BBM it. Chicks dig a bad boy. FUCK THE FEDS.
Prisoner 2: Rice? You little kids stole rice and you think you're "hard". So how long you got in here?
Prisoner 1: 4 years. They were harsh man. I'm only 18.
Prisoner 2: I didn't know they gave prison sentences to the foolish and stupid. Fuck me criminals are getting younger and dumber these days.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Most criminals aren't that bright, but various justice systems are also riddled with people who skated by on their various educational practices so thats why it may seem that some criminals are dumb as fuck. But generally these people are just dumb and arrogant, which is dangerous enough.

 

[sXeth]

Its not strictly limited to social media, I've gone into a convenience store, seen two 16-18ish year olds come in, one went and started talking to the counter guy and the other one went down the aisle I happened to be in and started stuffing stuff in his bag, looked at me, winked, and carried on. Even if I hadn't been on a first name basis with the owner cause I go in there all the time to use the bank machine, this wouldn't have gone well for them.


The insane amount of people trying to sell or buy illegal items on facebook is also kind of amusing. A local guy who goes through secondhand shops trying to find stuff to sell on kijiji was surprised when cops showed up at his house, and he wasn't even actually fencing stuff. Just someone who didn't research their intended business, or thought they were somehow exempt from the random checks that pawn shops get cause they were online. To say nothing of the fact I could look at public facebook posts for my local area right now and probably see at least 20-30 people seeking some type of drug.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Y'see, I would NEVER talk about any crime, minor or serious, in an open forum. You'd just have to be mad to do it, right? What kind of self-respecting criminal would be that self-aggrandizing and yet have so little sense of self-preservation?

For example, you'd never catch ME bragging about that guy I killed that one time. Oh wait...

...Fark. 'Scuse me.

(BRB: going to lie low in Mexico for a bit.)

 

[EeveeElectro]

Because they wanna look sickkkkkk in front of their m8s.

If you're going to do stupid petty little shit like that, you're pretty thick in the first place.

I see a few people putting up that they're "GETTIN' BLAAAZED TONITEEEE 420 BLUD" and while people can do what they want with their bodies I'm amused that they don't realise NOBODY CARES. No one above the age of 16 thinks it's cool that you're getting high. I suppose they think they're safe because they're putting it on a private Facebook page, but you don't know what your "friends" are capable of.