The Government Stole His Information Before He Stole A Thing

Back when I used to work for a specific big-brand cell phone store, our biggest competitor was directly next door due to bad lease agreements. We would trade stories of customers who came into both stores and this is my favorite.

A guy came into my store, looking to purchase a phone and plan. We ran his credit and informed him that he needed a fairly large deposit. He left, saying that he would try next door. It was a common occurrence, so we thought nothing of it. The next day, I found out the rest of the story, as my shift ended shortly after.

The man went in next door and did the same thing: filled out an electronic application for a phone plan. Now, for those who don’t know, we have to see and type in your driver’s license — or government-issued ID — and your social security number. When they did this, they informed the man that he had a deposit, but smaller than our store’s. The man seemed pleased and said he’d be back.

The man came back an hour later with a knife, held the store up, and robbed them of cash and phones. He had no mask or anything concealing his identity. When the state police came out to fill out the report, they laughed when the employee was able to pull up his cell phone plan application and give them every bit of identifiable information they needed. That man was arrested later that day.