Last month a group of thieves managed to steal 7,000 Wii U consoles from a distribution warehouse in Seattle. They did this by simply driving to SeaTac's Seattle Air Cargo warehouse during a storm, walking in, loading up pallets of the consoles into three large vehicles and then driving off.
Since then information has been thin on the ground but there has been a recent new development – police have found the vehicles used in the robbery but no Wii U consoles were present. The detectives involved said that they had recovered "two trailers and a box truck" that were involved in the theft, with their markings and vehicle identification numbers painted over in white.
Police have now upped the reward for any information on the missing goods to $10,000. The 7,000 Wii U consoles are worth $2 million - $300 each.
If you live in the U.S. and come across any sales of Wii U systems online that you suspect may be stolen — for example large quantities being sold together — then contact the The King County Sheriff's office on (206) 296-3311.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 35
dang WaveBoy, no wonder youve been hiding lately
Good, their not on to us.....The uprising of the New DreamCast will come too soon!
I read a similar article yesterday on seattlepie. I hope they find the stolen consoles or Nintendo had some serious insurance on this.
A wise man once said "ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere, but an honest life is immortal"
Considering I just left Target, with it's 8 basic and 2 deluxe Wii U boxes sitting in the same spot they were last week, selling these isn't going to come easy for the thieves. They should just give them away as party gifts at a barmitvah or something, nobody would question them then.
Yes, LJM, the plan is going well >:3 Neh he he he he he. :3
look for them at pawn shops, collectibles stores and privately owned stores, this happened some time ago with the Gameboy Advance SP in america. why do you think this happens? they should lower the price otherwise its not gonna sell too well, compared to the Wii or the DS. Still, crap like this mostly happens in USA.
@rjejr: The system is still selling well enough. Just because you see some in your town doesn't mean other places are filled with Wii U's.
The dip s' that stole these have got to be up there on the dumbest criminals list. They aren't going to be able to offload these things.
As dumb as thieves are, even a fence has half a brain not to take them, so they are gonna be selling out of their car trunks before the inevitable bust.
@Dyson
Can you back up any of those statements?
@Dyson Because clearly, the criminals' ulterior motive for stealing seven thousand consoles was "buying one console is too expensive." And absolutely nothing to do with "we can make a lot of money by selling of 7000 consoles."
Good thing I already got my Deluxe.
Said Sgt. Cindy West:
I’ve been a cop for 28 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. This has come straight out of the movies.
I don't think I have ever seen a movie where 7000 Wii U consoles get stolen (>_>)
If we don’t get any tips ahead of time, it will be the selling of these consoles that will lead to their capture. It’s gonna be pretty hard to hide 7000 Wii [U] game consoles
Well you haven't found them yet so they must be pretty easy to hide
Some people must be desperate to play some games.
And how do you just walk into a building and walk out with 7000 consoles?
I think Sony stole them so they might actually make some $$ by selling something.
@LJM @SMEXIZELDA Not on my watch your not... I'm gonna bust this case wide open
cue my 80's investigation music please
[youtube:FjCv2KJWPQs]
These are already on ebay by now.
It's sad that these morons did this those 7,000 wii u s could have helped a lot.
The bastards are bound to get caught. You can"t hide 7,000 consoles. Could be sooner, could be later. But they'll be caught for sure.
I'm not thief but how exactly do you manage to sell 7000 of something thats hot without looking suspicious, while people are looking for unusual sales of said object?
This kinda reminds me of something one of my high school friends told me once. He used to take games into the restrooms at Walmart and remove the security tags (back before they got the cases and stuff) and take them over the local Game Crazy, he'd even have stacks of the same game and the clerk would just give him a funny look without saying a word(even with stuff like barbie games).
I could only imagine the look on the clerk's face if the robbers tried that.
One of the ways they could sell them is if one of the thieves actually owns a games store. Especially a respectable one. It's a well organised heist so I'm sure they'll have thought of how they'll sell them. Ebay is too obvious and it'd be too difficult to sell that many systems by any other means other than a store.
They'd still have to be sold off the record, but police should at least monitor some of the games and electronic stores in the area.
Bring detective conan.
Done
No need to worry anymore... MadAussie PI has tracked and taken down the perpetrator
They probably will track these down by first arresting the buyers and the going getting info to they get to the sellers. The serial numbers off all computer related equipment is always tracked.
Some day, they'll be filming a new episode of storage wars, and they'll bust the lock only to find the locker stuffed full of the stolen Wii-U consoles...
YUUUP!
I wonder if Nintendo can brick these stolen Wii U's if anyone tries to go online with them...
I think that would be hilarious
so they just waltzed into some warehouse and picked up a few game consoles, then left? sweet! may I have the address? >
"Thank you police, but our Wii U's are in another vehicle!"
You think they'd find these guys somehow.
Taxes went up here in the states; don't think many people will be going to buy a wii u anytime soon. We'll all be spending our time trying to figure out how to live with this government's tax hikes.
Good thing Nintendo has made enough money from the DS, & later Wii (systems) that they could/can financially take/tolerate at least 1, or 2 console failures, or in this case thievery. I mean, it's good that they made all that money b/c this kind of trouble affects the honest business people. It can start financial troubles that can grow into unemployment. Doesn't make it right, though. Being a thief is being a thief! & that's a lot of somebodies' hard labor getting robbed away from them. I hope they get caught, or if they would prefer to avoid getting caught/embarrassment, return what they have stolen , & correct the wrong they have done! If they were smart enough to seamlessly execute a theft, w/o getting caught, they can probably do the same in returning those consoles, w/o being discovered.
@EaZy_T That depends on who the buyer is. If its someone who knows its hot then they're getting what they deserve (they probably know people who want one or have "clients" expecting a cut), but they're more likely to be sold to unsuspecting customers. Its likely the goods will be sold slowly to pawn shops or other businesses that won't be picky about merchandise and through sites like craigslist, possibly as "like new" or something.
@Sharingan029
First thing that comes to mind is 'inside job.' But really all they need to do is wait for the idiots to get desperate. People this dumb usually catch themselves.
@sweetiepiejonus
ok, since when does this happen in Canada, Mexico, or the UK?
USA has some of the stupidest criminals in the world.
in Vancouver, there are actually only a couple dozen Wii U owners, and those
people are the ones with money to burn. regular people out in abbotsford, Hope, Chilliwack and Merrit won't waste $300 on a system that hasn't officially proven itself. lets see a Elder Scrolls Game or a GOOD C.O.D. on the Wii U,
or better online functions, huh?
@MeloMan
brilliant comment
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