11.22.10 - 4:00PM
- by
Cole Stryker

Guy Posts 'I Just Robbed a Jewelry Store' on 4chan, With Pics For Proof

topic:
Photos
Busted!

robbern on 4chan That is a picture of a bunch of rings. It was posted late Saturday night to 4chan's notoriously bizarre and chaotic /b/ image board, with an accompanying message:

SUP /b/!

I just robbed a jewelry store with an M4 assault rifle. Feeling excited but kind of scared.

wat [should i] do now?

At first, no one believed the guy's declaration.

Looks like you robbed a candy machine there.

But not everyone doubted:

I'm the father of a jeweller, I can confirm those rings are worth a lot of money.

And when he posted more pics, it became increasingly apparent that the guy was legit.

These scenarios are just one of the phenomena that makes /b/ such a surreal place, where anything can happen.

Timestamped pic of M4 for proof.

If so, epicness will have been achieved.

And then, this photo was posted and the thread blew up.

Some still doubted:

OP, still not sure if gun is real

do a field strip and show the bolt carrier, firing pin, and extractor separately to confirm if real

At this point most skeptics were silenced. Sure, he's got a gun and maybe he owns a jewelry store. But still, isn't it plausible that this guy actually did rob a shop and subsequently went online to brag?

Given the little information he provided, it's unlikely he'll ever be caught. Still, it made for an entertaining night for hundreds of 4channers. This story is an interesting case that deals with the value of anonymity online. Obviously I'd like to see the guy get caught, but should 4chan be forced to hand over any identifying information to the appropriate authorities? [Um, yes. – Ed.]

I wonder if the guy will show up again at any point with tales of further exploits. Given the enthusastic response, he probably will, like those criminals who leave calling cards because they enjoy the attention. Or is that just in Batman movies? Real bad guys do that, right?

This post is in NO WAY meant to endorse robbery.

previously:// 4chan's Curious Moral Code

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11.24.10

By Travis Bsallard

Highest Rank

I can tell you for a fact that the 4chan founder (moot) will hand over any information requested by the authorities. I have a not-so-smart friend who threatened to bring harm to university students and his information was given so that he could be located and arrested, and he was. Hopefully someone somewhere has reported the incident and this person will be arrested as well.

11.24.10

By Raiman

Highest Rank

The only thing moot can give out is the ip address and contents of the post AND thats only if you contact him fast enough because the 4chan cache is routinely deleted. In fact it will be up to you or government officials to locate the exact time which the posts were made or else moot cant find anything. On top of that, most people have brains enough to surf 4chan behind proxies which are basically fake ip addesses. This generally means that they are very hard to trace. So posting on 4chan is actually pretty safe if you do it right.

12.01.10

By NB Mill

Highest Rank

FTR, that is not an M4 carbine. It is a civilian, semi auto, Bushmaster AR type. Still very real and fires the same round, but the M4 is manufactured by Colt and is a select fire (capable of full auto fire) weapon, available to civilians only in NFA states. Just saying...

12.08.10

By orlyyarl

Neutral

He probably will. We get strange people on teh /b/.

Also, don't worry: there's enough white knights on /b/ that would report him if enough info was revealed--as well as many /b/tards who would relish the lulz achieved by screwing one of their own over. lolwut.

11.24.10

By killdefenses

Lowest Rank

who cares. those rings are insured and that guy cheated the system. i hope he gets away clean.

bragging about it online isn't the smartest move, however.

11.26.10

By PN

Highest Rank

Oh, so because it's insured, it's no big deal right?

Do you think that the magical insurance fairy pulls the money for people's claims out of thin air? That money comes from somewhere and it costs someone.

Don't be so stupid to think that even if the jewerly store files a claim that they don't have to worry about a thing. A person had a gun pulled on them, their life threatened, their shop destroyed. That fucks with your head when you're in that position. The worst part of the whole experience, insurance will never pay for, not to mention that the store will not see a 100% return on their loss.

Stupid comments like that, I hope you find yourself on the recieving end of a high power assault rifle literally shitting yourself trying to hand over every last thing of value that you can think of just in hopes that you may live to file a claim, only to get fucked over by your insurance company.

Maybe then you'll have enough sense to figure out this sort of behavior and your way of thinking about how insurance works will check itself and realize that nothing is free snd no matter where the money comes from, someone is having to pay up.

12.04.10

By Artor

Highest Rank

Cheated the system? How exactly? You know, the operator of a jewelry store doesn't actually own all the stuff there. He needs to be able to sell it to pay his mortgage, feed his kids, stay in business, etc. After being robbed at gunpoint, now he gets to be screwed over by the insurance company he's been paying very expensive premiums to, presumably for years. If they cover 10% of the cost of those rings, I'll be surprised.
Anyone who points a gun at someone really needs to start dodging some bullets himself & think about how that feels.

You sir, are an asshole!

11.24.10

By guy

Highest Rank

"The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
-4chan.org /b/ board

11.24.10

By sweffymo

Neutral

I suppose you think you're clever...

11.24.10

By AliasUndercover

Highest Rank

I hope he was behind seven Boxxys...

11.24.10

By Mark A.

Neutral

An M4 is actually classified as a carbine, not a rifle, but whatever! Also, I've had bigger wholesale jewelry orders than that for under $1000.

11.24.10

By sean

Neutral

Your editor is an idiot. It's not that simple to just force websites to hand over user data because it seems like a good idea at the time. There is a lot of privacy and technical issues involved and there is no actual evidence of a crime. Even if there was a crime, there is a process to these things. It's called a subpoena. With out a crime reported, there is no case, with out a case, there is no judge. No judge, no subpoena.

If articles about 4chan posts make it to pub on this site, why do you even need an editor anyway?

11.25.10

By Herp Derp

Highest Rank

Ever heard of the PATRIOT Act? They can just say this guy is a domestic terrorist, and bam everything they want to know about him they can get. Privacy isn't a priority in the United States anymore. See TSA.

12.02.10

By sirrix

Highest Rank

This is asinine. If the web service agrees to turn over information, they may do so at any time. A subpoena is only required if the service provider refuses. These aren't medical or education records where the person has a right to their privacy. Craigslist voluntarily discloses information all the time - they have a full department of people who respond to polite requests from law enforcement agencies all day.

12.10.10

By Samuel

Neutral

"With out a crime reported, there is no case, with out a case, there is no judge."
Somebody had their jewelry store robbed at gunpoint by a semi-automatic. Are you really so stupid as to think the crime wasn't reported? Honestly?

11.25.10

By icedmaple

Neutral

If he hosted those photos elsewhere, say Photobucket, they could track his IP from there.

11.25.10

By anon

Lowest Rank

I'm in full support of this guy. I'm not against the establishment or anything, and I don't wish harm against the jewelers or anything like that. But I like this guy, and I think, not only that he might, but that he should strike again. Hopefully he'll never get caught.

11.30.10

By Ben

Neutral

That's not an M4 that is an AR15. Slight difference. Ar15s cost around 700-100$ an m4 will cost you around 10k and requires lots and lots of paper work to obtain (legally).

12.01.10

By 80HD

Neutral

10k? Even with SOPMOD and all the fixins, $2.000 max.

You understand that a Barrett M82 is $8,900, right?

http://www.snipercountrypx.com/showproduct.aspx?productid=4794

A defining attribute of service rifles are low per-unit cost.

12.03.10

By athensguy

Neutral

It is actually not possible for a United States citizen to purchase a select fire M4 legally. Reagan's "Firearm Owner's Protection Act" banned the sale of new automatic weapons. The M4 had not yet been produced at that time, so no M4s are legally owned by civilians.