Legos are in every single place nowadays, together with legal enterprises. Earlier within the week, California’s Organized Retail Crime Taskforce carried out a collection of raids in opposition to an unlawful fencing operation unfold throughout 4 buildings in LA and Orange counties. Throughout these raids, authorities discovered a set of Lego sets estimated to be price $300,000 total.
Varied gadgets had been stolen from well-liked retailers like Goal and Lowe’s, however the Legos had been stated to make up the majority of stolen product. In keeping with CBS News, there have been so many packing containers that they had been lined up throughout the partitions of the buildings, and in some instances, had been in a position to contact the ceiling. (As an ex-retail employee, lemme inform ya: nightmare state of affairs having to tug from the center part of these stacks.) Lego units can get fairly dear the extra elaborate they’re, and packing containers can take up plenty of house, so it’s simple to picture how packed these buildings should’ve been.
4 arrests had been made in connection to the fencing ring, whose ages vary from 35 to 47 years outdated. The suspects had been then charged with organized retail theft, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit against the law. Per the LA Times, the quartet would go from retailer to retailer, with two of them swiping restricted version field units earlier than stashing them throughout their numerous safehouses earlier than promoting them in-person or on-line.
When you weren’t conscious, this has really been happening for fairly a while. In December 2023, Inside Edition printed a chunk on what’s successfully the Lego black market, whereby thieves stole Legos throughout the holidays and promote them for a good value, significantly the restricted version units. A Lego retailer in Las Vegas bought hit 4 instances inside a month of opening, and the shop proprietor on the time stated $2,000 price of product was stolen.
Related theft rings exist for stuff like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, so it’s not too stunning to listen to that is taking place with Lego. Some retailers are attempting so as to add some friction to the method, primarily by locking the toys behind a case or wrapping them in a safety bind you must take away straight on the register.
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