Posing as a service worker?

[cotangent]

I've always been fascinated with the idea of theft in plain sight. The thought of doing something completely wrong in front of many witnesses and not having to worry about a thing seems, well, it's just plain tits. A few months ago, I would have thought of this as something reserved for the movies. However, I recently began working in construction and I've noticed how quickly people will give complete trust to someone who looks like they know what they're doing. All I have to do is put on a hard hat and a tool belt and suddenly it's almost as if I'm invisible. I could be anywhere in the huge condo complex I'm working on, including places that aren't even being worked on, and as long as I act cool and look busy nobody asks any questions.

I've decided that I would like to take this to the next level. I've been toying with the idea of posing as a vending machine repairman and looting machines in broad daylight. I figure if I don typical work clothing, carry a tool box, and sport a fake I.D. badge, I could go to any public machine and open it up with no hassle. Of course, I'd put on an act. I'd give the machine a visual, "call my boss," open it up and fiddle around with my tools on the inside for twenty minutes or so, then finally loot the cash, close the machine up, "call my boss" again, then stroll away.

Am I crazy, or does this seem like it may actually pan out? What are some potential roadblocks that I might encounter?

- cotangent

[Ed Lister]

Opening the machine without resorting to smashing or cutting it up.

Duh.

[Niko303]

The only flaw I can see is either the owner/vendor shows up or someone who knows what's up (Ie. The landlord) notices your not the usual guy and not on the usual day. Thus you get the cops called and you don't know it. The risk is low, but should something go wrong, it could go very very wrong.

[cotangent]

Originally Posted by Ed Lister

Opening the machine without resorting to smashing or cutting it up.

Duh.

Tubular lock pick?

Originally Posted by Niko303

The only flaw I can see is either the owner/vendor shows up or someone who knows what's up (Ie. The landlord) notices your not the usual guy and not on the usual day. Thus you get the cops called and you don't know it. The risk is low, but should something go wrong, it could go very very wrong.

Do you think someone might actually call the police without confronting me first? And I think these circumstances depend on the specific machine. I'm sure many go neglected and unsupervised 24/7.

- cotangent

[Leonidas]

Try it and then tell everyone the details so everyone else can do it too, someones got to try this and be a pioneer

[cotangent]

Originally Posted by El Tigré

Try it and then tell everyone the details so everyone else can do it too, someones got to try this and be a pioneer

If it works I probably won't say shit. The last thing I need is for other people to get caught and ruin my perfect hustle.

- cotangent

[theavenger]

Usally businesses and such know the repair guy for their machines or have called the company to come look at the machines. Could be sketchy but who knows.

[Syphilis]

Take a look here. Might help:
http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showthread.php?p=888216

[Rimbaud]

sure people will probably trust that your an actually vending machine maintenance guy if you look and act the part.

if you know how to get the cash out of the machine without breaking it, cool.

the major concerns are:

1: not much profit unless you hit up several machines a day, and then you have a whole bunch of coins to roll up and launder somehow

2: you can't do this for long, some one will catch on, and there are always cameras around. case the area before you do the job to map out where most of the cameras are

[Raziel]

Walk into an office, Walk out with computers...

[Clue]

Knowing the route and the times the route is done by the person you are posing as.