ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area how long till they get killed doing this?

Let 'em fry is how I feel about it. If you're stupid enough to be poking around a powerstation looking to steal copper (for whatever the reason is) than you're just asking to be electrocuted. I wish I could somehow electrify my own tools to prevent them from being stolen.



Right on, brother. That's why when I see a $1,000 Hilti drill on a site like eBay for less than $100, I have to figure it's been stolen. And by buying the drill I'd be creating a market for more thievery. Just my opinion, but I know I've just opened a can of worms. Oh well.

Sometimes a bogus seller will advertise such a thing at that price, someone will bite, and the item is never shipped. Sometimes such a seller won't even have the item, but just stole pictures from another auction. This is an additional reason to avoid such deals.

What in the thunder are these guy thinking?
Imagine this: Two guys break into a substation. they saw a huge chunk of copper (a 500kV air cored line reactor) and climbed up to cut it *mother of all fireballs erupts*. Half a state went dark, Finally,two guy are "toasted" beyond recognition.

If the guy had perfect feedback, I'd say you missed some of the product detail and maybe a hell of a deal.

Oddly enough, I once met the mother of a guy who got fried stealing wire from a sub-station.
I was also present when two guys were exhumed from their "brick recycling" job site... it was just so much easier to take the bricks from the bottom of the wall!

I call it "Darwin in action."

The way to stop this nonsense is to require all scrap dealers to video record their transactions. The equipment is cheap.

Dopers would quickly modify their behavior for the cameras.

All that would be needed is a split screen video tape with goods, face, ID, and register event.

Honest scrappers wouldn't give a hoot. Illegals would never dare the process.

When I was a kid, one of my aunts told me about a guy in Cali (Colombia), who would make it a habit to climb utility poles in the city and steal the copper from the pole pigs - the ones that provide the drop to your house.

This was back when she was a youngin'

One night, he made a wrong move and ended with one of his arms half scorched and melted.

Rendered totally useless for life.

"If the guy had perfect feedback, I'd say you missed some of the product detail and maybe a hell of a deal."

I'll say this.... Just because someone has "perfect feedback", means only one of two things in regards to EBay...
1.) Has good buisiness sense, (as many THIEVES do) to maintain good standing with buyers of thier wares.
2.) Has registered under many, or new names to hide that fact he has shafted people in the past....
i.e. "perfect feedback", does not mean the person is not selling or fencing stolen goods!

Anyway, back on topic.....

While out at the scrap yard to find some steel for some welding practice I found this sign.

When I asked about it in the yard, the guy said if he knows it is PG&E wire, which is often marked, he turns them in, as the REWARD is far in excess of what he can get for the wire. All the scrappers know about that, and have to strip it all, and also not to bring in certain types of wire.

Also, take note that you can barely make out the transfer station in the backround of the picture....


[This message has been edited by e57 (edited 05-21-2006).]

Ahh yes, another Ebay newbie - I forgot to add that the informed Ebayer knows to look for sellers with at least 2 years of solid positive feedbacks. Preferably over 100 feedbacks - then theres no need to be paranoid. Just like with any other merchant out there, you have to know their track record.

[This message has been edited by TwinCitySparky (edited 05-22-2006).]

After the 8/03 blackout here in detroit we had a guy who was stealing bus from a 4160 (Might have been 12,470 I forget) sub when the power came back on. When the tech (My friend) responded to the trip, they found a guy laying across the bus with a hacksaw, he was cooked.