Why people hide serial numbers?

[250swb]

Ever tried to recover stolen property which was subsequently sold to a third party? It's not as simple as you might think.

Errr no, I was more concerned with the moral duplicity that people keep quiet about having possesion of a stolen lens (after the fact) because they don't want to give it back to the true owner.

Hands up, how many would actively look at a database and send a lens found to be stolen back to the original owner? You all said yes! So thats it then, no need to worry, if a lens gets stolen or ripped off it will come back one day in the future! As a start you could post your stolen body and lens serial numbers to a 'sticky' on RFF!

Steve

 

[tlitody]

Errr no, I was more concerned with the moral duplicity that people keep quiet about having possesion of a stolen lens (after the fact) because they don't want to give it back to the true owner.

Hands up, how many would actively look at a database and send a lens found to be stolen back to the original owner? You all said yes! So thats it then, no need to worry, if a lens gets stolen or ripped off it will come back one day in the future! As a start you could post your stolen body and lens serial numbers to a 'sticky' on RFF!

Steve

So for all the second hand equipment you have bought, what have you done about verifying if it was ever stolen? What do you think the police would say if everyone who bought something from ebay went to them and asked to check whether it had ever been stolen. Do you think they would be interested in providing that service if you had no reason to do it except for paranoia?
Of course they would probably want you to leave it with them whilst they checked. What do you think.

 

[250swb]

So for all the second hand equipment you have bought, what have you done about verifying if it was ever stolen? What do you think the police would say if everyone who bought something from ebay went to them and asked to check whether it had ever been stolen. Do you think they would be interested in providing that service if you had no reason to do it except for paranoia?
Of course they would probably want you to leave it with them whilst they checked. What do you think.

How can I answer if I haven't even suggested anybody go to the Police? Where did that come from?

I will reiterate. A/ post a stolen serial number to a database (like a sticky on RFF) and B/ everybody will read it and do searches of the numbers and return anything they find they bought that was stolen. Its simple, if we assume people are honest, god fearing, upright stalwarts of the community.

Personally I think some people will argue against the idea because they don't want to risk giving things back to the real owner. Actually it won't get off the ground at all. I was being sarcastic. The moral integrity of the few who have shelled out a considerable sum of money and are willing to write it off against experience is infinitesimally small. But they are all on RFF, I'm sure!

Steve