To be mightily pissed off with cash converters

[spacepoppers]

Long story short, my nephew lives next door to me. A lovely boy who teaches kids music. He had his amp etc stolen by opportunistic car thieves, lost in excess of £1k value goods. The whole kit showed up in a local cash converters, who told him despite the goods clearly being his (matching box and receipt with serial numbers) he would need to wait for a police response to return his goods, by which time they might be sold unless he bought them back, at a cost of £250.
I mean, WTAF? Their whole business model seems to rely on the police being under resourced abs unable to respond in situations like this. By the time the police see fit to pay au attention, all cctv will have been wiped anyway. Sorry for the rant, I'm just so mad!

Take them to the small claims court with the police crime number.

@woodchuck99 OP said they want a police response. Presumably that means no police report has been shared.

I would write to Cash converters copied into the police with the crime number, saying that they have reasonable knowledge that the goods were stolen and therefore if they sell them on they cannot claim ignorance of this. You will then have no choice but to take them to the small claims court. I bet they are trying to sell them to you at their retail price, not what they paid for them, so they are trying to make a profit from stolen goods.

The only way to stop this kind of thing is if they have the onus on them to prove the goods were not stolen, which may involve them taking proof of identity and address at point of purchase.

@woodchuck99 OP said they want a police response. Presumably that means no police report has been shared.

So they need to wait a couple of days before selling it on to give the nephew a chance to show it to them.

Are shops selling ore-owned stuff not required to take details of people bringing stuff into them? Requirement of a photo id and two utility bills sort of thing so stolen goods can be traced back?

Nephew gave CC the crime reference number. Not good enough apparently. He even gave them a close up of the thief's face from doorbell video footage and video footage of her breaking into his car! 🙄

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/section/22

A person handles stolen goods if (otherwise than in the course of the stealing) knowing or believing them to be stolen goods he dishonestly receives the goods, or dishonestly undertakes or assists in their retention, removal, disposal or realisation by or for the benefit of another person, or if he arranges to do so.

I don’t see how acting for a corporation devolves them of this?

@penberrh

Yup, according to their own policy...

Whilst I'm sure there are plenty of (likely desperate) people legitimately selling their own goods to the likes of CC, it is obviously very ripe for people instantly monetising stolen goods and washing their hands of them.

Traditionally, thieves would ask around at pubs if anybody was interested in buying XXX at a suspiciously low price and everybody was fully aware as to the provenance of those goods. Most decent people would turn them down, but some people with an equal lack of morals would indeed knowingly and unquestioningly buy those stolen goods from them, falsely claiming good faith if it ever came back on them. Terrible people, but unaccountable individuals all the same.

CC and their like are legal businesses with a High Street presence. They should reasonably be expected to have a higher code of ethics than the thief/fence in the pub. As a PP said, all they need to do is ask people selling goods to them to produce their original receipt or proof of purchase or, if they don't have this, some photo ID, proof of address (utility bill etc) and a photo/video of the transaction, which is wiped after 6 months.

"Sorry, Sir, but this is our standard mandatory procedure - we have no reason to doubt you personally, but we just have to protect ourselves, our sellers and our customers as occasionally, some people have tried to sell us stolen goods."

Thanks for that, Triangle

It sounds like they have the policy in place - they just maybe need to actually adhere to it in store....

In that case @spacepoppers I take back everything I said. They're absolute morons!

They’re essentially profiting from crime.

Not good advice, but I'd be very tempted to pick my property up and walk out with it, and dare them to call the police.

I would just break in and steal it back lol

I agree with PPs - they can't just hand it back, but they need to put it on one side pending contact from the police - it would be reasonable to give a deadline for this so it's not shelved indefinitely, but they absolutely shouldn't sell it on when its legitimacy is in question.

i've never known a retail receipt to have serial numbers on it

Report The shop for handling stolen goods.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51402225

?

Trouble is in the eyes of the law Cash Converters aren't selling stolen goods because they have to be knowingly selling stolen goods

But they have been told that they are handling stolen goods

Email with crime number and serial numbers etc to CC and get police involved

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-51402225

By coincidence I've just read this story about a Cash Converters taking music equipment off their shelves after a band reported it stolen! Hope your nephew gets his stuff back, how frustrating and ridiculous

Oh someone has already posted the link, oops!

On a seperate note is he not insured op?

If you think about it it could be an elaborate scam, get your mate to sell the goods to cash converters, then go in with the reciept, claim it's stolen and get it back. You and your mate pocket the cash. That will be why they need police involvement.

Of course they're not just going to hand it over - they're a business! And I'm sure there are ways that receipts can be forged, so unless the police tell them to give you the items, they don't have to.

Agree, toe rags would be ripping them off right left and centre if it was this easy.

As said, claim it's stolen, get your mate to sell it to cc, go in show reciept, get it back, you and your mate pocket th cash.

Op you know your nephew is lovely. Cc don't know him and don't know if him and the person they bought it off are in it together. They'd be off their heads just to hand it over.

That will be why they need police involvement.

And yet todays headline is how few people bother with the police anymore ....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51408921