Cheeky thief steals our information kiosk from the Mall
Just one of the many images from The Richmond Mall Security Camera Footage.
On Sunday evening at 8.25pm a brazen thief walked into the Richmond Mall and set about stealing our Bowater Motor Group Information Kiosk touchscreen computer.
He did this whilst the mall was open, and people were coming and going to and from the Fresh Choice supermarket. He was in and out in a very short timeframe, and came prepared with gloves and some quite specific tools needed to remove the entire computer from the stand, as well as open up the back and remove the cabling.
This was obviously very premeditated, and required a high degree of confidence, as well as some careful planning. Thankfully the positioning of the BMG Kiosk in the Mall was such that it was in a very prominent position and therefore covered from many different angles with both the mall's own security camera's, as well as individual shop's camera's too. Currently the Police and making their way through the footage and going back in time to look at who paid the kiosk particular attention recently.
Whilst we wait for the video to be processed so that we can post it onto our website as well, here is a close up of this thief. Do you recognise him, or his clothing style?
As you can see by the image, the thief went to some lengths to hide himself from the cameras, with a hoodie that almost converts into a balaclava, and came prepared with gloves. Surely someone in the mall at this time must have looked twice at someone so obviously out of place.
The Bowaters Information Kiosk is a very specific touchscreen that has been configured to allow just our website and a multimedia slideshow, and nothing else. It is therefore quite useless to anyone other than us, as it is designed to be hacker proof and to be able to be left alone in public at the mercy of school kids and determined computer geeks looking for free internet or mischief.
As such it would be quite a frustrating thing to try and off load, as it just wont work. If you see someone trying to sell an HP Touchsmart 22" TS9300 Touchscreen Computer on Trademe or one of the Online Garage Sale Facebook pages please contact either us (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or the Police. We are very happy to show our appreciation of anyone that has information that leads us to it's recovery.
Another shot of the thief leaving the Mall via the Fresh Choice entrance. Right click to view the image bigger.
The theft of our information kiosk is highly frustrating as it has been a great tool for us out at the Mall, and a great way for people to learn more about our cars in a soft and peaceful environment away from the "pressure" of a salesperson.
On average the Kiosk was used collectively for several hours a day by passers by, and proved to be a functional working asset, especially when Haylee was out their enabling people to look in the cars, whilst guiding them through how they could find further information on the Bowaters Information Kiosk.
The Police have been notified, the kiosk dusted for prints, and all of the multiple camera security footage painstakingly gone through. We are confident that modern technology and good old fashioned common decency will win through and we will get our computer back. After all it is reasonably useless to anyone but us, unless the thief wanted to have our website and multimedia slideshow playing forever in their lounge! What also makes this computer unique is that it wont have any stand with it.
Another image as he leaves:
