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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

NYC: Stolen Red Epic-W Package #2143 and Angenieux Optimo

Damn sorry to hear about this crazy ordeal! It's awesome that other fellow red users are helping you catch these douche bags!

Obviously no one can tell if someone is a criminal in an ID etc. Im so cynical about renting my gear to people that I would be sketched out seeing there ID's too. They don't look friendly, but I forget you are not allowed to smile on ID's so peoppe tend to have that unfriendly mugshot look, They could be any ethnicity.

Because I'm so cynical and not trustworthy of fellow renters, I only rent to friends or friends of friends or super legit productions.

Curious, did they sign any type of contract agreement, pay upfront, provide insurance cert, did they have a legit website or credits? Just curious what all they provided you with before you handed your gear over., because it would be nice to cut down on these incidents!

Man I hope you get them!!!
 
Sorry for the loss. Although a bucket full of sorries, won't replace loss revenue and the while ordeal of being sucker punched. There is a fairly decent chance the perpetrators can be tracked down, but a slimmer chance of equipment recovery. The motive probably being greed, not filmmaking.

From experience, personal properties losses are low on the NYPD todo list. You have to committ a fair amount of personal due diligence and follow thru to feel satisfied that the case was handled appropriately. Rental business is a liability intensive business model.

New customers should always get the double gauntlet vetting treatment. Character references from other established rental houses is worth it's weight in gold.
 
Very sad indeed. Not sure which is sadder, the gears stolen or the prejudicial judgments of blacks = crims. Sad.

Fahnon Bennett said:
Ugh... I suppose I'd "look like a criminal" to this person, too. Post racial, huh? Wish I could say I'm surprised by comments like this, but I guess I'm not.

Anywho to the OP, I was just talking to the owner of my usual rental house (Duall Camera) and he was telling me about a long drawn out deal with a theft of Red gear. Glad you had the proper insurance in place because from the horror stories I've heard, that's a much faster route to getting up and running than recovery through law enforcement. Still, I hope these fucktards get caught and go to jail.
Click to expand...
 
Yea so, they paid up front, I had ID's of both individuals, and had a COI that I verified with the insurance company directly. These jokers are now claiming they got mugged and lost all the gear, so it might be covered under their insurance, but honestly this sounds like a bullshit hail mary they are trying after finally realizing how fucked they are.
 
I can't imagine either one of them having enough combined IQ points to exchange for pennies to make a local phone call, so I gotta wonder if someone is planning, organizing, and coordinating these thefts on a wide scale. We've seen the "out of town" pick-up-and-run-to-the-airport approach here and there in the past, but these "localized" thefts seem to be getting more and more commonplace and they are targeting specific high-end gear, and not the shit you can fence/resell easily.
 
Derek Means said:
Yea so, they paid up front, I had ID's of both individuals, and had a COI that I verified with the insurance company directly. These jokers are now claiming they got mugged and lost all the gear, so it might be covered under their insurance, but honestly this sounds like a bullshit hail mary they are trying after finally realizing how fucked they are.
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Have they sent you a police report? If not, I suspect a hail mary indeed.
 
Yea so it's now 36 hours after they filed the insurance claim and so far there is no police report. Hail mary for sure. These dudes really suck. For reals.
 
#1 reason why I don't rent. I'm not a rental company, nor do I intend on becoming one. Now on the other hand I would have to be on set with my camera, which is a different story. I really hope these two are caught and you get your camera kit back in your possession. Sorry to hear about this.
 
Some kind of password security (like iPhone) with, disabling function for Camera and Sensor would be a great solution.

Even if they steal , the camera and sensor are unusable except to sell as junk metal.

So people wont buy stolen cameras.

And the password security can be implemented quickly at least at software level (like a small update )

My question is WHY NO CAMERA COMPANY HAS IMPLEMENTED SECURITY YET (including Red), because all digital cameras are essentially COMPUTERS at the core?

Anyone has any idea??
 
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Same thing happened with my package at a rental house; fortunately it was covered by their insurance. Apparently people are doing this as well with fake ID's, fake credit cards, and legit insurance policies. The clients' policy wouldn't cover the loss as their identities were fraudulent, but I would bet the rental house's insurer that paid out the claim are going after their insurer..
 
L Cheng said:
Same thing happened with my package at a rental house; fortunately it was covered by their insurance. Apparently people are doing this as well with fake ID's, fake credit cards, and legit insurance policies. The clients' policy wouldn't cover the loss as their identities were fraudulent, but I would bet the rental house's insurer that paid out the claim are going after their insurer..
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yea so it turns out this is exactly what happened. You hit the nail on the head. Fake Id, pre-paid credit card, legit insurance policy. I'm hoping my insurance will go after his insurance for some compensation. Not sure if that will help my rates at all.
 
prakash d said:
Some kind of password security (like iPhone) with, disabling function for Camera and Sensor would be a great solution.

Even if they steal , the camera and sensor are unusable except to sell as junk metal.

So people wont buy stolen cameras.

And the password security can be implemented quickly at least at software level (like a small update )

My question is WHY NO CAMERA COMPANY HAS IMPLEMENTED SECURITY YET (including Red), because all digital cameras are essentially COMPUTERS at the core?

Anyone has any idea??
Click to expand...

It seems like it should be possible for RED to disable stolen cameras when they update the firmware since they have the serial number. I'm wondering why this isn't yet something they do.
 
That is a good idea but it would require each individual camera to be added to the firmware and the camera to recognize it's self and then brick. Alternatively there is a login before firmware download but it does not require you to enter your camera serial number. Adding the camera # at login might help but that database of cameras would take some time to compile for the purpose of identifying stolen cameras and the IP of the person attempting to download the firmware.
 
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