Man Loses a Finger to iPad Thief

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 21 Apr 2010

As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. This certainly came true in the case of Bill Jordan, a 59-year-old man from Aurora, Colorado who works as a human resources director with a mining firm.

A friend of Bill Jordan asked him to go buy an iPad for him – the friend was in Canada. Bill agreed to help his friend out, went to the Apple Store in the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver and purchased an iPad. The store attendant put the iPad in a bag, which Bill took and “wrapped around his left hand and he was holding on tight," as he said to the police.

On his way to his car, as he approached the parking garage, a thief jerked the bag from Bill Jordan’s hand. Remember that the bag was wrapped around his hand and he was holding tight. To get the loot, the thief jerked so hard that it took the skin and meat right off the finger.

After the unfortunate event Bill Jordan was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately the doctors could not save his finger, they had to amputate the tip of the finger. Just in case you were wondering, it was his pinky.

“He kept pulling until something had to give, and it wound up being my finger. There was nothing but bone showing on the whole back of the pinky. The skin was just gone,” said Bill Jordan in an interview. “I certainly hope they catch the guy. I would hate to think that somebody else would have to go through this.”

This news goes hand in hand with our January report that Macs are more appealing than PCs to thieves. Macs cost a pretty penny, so going after them is the obvious choice in the eyes of a thief. Thieves follow a very simple pattern: they stake out Apple Stores -> when the purchaser walks out they follow him or her -> then they wait for an opportunity to steal whatever they bought.

The same thing happened to Bill Jordan. Surveillance cameras showed that as soon as he left the Apple Store, two young men started to follow him. Just before entering the parking garage, one of them went for it.


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