Coin Thieves Use Old Trick For Quick Cash

How they fool change machines.

 
Here is the link to video: http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/6a8f2a1d-3260-4106-bd96-66f198d83735/News/Stringing-Thefts

Horn Lake, MS —

FAST FACTS:

• Horn Lake car washes hit multiple times.
• Thieves "string" bills to fool change readers, collect change
• Thefts in hundreds of dollars

Several men in Horn Lake, Mississippi are using a method you may have seen in cartoons to fool change machines into giving them money, without giving any up themselves.

It's what Horn Lake Police call "stringing" basically fooling a change machine to give up change without ever really putting any money in.

It may not sound like a serious crime, but in some cases, these crooks get enough cash to raise their crimes to felony levels.

Brandon Wilder says it's the most frustrating thing in the world.

He'll often go to the car wash, and can't get the change machines to give him enough change to wash his car. "I get mad and end up having to go all the way down the end of the street to a gas station and get change."

Horn Lake police say, blame the "stringing" thieves.

Lieutenant Scott Evans of the Horn Lake Police Department says they're hitting these places for hundreds of dollars. "Sometimes it's just as much as a few hundred dollars, to up in the hundreds of dollars up in to felony amounts." said Lieutenant Scott Evans.

In Mississippi, once a thief steals 500 bucks or more, it becomes a felony.

How are they doing it? They're putting a string or some tape onto a big bill, then putting it in the slot, getting their change, then pulling the bill back out.

And almost every time they do it, a hidden camera snaps their picture. Horn Lake police have put together quite a collection of these thieves over the past few months.

"We're hopin' that somebody in this community will know who it is and we can find these people, and stop these losses." said Evans.

And he, somebody somewhere knows who all these men are.

"They're gonna get caught. We've got your pictures. It's just a matter of time for us to know who you are and you care gonna be charged."

And Brandon Wilder hopes that happens before the next time he washes his car. "They need to be put in jail."

Lieutenant Evans says it's possible these people are stealing the money to go gambling at the slot machines in Tunica. Either way, he says what these men are doing is illegal and he's out to make sure they not only pay for their crimes, but pay back what they've taken

5:36 p.m. CST, December 21, 2010