Police say that some of the smash-and-grab robberies that recently took place in California and Minnesota were organized on social media and were carried out by people who did not know each other.
Local law enforcement said robberies at a Bay Area Nordstrom, a San Francisco Louis Vuitton and at a Minneapolis Best Buy were all organized on social media, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For the people who took part in some of the incidents in California, Snapchat was used to organize the crimes as thieves were possibly attracted to the app’s ability to make messages disappear. Once law enforcement arrested some suspects, they at times did not know the names or have any information about the people with whom they were working, the Journal reported.
However, Rachel Racusen, a spokeswoman for Snap Inc., told the Journal that the company has not found evidence of such organizing on its platform, adding that promoting damaging property on the social media app would violate its terms of service.
“This isn’t ‘The Godfather’ by any stretch,” Steve Wagstaffe, the district attorney for San Mateo County, Calif., said to the Journal.
“It’s the modern version of ‘Hey, there’s a party tonight’ and suddenly you have 100 kids showing up.
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Police say smash-and-grab robberies organized with Snapchat, other apps: report https://t.co/JOGolkBUaa pic.twitter.com/IlrDi0PHbf
— The Hill (@thehill) December 13, 2021
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