It’s Lego Larceny!

 

LEGO thieves are running around France and the authorities are rounding them up. Le Parisien had the report on the Polish group that was getting into toy stores and making off with as many bricks as they could get their hands on.  Some employees at a Picwic Toys store were trying to steal boxes, and the security identified them as specialists instead of just regular workers. Complaints about similar heists allege that the thieves have stolen as much as 20,000 euros at a time. America, Canada, and Australia are also seeing stores targeted by similar rings. The publication mentions that in San Diego, a group of specialists actually got caught with $60,000 and $200,000 worth of product on them back in 2015.

From Europe to the United States, thieves are making off with Legos. There's a lot of money in the colorful bricks. Lego sets come out in limited editions and they soon become collectors' items, with some worth thousands of dollars. https://t.co/FU19XWuhjC

— NPR (@NPR) April 4, 2021

French police have been investigating an international ring of toy thieves with a particular affinity for the colorful, interlocking bricks.  In this case, three suspects were caught taking boxes of Legos from a toy shop near Paris, with the goal of selling them in Poland.   And it’s not just Europe. Lego robberies have happened in the United States as well. Last month, a man in Oregon was arrested after local police suspected he stole $7,500 worth of Lego toy sets.

There’s a lot of money in Legos. Lego sets come out in limited editions and they soon become collectors’ items.

So, apparently, LEGO is a booming business and you could imagine that these schemes will only get more complex as time goes on.