Need Advice- Please Help

[arkfiremedic]

Help. I am having a problem here in L.A. (Lower Arkansas). There is a person(s) who has made it their mission to steal (not muggle) many of my caches. NANO's and Baby Cokes appear to be their favorite but they leave the film cans undisturbed (so far). Of course those are the only ones that I can get free from Walgreens. I have replaced and replaced and they continue to come up missing. My initial reaction out of anger was to make all the caches premium members only. I however think back to my start and realize I would have never paid $30.00 for something I wasn't even sure I would like (in addition to a GPSr etc.). My next reaction is just to archive them all, but then he/she/it wins. I hate when someone DNF's a cache and feel compelled to go look to make sure it is there, whether I post such or not. It is meant to be fun. There are times when I am hunting I'm relatively sure a cache owner(s) knows that a cache is missing, but they do not replace it. This effectively compels me to no longer search actively for their caches and this is not what I want for those who chose to hunt mine. I spoke to a geocacher in Shreveport who frequents LA and told me he is having an issue with stolen caches as well in his area along with geocoins. I realize that inevitably there will be caches that come up "muggled". I don't have a problem with that. It is the NANO that is 6 miles from the closest house that has come up missing twice or the isolated area that has had a multi-cache destroyed and the dog tag ripped from the trackable that I am referring to among others. Do I keep replacing? Do I not even acknowledge the behavior? Do I set a game camera up and set him/her/it up? The cacher from Shreveport told me he is relatively sure who is stealing theirs down there. He has purchased a game camera, set up an alternate account and is "watching". He did tell me he has contacted Groundspeak with the information and they are unwilling to assist in getting the person banned from the website under that account. I realize he could set up another, but I would want to inconvenience him like he has us. Chuck Walla, or anyone else, do you have any ideas about that or what we could do?

[Dentful1]

I would do the members only caches. That would hopefully narrow down the possibiblities of who it could be. Find out who in the area caches. Somebody knows what is going on other than who is doing it. There might be some new caches come up in the future that are your caches. I would mark the caches with a scratch in a specific area. Even if they painted the cache the scratch will still be there.

[scoutfrog]

I was going to suggest a game camera until i finished reading the post. :oops: My Idea was to "bait" the offender with new caches and catch him on camera. Print the picture and then take a 2 fold action,

(1). Make yourself a flyer including the pic. Go to a copy place(kinko's cost .10 a copy) and make yourself about $3.00 worth of them. Then post them around your area near caches(your's and other caCHERS TOO) for other cachers to see. Also post them in high profile locations around town.

"Have you seen this person? He/she has been stealing other people's stuff!"

(2). List a new cache with the picture " No Honor Among Thieves" That way ALL geocachers in the area, not just the ones on here, will know what kind of person he is or isn't.

Just my .02 worth.

[arkfiremedic]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I have had several discussions via email with the N.W. Louisiana cacher who is relatively sure he knows who it is based on certain otherwise unexplainable events. He didn't tell me the cachers name so I don't know, furthermore I shouldn't let it bother me. If I wasn't trying to go to school full time and work full time and raise a family it probably wouldn't be so bad. The free time I have I really don't want to play his silly little game of "steal and replace". Thanks again for the replies.

[Dentful1]

I like the term "steal and bash his head in" much better. 8O :lol: :lol:

[HikerRon]

Myself and 3 other cachers had this happen to us when i was in Colorado. The 'cache pirate' was even leaving us notes at the cache sites saying ' i stole your cache'. !!! After the anger passed, we just decided to replace every cache they stole with 2 more. Apparently they grew bored with stealing the caches after that. the problems eventually stopped on their own.
BTW- making all our caches Premium Member Caches did not even slow them down. In the end, i made my caches available to everyone again.

[AR-HICK]

Scoutfrog wrote
(1). Make yourself a flyer including the pic. Go to a copy place(kinko's cost .10 a copy) and make yourself about $3.00 worth of them. Then post them around your area near caches(your's and other caCHERS TOO) for other cachers to see. Also post them in high profile locations around town.

"Have you seen this person? He/she has been stealing other people's stuff!"

(2). List a new cache with the picture " No Honor Among Thieves" That way ALL geocachers in the area, not just the ones on here, will know what kind of person he is or isn't.

That is a good idea and I might also add that I would have it in a frame at all events that I attended. The shame might stop them, but it might make them mad and you might lose all your caches.

Another idea would be to confront them with evidence and ask them to stop or I would spread it all around the Caching community.
The other ideas that I have would not be very nice and might include booby traps, explosive devices, inkpacks and/or a shotgun with remote control via webcam????

I hate a thief more than a crappy log writer.

[arkfiremedic]

I hate a thief more than a crappy log writer.I know that's right. Thanks for your input. I guess now I'll have to sweet talk you into firing up that old dusty cache lab for a replica. I won't beg unless you want me to! :oops:

[chadbishop]

i guess you guys have been caching a while so ill tell my my perspective since im pretty new to caching. even though this other guy might have proof of who was messing with his caches, that still doesnt prove anything about yours. its like saying the guy they caught breaking into your neighbors house 2 months after yours was broke into is probably the same guy. it probably is, but today, theres lots of people who will fit the bill. im actually surprised we can keep any caches out. what i think should be a feature is that you can force ignore a certain person from your caches and also retrieve a list of accounts who have viewed your cache. i think you should contact groundspeak. even though the other guy said he did, he may not have asked the right way. maybe they will take you serious and look into it. you should send them all the info you have, dates when you first noticed the caches muggled. try to connect all the dots for them. i know a guy around camden who sent me a friend request when my username was still "chadbishop" on geocaching.com. he said, are you the chadbishop from conway, accept my friend request. i was very surprised to see him on there as he sounds like one of the people you are describing. also, jason, if you happen to read this someday, yes im talking about you.

[arkfiremedic]

i guess you guys have been caching a while so ill tell my my perspective since im pretty new to caching. even though this other guy might have proof of who was messing with his caches, that still doesnt prove anything about yours. its like saying the guy they caught breaking into your neighbors house 2 months after yours was broke into is probably the same guy. it probably is, but today, theres lots of people who will fit the bill. im actually surprised we can keep any caches out. what i think should be a feature is that you can force ignore a certain person from your caches and also retrieve a list of accounts who have viewed your cache. i think you should contact groundspeak. even though the other guy said he did, he may not have asked the right way. maybe they will take you serious and look into it. you should send them all the info you have, dates when you first noticed the caches muggled. try to connect all the dots for them. i know a guy around camden who sent me a friend request when my username was still "chadbishop" on geocaching.com. he said, are you the chadbishop from conway, accept my friend request. i was very surprised to see him on there as he sounds like one of the people you are describing. also, jason, if you happen to read this someday, yes im talking about you.Trust me I understand the whole concept you are describing. I have worked in law enforcement for 10 years in addition to being a fire medic. I appreciate your response. I love your idea about ignoring people- similar to Facebook. Yes, for your information I AM ignoring someone in Facebook ;) It is highly suspicious, but I don't have near the proof the NW Louisiana cacher does. He has LOTS of proof, and he offered it as a suggestion and only to alert me to the fact that even if I did "get the goods" there was nothing I could do about it. It was mentioned by Groundspeak to call the police. What would you say? Uhh... Yes I uhh got this little "thingy" call a umm a NANO and it is about the size of pencil eraser and uhh I have seen them cost any were from about $1 to about $6 and uhh I left it on a stop sign and uhh I think (insert prime suspects name here) got it TWICE! I'm less than 30 minutes from Camden, but I don't know who you are talking about from that area. Thanks again for your reply.

[jclaudii]

You might try getting some of that steel cable at Tractor Supply and using it to "anchor" your cache to it's location. Granted, it would be easier to find, but the perp isn't going to be getting away with it without some cutting pliers.

Another option could be to make the caches even harder to find. Replace a few with a difficulty of 5 Nano's, at least the people who have found them before will come back to look for them again possibly.

If you do go with the game camera, try putting it in the parking area so he is not in the "looking" mode and spot your camera. You also might get a License Plate and I'm sure we could figure out who it is ;). If you go the game camera route, make sure you have one that is an infrared flash or turn the flash off so as not to alert the perp.

I just thought of this one, set up a new cache and just pay some local kids some Mt. Dew, 500 paintballs, and some sandwiches to sit and wait for whomever actually takes the cache without the intent on coming back. :)

[QuartzCachers]

AFM, I'm a little bit of a redneck sometimes, especially when it comes to a thief! I hate a thief! Anyway, I have some redneck ideas as to what to do here, but I will need to do a little research to see if it will work. I'll holler at ya via E-mail.
QC :evil: :evil: :evil:

[edieo]

Geez and I thought I had a problem with the guy claiming finds on my caches but not signing the logs ,,even the ones with pens in them ...! 8O :(

[chadbishop]

i guess you guys have been caching a while so ill tell my my perspective since im pretty new to caching. even though this other guy might have proof of who was messing with his caches, that still doesnt prove anything about yours. its like saying the guy they caught breaking into your neighbors house 2 months after yours was broke into is probably the same guy. it probably is, but today, theres lots of people who will fit the bill. im actually surprised we can keep any caches out. what i think should be a feature is that you can force ignore a certain person from your caches and also retrieve a list of accounts who have viewed your cache. i think you should contact groundspeak. even though the other guy said he did, he may not have asked the right way. maybe they will take you serious and look into it. you should send them all the info you have, dates when you first noticed the caches muggled. try to connect all the dots for them. i know a guy around camden who sent me a friend request when my username was still "chadbishop" on geocaching.com. he said, are you the chadbishop from conway, accept my friend request. i was very surprised to see him on there as he sounds like one of the people you are describing. also, jason, if you happen to read this someday, yes im talking about you.Trust me I understand the whole concept you are describing. I have worked in law enforcement for 10 years in addition to being a fire medic. I appreciate your response. I love your idea about ignoring people- similar to Facebook. Yes, for your information I AM ignoring someone in Facebook ;) It is highly suspicious, but I don't have near the proof the NW Louisiana cacher does. He has LOTS of proof, and he offered it as a suggestion and only to alert me to the fact that even if I did "get the goods" there was nothing I could do about it. It was mentioned by Groundspeak to call the police. What would you say? Uhh... Yes I uhh got this little "thingy" call a umm a NANO and it is about the size of pencil eraser and uhh I have seen them cost any were from about $1 to about $6 and uhh I left it on a stop sign and uhh I think (insert prime suspects name here) got it TWICE! I'm less than 30 minutes from Camden, but I don't know who you are talking about from that area. Thanks again for your reply.

how big a fella are you? maybe just confronting him would do the trick. is he hitting caches at random or do you see a pattern? could you just post a new cache and stake it out and more than likely catch him in the act? some more detail id like to know. is he more than likely hitting alot down there or just singling you guys out?

[arkfiremedic]

[/quote]how big a fella are you? maybe just confronting him would do the trick. is he hitting caches at random or do you see a pattern? could you just post a new cache and stake it out and more than likely catch him in the act? some more detail id like to know. is he more than likely hitting alot down there or just singling you guys out?[/quote]

I have learned long ago being the confrontational type will get you killed or seriously maimed these days. He has never hit a "new" cache before. Only ones that have been around for a while. There is a pattern though to what he steals. If he has been hitting any more I don't know about it. I didn't know about it until the NW Louisiana cacher had read my archive note on a cache he had been watching. I'm going to try to not worry about it. I have set myself a limit and after I exceed that limit the cache will be archived. Hate to be like that, but this is supposed to be fun and not work.

[OldRiverRunner]

You might try making your future hides puzzle caches. I imagine that whoever is taking your caches is too lazy to try to figure out the real coordinates. Jaygill started doing that a while back because he kept having his ammo cans stolen. He would have to comment, but I think it has worked OK for him.

[pshelto]

Interesting. I know of a cacher who often speaks of being a cache pirate, but is always kidding about it, especially since he has caches of his own now. Being from the Camden area, and to keep my record clean, I will tell you it isn't me. Of course, if it was would I tell you? Probably not. Unfortunately I am smitten by your bottlecap caches (or perhaps they are lens cases).

I have had to archive a cache that I believe was muggled (the one in the tree on the hill). I couldn't find it and I can't see it just going missing like it did.

Otherwise I haven't experienced such tom-foolery. Good luck with it. Hope your "rigged" cache doesn't turn out to the be the 1st one I steal some day. :wink:

[pshelto]

So what did you decide to do? While we're on the topic of thievery, what is up with trackables disappearing? I don't see the value to a muggle.

[arkfiremedic]

I haven't had any trackables stolen that I know of YET. Tonight I decided to rehide AR-Hick's Evil micro with an equally NASTY hide given to me from "cachemates". I returned to GZ and found the AR-Hick Evil Micro had been returned and haphazardly thrown to the general area of GZ. Ironically yesterday I hid a AR-Hick Evil Micro Redeaux between Smackover and Norphlet for the event and today I return to find this one just thrown close to the area of GZ that I am POSITIVE was not there the previous 5 or 6 times I looked for it and it was in the plain open tonight. Guilty conscious or coincidence? I'll never know. I've been hiding several caches along with 2ter for the event, including many redo's making them a mulit or otherwise change them to prevent blatant theft (not the occasional, unintentional muggle).

[AR-HICK]

1. You did email CW the GC# and ask to have it unarchived?

2.Maybe it was a poor hobo who thought it was real and when he found out it wasn't returned it because it looked like a good place for it. :lol:

3.Are you sure that you weren't having Heat Stroke, Fever with hallucinations, Skeeters causing blood lose and the drop in Blood preasure caused you to overlook it :?

Lastly I am glad it has returned no worse for the wear. Could someone been so amazed that they had to try and copy it 8O I am sure that lots of cachers will find it this weekend, but I will be at work. Have fun and I will reading the logs if it gets unarchived.

[AR-HICK]

1. You did email CW the GC# and ask to have it unarchived?

2.Maybe it was a poor hobo who thought it was real and when he found out it wasn't returned it because it looked like a good place for it. :lol:

3.Are you sure that you weren't having Heat Stroke, Fever with hallucinations, Skeeters causing blood lose and the drop in Blood preasure caused you to overlook it :?

Lastly I am glad it has returned no worse for the wear. Could someone been so amazed that they had to try and copy it 8O I am sure that lots of cachers will find it this weekend, but I will be at work. Have fun and I will reading the logs if it gets unarchived.

[arkfiremedic]

Yep, I did. There is POSITIVELY No Way, No How that both I and Edieo overlooked it. We tore the whole area apart and since you have figured out how I hid it and the circumstances of the hide if it mysteriously appeared back- placed nicely back in the general area I believe you would agree this to be kinda weird at best? Nope didn't get bit by no Loutre Bottom Blood Sucking Dive Bombers and I don't believe it is a governmental conspiracy, it simply wasn't there and now it is. No if;s and's or but's. I hope CW understands the situation and allows it to unarchive. (This was especially weird that I hid a similar replacement cache just yesterday that was published in honor of your namesake if you came across it). Who knows. I probably never will. Hate you can't come down to L.A. for some fun, I'll try my best to grab you an event pathtag.

[arkfiremedic]

P.S. It WILL be a member's only cache this time so I can keep tabs on it a little better as well.

[edieo]

I'm hoping to be there to look for it this weekend !!!!!!!!!!!! :D And no it was Not there before ,!! 8O

[TinmanJones]

AFM, whatever came of this issue?