Stolen Goods on the High street

Drawing on Perpetuity Research findings Churchill Home Insurance has revealed the ease of selling or trading stolen goods using high street pawn shops, second hand electronic stores and gold exchanges.

During interviews with 15 convicted burglars conducted by Perpetuity Research some burglars admitted disposing of stolen items on the high street without legitimate identification.

“pawn shops…they were used yes it was surprisingly easy. Too easy if I am honest. I would just use a false ID.”

The burglars interviewed also highlighted the ease at which fake identification can be obtained to be presented when selling stolen goods on the high street.

 “You can get an ID surprisingly easily. You can get ID which is quite genuine looking off the internet.”

Further research commissioned by Churchill Home Insurance has exposed the lack of adequate checks in place to prevent the sale of stolen goods. Undercover researchers tested 50 second hand goods shops across London and the South East.

• 60% of shops allowed the sale of second hand items such as jewellery and computer games without any form of identification.
• 55% of shops did not request a legal ownership declaration
• 100% of shops did not question where goods had come from (even if they were in still in shop packaging)

Click here to read more about Perpetuity’s Burglary research.