Camouflage as Security
This is a new twist on an old trick. SFGate reports in, “‘I didn’t eat and I didn’t sleep’ — Coin dealer flies dime worth $1.9 million to NYC’” [link to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/27/DIME.TMP no longer works] that coin dealer John Feigenbaum transported a $1.9M rare coin (an 1894-S dime) from its previous owner, Daniel Rosenthal, who lives in the Bay Area to its new, unidentified owner in New York, by hand-carrying it.
Feigenbaum dressed in a T-shirt, “grubby” jeans, and flip-flops and flew on the red eye from San Jose to Newark, carrying it himself with little fanfare.
There was an unexpected problem, however:
Feigenbaum had purchased a coach ticket, to avoid suspicion, but found himself upgraded to first class. That was a worry, because people in flip-flops, T-shirts and grubby jeans do not regularly ride in first class. But it would have been more suspicious to decline a free upgrade. So Feigenbaum forced himself to sit in first class, where he found himself to be the only passenger in flip-flops.
He shouldn’t have worried too much, actually. Scruffy people often do fly first class, trust me. They’re the ones who travel too much, so they want to be comfy. Read the whole article, it’s amusing.
I am reminded of another occasion when a similar trick was used, although for a diamond.
Photo courtesy of Tiffibunny.