Stolen DJI drones

[old man mavic]

in the in the early hours of the 28th December just gone, a DJI supplier had their store broken into and around a £100,000 worth of drones were stolen ,so please if anyone sees or knows of all types of DJI drones being offered for sale on the web or else-ware at lower than normal prices ,please contact you local police with any information you may have about those sellers

 

[MA2 317]

I have read posts in the past of new pilots purchasing a drone and not being able to activate it due to the serial number being reported stolen in the DJI database to the merchants.

Buyer beware.

.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Any idea on location OMM ?
Or a news link ?

Found it.

Over £100,000 stolen from Dragons Den star’s Chichester drone shop

Over £100,000 worth of drone equipment was stolen in Chichester on Tuesday, December 28

www.chichester.co.uk

Was going to say good luck activating one, but then the thieves will have the $ so they don’t care.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Even if DJI prevent the drones from being activated the thieves could break the drones for arms & motors and that still leave batteries and the controllers......doesn't it?
Is the M3's gimbal assembly tied to the drone?

 

[dirkclod]

Is the M3's gimbal assembly tied to the drone?

Screwed.
jk

 

[R.Cowan]

in the in the early hours of the 28th December just gone, a DJI supplier had their store broken into and around a £100,000 worth of drones were stolen ,so please if anyone sees or knows of all types of DJI drones being offered for sale on the web or else-ware at lower than normal prices ,please contact you local police with any information you may have about those sellers

I'll start watching...next to a rapist or pedifile, I'm not sure of anything lower than a thief!

 

[AZDave]

I'll start watching...next to a rapist or pedifile, I'm not sure of anything lower than a thief!

I'd rank a politician in there somewhere.

 

[GFields]

So Sad. Two types of people I detest; Liars and Theifs.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Just a heads up, the drones were stolen in the UK, although it is possible parts / batteries etc could be shipped further afield.
Will be very hard to tell what's what, unless (like batteries) their serial numbers could be match up with the stolen goods.

For example if DJI records battery serial numbers allotted to certain drone serial numbers
I guess they would . . . not sure, but I expect gimbals, cameras, ssd's, motors, etc all would have serial numbers and linked.

 

[R.Cowan]

I'd rank a politician in there somewhere.

( Language Removed) yes!!!

 

[sar104]

I'd rank a politician in there somewhere.

I think I know exactly which politician you mean.

 

[dirkclod]

And guys let’s not get political or use inappropriate language.

 

[AVLJMA]

I have read posts in the past of new pilots purchasing a drone and not being able to activate it due to the serial number being reported stolen in the DJI database to the merchants.

Buyer beware.

.

I was wondering about that. DJI could just turn them into bricks.

 

[Gagey52]

I was wondering about that. DJI could just turn them into bricks.

I commiserate with the owner believe me, but I’m not sure that I would want DJI having the ability turning my drones into bricks. Just saying.
Regards

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Thinking about the posts that talk about bricking the stolen drones, DJI can presumably prevent unactivated drones from being activated and thereby ground/brick them.
BUT, and the reason for this post, can they not already prevent a lost drone, that was covered by the FlyAway policy, from being flown 'again'?
I believe that the latter, if correct, does so by preventing the drone being flown with an app that is not logged into the activating DJI account. (I haven't a clue what happens if the original owner find the lost drone.)
That, if correct, made me wonder how this could be brought about and I am left with the idea that it may be something in the drone that can record 'permissible DJI accounts' and check whether the app being used with the drone is one that is 'permitted'.
Since, other than for logging in purposes, an App does not need a connection to the www I doubt the the flyaway 'bricking' thing can be www related and the above was the only thing I could think of.
If my thinking is correct it might mean that DJI could give us a similar 'protection' against usage of our drones, by someone else, if our drones are lost and or stolen.

 

[maven4336]

Yeah what’s the point I’m stealing Drones if they cannot be activated I’m sure the person that did it didn’t think about that that will come back to bite them nothing worse than a thief

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Yeah what’s the point I’m stealing Drones if they cannot be activated

The thieves may not have known about the activation, just think of the questions that are asked on forums.
If they acted quickly enough they could, perhaps, have activated the drones before any blocks were in place.
They could dismantle the drones and sell off the bits, arms & motors, plastics, senior arrays etc. besides the controllers and batteries have resale value.

 

[Rojan]

The thieves may not have known about the activation, just think of the questions that are asked on forums.
If they acted quickly enough they could, perhaps, have activated the drones before any blocks were in place.
They could dismantle the drones and sell off the bits, arms & motors, plastics, senior arrays etc. besides the controllers and batteries have resale value.

The thieves won’t care, they’ll sell them cheap on eBay or wherever and then disappear with the money. Unfortunately too many people are hooked in by a price that’s obviously too low.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Possibly correct but if on ebay I would guess it would be via a new account and either ebay or perhaps PayPal sometimes will not release funds to a new seller until suitable feed back has been left by the buyer. Plus would the linked receiving account not be traceable?
I have had this happen when I bought from a new seller and in one instance the seller actually opened a non payment case against me, I had 'paid' with in seconds of winning the auction as is my habit and told them this and explained that they needed to pursue the matter with ebay or PayPal as there was nothing that I could do.
If the drone is the item sold and it will not activate then I doubt suitable feedback would be left.

 

[Mave76]

in the in the early hours of the 28th December just gone, a DJI supplier had their store broken into and around a £100,000 worth of drones were stolen ,so please if anyone sees or knows of all types of DJI drones being offered for sale on the web or else-ware at lower than normal prices ,please contact you local police with any information you may have about those sellers

It's not a good start for 2022. I hope the store is insured!