The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting story on grand larcenies reported to the NYPD in 2013. A significant number of them were iPhones and iPads:
Apple products are so popular among criminals that the NYPD specifically tracks thefts of that brand, officials said. In 2013, Apple products made up more than 18% of all grand larcenies—that is more than 8,000 devices, according to police. In 2002, there were 25 grand larcenies of Apple products, police said.
A spokeswoman for the company said Apple has “led the industry in helping customers protect their lost or stolen devices” since it launched its “Find My iPhone” app in 2009, which allows users to track a stolen phone and erase personal data remotely.
What also doesn’t help is the fact that most victims will file a report, but do little beyond that. Plus the fact that the thieves if caught plead down to lesser charges. Thus police in NYC urge iDevice users to activate the “Find my iPhone” feature. That’s good advice regardless of where you live. The department also has a program where people can register their electronic devices at the local precinct, making it easier for police to return it if it is recovered.
The take home message to New Yorkers (which also applies to anyone in any urban area), keep your iDevice out of sight from the criminal element.
Manhattan DA seized 12 deepfake porn sites that victimized 1,200 people, mostly women, using their faces without consent
Posted in Commentary with tags New York City on September 18, 2026 by itnerdOn September 15, 2026, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized 12 websites that used AI to generate non-consensual deepfake pornography of 1,200 individuals, predominantly women, including actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates, and social media influencers. DA Alvin Bragg said the sites had “stolen” victims’ faces and bodies and turned them into illegal pornography. State law, not federal authority, was the basis for the takedown, and all 12 domains have been replaced with seizure notices. The DA’s office says the investigation into these and similar sites is ongoing, and no company or operator has been publicly named yet.
More details are here: Manhattan district attorney seizes a dozen celebrity deepfake websites
Amit Shuster, Vice President of Product and Engineering, Vetric has this to say:
“Seizing a dozen domains sends a strong signal, but domains are disposable, the operators behind them can stand up new ones within days, often under different names. What actually moves the needle is intelligence: knowing where deepfake production and distribution networks are operating, how they’re connected, and how they resurface, before they surface in a case like this. These networks operate largely within social and online communities, and it’s often in that early activity, the chatter, the connections, the patterns forming across those communities, where the first indicators show up, long before a domain or a storefront does. Enforcement will always be playing catch-up until investigators have that intelligence in hand from the start, not after the fact. That’s the shift we need to see: from reacting site by site to working from a fuller picture of how these networks actually operate.”
This is a start. But what will really make a difference is going after and getting the people behind these sites. Toss these people in jail and you really start to make a difference.
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