Alarms

Alarms

by Broken English

The most common alarm system is the EAS system known as 'tags and towers'. It is, simply put, towers by the doors and 'hard' and 'soft' tags on the goods in the shops. EAS is easy to get round (in alot of shops it's simply a case of following the power lead to the wall and pulling the plug out. Most towers now days have a power lead that goes dirrectly into the wall, but the wall socket still has a removable fuse, which is handy). Some stores have so much metal in the construction of the doors that the EAS towers have to be a certain distance from the door. This often leaves gaps to just walk, or slide goods, around the outside of the tower. Always check EAS towers with a dummy run before you try and actually leave with goods, if the towers are off it won't make any difference, if the alarm is active at least you're not getting caught for anything. Just walk past with alarmed goods and without being blatent allow the goods to go between the towers. You can also use shielding to hide the alarm from the radio waves used for detection (normally betwen 2-10Mhz) although this is a lot of trouble to go to.

Other alarms systems work by proventing items being moved around the store atall. Wire alarms are a bit more varied and different types need slightly different approaches. They consist of a box which runs a current through a wire and if that circit is broken the alarm is triggered. The goods are either then 'tangled', with a loop of the wire running through a whole in the product (a handle on a stereo, a jacket sleave) or the goods are 'stuck' to the wire by adhesive alarm boxes (small plastic white or black box)or stickers which are flat pads on the end of wires which split if pealed from the product and trigger the alarm...the pad is two layers with three metal conections between each layer.

The small boxes that stick to the goods have a sping loaded button inside that is pressed against the goods whilst the item and box are stuck together, removing the box allows the button to stick out and cut the circit.

To get around wired alarms first look at how the staff disable the alarm. This is quite often done with numeric key pads into which staff enter a 4 to 6 digit code, other boxes use a key which the staff carry. If you can get the key you're laughing of course.

If the box is a keypad one then all you need to know is what buttons to press to switch the alarm from on to off. Pick up the cheapest item attached to the same box as the items you're looking to take and rip the alarm off it, then just stand their looking dumb. A member of staff will come over pretty quickly. Just show them the item and just act really embarrased and explain that you only picked it up to have a look and it just went crazy. The staff see these alarms go off on normal people everyday all day, they think nothing of it and usually will say sorry to you and explain that they're always having it happen. The member of staff will also deactivate the alarm in front of you. They will look at the pad as they type in the code and so you are quite free to stare dirrectly at the pad and mentally note the buttons. Be alert though, the staff will know the number well and will type it in fast like a girlfriends phone number or somthing. Then they will reset the alarm and leave you to continue browsing. Type in the code and help yourself. This works on keypads for stockroom doors aswell if you can get the number.

The key based ones are harder, but not much. Using a sharpe blade or a flame proof lighter cut or melt the insulating rubber from the cable so all the wires inside are exposed then just twist them so they're all touching together. This works a treat, but you have to do each item you want seperatly as the box stays active. Some systems use a number of boxes in a relay with one wire going to the first box, through and from the last box back to the start. Just strip the first and last section of the wire and join the two together. You can also strip the wire exactly the same way on keypad bassed alarms if this looks easier than clocking the code.

Another way to deal with the alarms where an adhesive box is stuck to the goods is to pull the alarm off of two items at the same time, one you intend to steal and one other item. Put the alarm box, button down somwhere it wont be seen and put somthing on top of it so the button stays pushed in. When the staff get there, act dumb and show them the other item and the alarm that has 'come' off. They will reset the alarm once they have restuck the alarm trigger to the other item. Once reset, the alarm will stay silent as all buttons are once again pushed in although now the box for your item is no longer attached to it.