Posted on 08/14/2006 12:16:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The calling card alone that Walmart was including in this sale was worth more than $20 -- and they got the entire package for $20: charger, cell phone, battery, and calling card. They (or you) could easily turn a tidy profit on each one purchased and resold.
While the practice may well be normal, I find it highly suspicious that they would travel hundreds of miles to buy them at 1 A.M. in the morning and pay cash.
It very well may be on the up and up, but you have to admit, it is also very suspicious.
You just described about 80% of e-bay purchasers. I know someone who purchases sports cards at full retail at Walmart and sells them for about 150% markup on e-bay. There are people who will buy them. That's not a problem.
I bought a Walmart prepaid cell phone to replace a phone that was stolen from my wife. It was $100 cheaper than buying it at the cell phone retail store. Am I a crack head or a dope dealer?
"Conservatism is in great danger when even capitalism is labelled terrorism."
While certainly a possibility that this was all on the up-and-up capitalism-wise, that the chargers were being separated from the phone sure would show that they certainly were more on the scheister-side. Open-package items are always less attractive that sealed ones.
I guess they could sell the phone and then say, "Hey you'll need a charger which is only ten dollars more." This would only make sense if one is selling a phone to someone that already has a compatible charger from a previous phone. This is a package deal that is not hard to "cell" since the phone's activation is triggered at the register.
Remember the phones they bought run around twenty to twenty-five dollars so their would need to be a market that is willing to pay more than getting it themselves. Also remember that the whole idea of these phones is to have portable communications with no credit check. Pay-as-you-go. Anonymity at it's most extensive in todays info-crazed reality.
So maybe they planned to sell them to people in rural areas that don't have access to a local Walmart, Target, etc. Chances are that such rural areas have more limited cell phone towers or none at all (a rarity nowadays grabted) so useabity would be limited or non-existant - that wouldn't make sense.
No to come to a quick conclusion that something doesn't smell right when three Palestinians, whose bretheren were at the time involved in a heavier-than-usual armed conflict with Israel, reside in Texas but are found in Michigan after performing 333 separate purchases of pre-paid cell phones (3 at a time and gas costs would make such an endeavor even less profitable) all in one van with a huge pile of main phones, batteries and chargers all separated is not over-reaching or making capitalism a crime. It is the very fact that capitalism exists that allowed these guys to be in the situation they find themselves in.
That these Texas Palestinians(?) roaming in Michigan with the parts of 1,000 cell phones would come under suspicion highlights the realities that a capitalistic society must deal with when Islamic fascists are a constant threat.
That's just it. Walmart is the one place where they don't activiate them at the register. They do at Best Buy, they do at Circuit City, -- but not at Walmart.
"The calling card alone that Walmart was including in this sale was worth more than $20 -- and they got the entire package for $20: charger, cell phone, battery, and calling card."
There is no calling card - the phone's initial minutes are included via the sim card (and activated at the register although you would still need to activate the phone afterwards.) That $20 worth of minutes is at the highest rate - around fifty cents a minute ie. 40 minutes worth of talk-time. The larger the package of minutes you buy the less per-minute cost. This is a package deal that is only attractive as a package deal.
There is no need to open the package unless you just want the sim cards with the minutes pre-programmed. Now those would be handy for drug dealers AND terrorists.
"That's just it. Walmart is the one place where they don't activiate them at the register. They do at Best Buy, they do at Circuit City, -- but not at Walmart."
That is true - I kind of clarified that in my last post. What the register does is start the time ticking on the use of the minutes. That being said I believe you can activate the sim by placing it in any compatible phone. The minutes on each sim card are of very limited value because they are guaged at the highest per-minute rate. It would make sense that these guys were selling phones with extra sims IF they are not re quired to be activated in the phone that they were sold with.
My point is that although this could stifle people that are just trying to make some money the fact remains that sealed packages of consumer electronics have a greater sale value than opened packages. That reality is different when you are talking about used car parts from chopshops where the profit is essentially 100%. I don't see much, if any, profit in selling these phones except for convenience (can't buy locally; never had a cell phone before), drug sales and terrorism.
Okay. Tracking would have been a good reason to take the batteries out...
Okay, so why would anyone buy it from these guys when they could just go to Wal-Mart and bypass the middle man and his mark up? I'm curious as to why they'd drive all the way from Texas to Michigan to buy these phones, too......
Did you buy your phone from an arab? In the ghetto? Follow the conversation...
This generation of "Trac Phone" does not have all the GPS bells and whistles. They are virtually invisible to tracking, unless you know the code of the phone. If they are used abroad, and we know the codes, they can then be intercepted, but only as to which cell tower is being used.
Actually, the battery thing is more a function of shipping regulations for cell phones. The battery must be removed, but can be in the same package.
I think the phones were destined for the Middle East. There is no doubt in my mind, but unless they can prove that the recipient is a terrorist, (which they obviously cannot), the perps must be released as the act is legal.
I have little faith in the FBI. read some parts of annie jacobsen's book, on how cursory their investigation was of the "syrian band members" on her flight, that were making test runs to the bathroom during the trip. there needed to be en masse firings at the bureau after 9-11.
you can always claim "lack of evidence", if the investigation is cursory. that's what investigations are for - to obtain evidence.
Dallas and Mesquite are about 10-12 miles apart.
I thought most of our cell phones didn't work abroad...
You get charged for roaming if you don't have a contract that covers it, or you may have problems with some services, but the phones work internationally if you pay the piper.
Chargers must be 230vac however, or you need to carry adapters.
Put 1000 lithium ion batteries in a container packed with Thermite and then ignite it.
Or you might try connecting them in parallel and then charge them at 30 amps and 15 volts.
this may have been covered but.....these guys spent approx. 20 bucks each.....$20,000 for a 1000 phones plus expenses traveling all over the mid west to buy them.....
ugh......what's wrong with this picture??????
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