Crime

Gnomes and Monkeys and Bears, Oh My! What a Strange Month

By Scott Briscoe

2 December 2024

November 2024's news featured plenty of strange stories coming from the world of security, including illicit drugs masquerading as a garden gnome, a swarm of monkeys invading a South Carolina town, an insider attack on an entertainment company’s restaurant menus, and much more!

Standard disclaimer for this monthly Today in Security feature: While the stories here are presented with a lighter touch, security is serious, and we do not wish to make light of the people and businesses that may have suffered as a result of the actions in these stories.

Number 5 $18.7 Million in Counterfeit Guitars Seized: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency announcement shows that counterfeiting is alive and thriving this holiday season, and the crime encompasses just about any product you can imagine. In this case, it was 3,000 counterfeit Gibson guitars.

Number 4 A Gnome in Ecstasy: The Netherlands is one of the world’s leading producers of MDMA, the drug commonly called ecstasy. Police in the country raided a suspected narcotics site and found a garden gnome with a cheeky expression. “A strange place to keep your garden gnome, that’s why we decided to test [it] for narcotics.” Sure enough, it was made from MDMA.

Number 3 Dozens of Monkeys Escape South Carolina Research Facility: It’s a research facility, so you can’t really blame the monkeys for wanting to get out, right? This news story kept popping up throughout November as batches of the 43 monkeys were recovered. The escape appeared to be due to negligence as a worker failed to properly latch the primates’ enclosure.

Number 2 Ex-Worker Accused of Hacking into Disney Restaurants’ Electronic Menu System: After an employment separation Disney described as “contentious and not considered amicable,” the company said the worker broke into the system used to create and publish menus for Disney’s restaurants. He allegedly added profanities, changed prices, and altered allergy information. Disney was able to catch the doctored menus before they were put into use. Disney said the incident cost the company at least $150,000.

Number 1 Bear Attacking Luxury Cars Was Actually a Person in a Bear Suit: Authorities arrested four people in Los Angeles for an unusual insurance fraud attempt. The four are accused of submitting photo and video evidence of a bear doing damage to a Rolls Royce and two Mercedes vehicles. From the AP: “The department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three videos, who concluded it was ‘clearly a human in a bear suit,’ the insurance department said.” The story has a great photo of the bear suit allegedly used, but, alas, none of the video evidence.