If someone needs cash fast, an easy way to get it is to sell a valuable item at a local pawn shop. A common misconception of many pawn shops, however, is that they take stolen items and don’t check if the item they just bought belongs to the person that brought it in.
That is false! In fact, less than one percent of all merchandise in a pawn shop is stolen. There are several ways that pawn shop owners can check to make sure the item is in fact not stolen. The following are a few ways pawn shops in Olathe, KS do that:
Check police reports
A common and simple way pawn shop owners can make sure items are not stolen is by checking police reports. If there is a recent report of an item being stolen that has a matching model number, serial number or description of something the shop just bought, that pawn shop owner will return the item to its original owner.
Often times when police are investigating robberies or theft, they will call local pawn shops to check if they have received an item or to warn them to look out for a certain item. If someone comes in and tries to sell a stolen item, many times pawn shop owners will buy it just to take it from the thief and call the police! The item will be returned to the original owner and the seller will have to provide the police with information so the police can properly prosecute him or her.
Watch out for suspect behavior
Sometimes the behavior of the seller can tip the pawn owner off that he or she may not be the rightful owner of the piece. If the person can’t explain where the item came from or details about the item, that’s usually a red flag. Sometimes this happens with rings and questions about diamonds.
If the seller gets nervous or distressed or complains about having to show identification, that also raises a red flag. The owner can, at that point, refuse to buy the product.
Inspect the object
Often times thieves or other criminals try to remove serial numbers from objects before selling them to pawn shops. Most often it’s not hard to tell that the serial number has been tampered with. This will raise a flag for many pawn shops. This happens rarely, but it’s still a way to check to confirm the item has not been stolen.
It is in the best interest of pawn shops in Olathe, KS not to deal with stolen items whatsoever. Pawn shops have two choices when a stolen item is brought in. In many cases, the pawn shop owners will turn the items down, or not purchase them. The second option is to buy the product and turn in the sellers. When pawn shop owners buy something, they always take down a seller’s information, which they can easily give police.
The pawn shop owner will do everything he or she can to return those stolen items to their original owners.