High tech for the criminals among us (3D printing)

3D printing technology allows users to easily replicate small items like paper clips, coat hangers and broken refrigerator door handles. Unfortunately, some creative criminals have taken advantage of the declining price of 3D printers to make the lives of law enforcement officers extremely difficult.

Security company G4S has discovered criminals are using 3D printers to aid in stealing shipments of goods. In as little as 10 minutes, criminals can print replacement cargo seals, decoy security devices and replica locks and keys.

After breaking into cargo containers, the criminals use the 3D-printed items to help cover their tracks. For law enforcement officers, these techniques make it extremely difficult to detect a crime until the shipment is eventually opened. Even then, pinpointing the exact time the crime occurred is much more difficult.

G4S Senior Vice President Robert Dodge said a 3D printer could be one of the most useful tools a criminal could buy, especially at only a few hundred dollars.

“It will not only provide the dimensions for any item but also creates the CAD technical specifications needed to produce a near-perfect replica,” he explained.

Related Link: Piper Jaffray Suspects HP Is Siphoning Off Demand From 3D Systems, Downgrades To Underweight

This is certainly not the type of change investors of 3D Systems Corporation DDD 0.15% , Stratasys, Ltd. SSYS 0.25% and other companies in the 3D space were hoping the 3D-printing era would usher in.

GS4 advises businesses to conduct professional, third-party investigations of any company used to ship goods, perform thorough background checks on all shipping employees and consider installing motion-activated security cameras in rooms and trucks containing shipped goods.

The dark side of cheap 3D printers. It doesn't seem to matter what it is, some miscreant will turn it to nefarious purposes. Another burden on the rest of us.

We should totally ban 3-D printers along with decent cold medicine, and any sort of metal working tools and other crafts and trades than can be even peripherally used for nefarious purposes....

2 posted on 07/22/2016 1:31:02 PM PDT by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)

Next they’ll be coming after my drill press and sheet metal cutting tools. Why don’t they just make punishments on criminals tougher to act as a deterrent? Oh, I forgot, that would make true criminals like Hillary look bad when they don’t suffer any punishments for crimes. So now they want to take my 3D printer. Currently being used to make a part for my pneumatic metal saw tool; no criminal parts being envisioned.

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