Israeli Shop Owners Enlist YouTube to ID Shoplifters

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April 5, 2012, 7 AM ET

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Israeli shop owners have been resorting to You Tube in their efforts to help police apprehend thieves who brazenly walk away with thousands of shekels worth of merchandize. All of Israel's high end shops have been training security cameras on their aisles, and those cameras have indeed been capturing very disturbing images of men and women who, apparently, have developed great techniques for shoplifting.

Except that, once they have the incriminating evidence on tape, no one knows who the perpetrators are. Anonymous and amazingly sneaky, those criminals—who sometimes rake in thousands of shekels in goods from a single hit—continue to prey on unsuspecting, small businesses.

Here are a few videos we shoplifted from You Tube – if you recognize anyone, please notify Israel's Police at any of these local precincts.

Two young women stealing thousands of shekels' worth in expensive perfumes. Their casual manner and the way they coordinate and time their actions suggests they've been doing this for some time.

Watch this thief at a jewelry store taking his time reviewing the goods. At about minute 1:40, he has decided on the item he wants, and starts removing obstacles to facilitate a smooth grab, from the display table to his knapsack.

At a phone store, watch at 0:53 minutes, when the thieves knows he is not being noticed by any of the other three people there, and grabs the phone off a desk.

Finally, the damage in this case is probably smaller than in other stores, but, still, just watch the shameless way in which these guys just empty out a refrigerator and walk away with soda bottles.