The 25 stupidest crimes caught on CCTV (26 photos + 1 video)

Here's a selection of fascinating stories about dumb people who were caught on camera committing crimes. What were they thinking? Unclear. Well, there is nothing more pleasant than the triumph of justice! Especially if the people breaking the law are complete idiots.







25. Stacker



This list will be full of loser thieves, but I feel a little sorry for this guy. A young aspiring thief broke into a bakery in Melbourne and somehow ended up locked in the storeroom. Hilarious CCTV footage shows him stacking everything he could get his hands on, including containers, chairs and bins, in a desperate bid to get out of the storage room and onto the roof.

For over 30 minutes, cameras were filmed as this loser tries to climb his homemade mountain, but fails and falls to the floor at least 5 times. In the end, he did get out of there. But he surrendered to the police when footage of his bloodied face began to appear everywhere.

24. Christopher Badman





The guy is lucky with his last name! Just like a Marvel supervillain. But that's where the similarities end.

Because putting a plastic bag over your head is so stupid that even children are taught not to do it. When Mr Badman attempted to burglarize hotel rooms in Porthcawl, Wales, in 2015, he realized he needed to hide his face from CCTV cameras in the hallways. The video footage shows him wandering around with a bag on his head, going in and out of rooms. However, he later returns to the hallway, having removed the bag, after one of the hotel guests interrupts his activity. All in all, a great last name. True, not very telling.

23. Sweet treats



This is Texas Robin Hood. Well, a mini version of it, anyway.

In 2017, the Shipley Do-Nuts store in Houston (USA) was robbed by three men armed with pistols and black masks. While they were shouting and demanding that customers give them their phones (a common robbery procedure), one of the men grabbed donuts and began handing them out to customers in the store. Sweet treats are, of course, good, especially when received by people in a state of shock, but stealing is not cool.

22. Suave thief



Some thieves want to cause you as much inconvenience as possible. Others are willing to provide friendly assistance in the form of manual labor before making off with your property. In 2022, a man named Marcus Hubbard realized he urgently needed a lawn mower and went looking for one.

It's unclear whether he wanted to test the sharpness of the blades or just the general capabilities of the lawnmower before taking it home. Be that as it may, Marcus, or “Marcus the Lawnmower,” began mowing the lawns in front of the house and in the backyard of the rightful owners of the device, after which he disappeared, dragging the lawnmower behind him. This is very funny. He was eventually forced to abandon the lawnmower and thus escaped arrest.

21. Robbery in foil



Life is a hundred times harder when you're an idiot. Two Brazilian robbers were caught in 2016 after they tried to fool the alarm system at a Santa Catarina bank by wearing tin foil from head to toe. Even if it worked, the criminals would have to focus their mental energy on how to hide from the surveillance cameras that captured the robbers as they crawled through the bank and tried to break into the safe. The police were immediately called and the two were arrested.

20. James Allan



In the movie Snatch, two thieves commit an armed robbery and get stuck in a building because they can't decide whether to push or pull the door to open it. This is a hilarious scene that couldn't happen in real life. After all, who could be that stupid?

The answer to this question comes from James Allan, a 28-year-old man who attempted to shoplift. He was prevented by the fact that he pushed the door, and did not pull it towards himself. Not only that, he was holding a toy gun and took off his mask in front of the surveillance camera. It's safe to say that James Allan will never be recognized as a master thief.

19. Got hit by a car that was trying to steal



This is the worst car thief in America.

What did this guy do to win such a title? Well, he somehow managed, while running away from the police, to get hit by a car that he was trying to steal at that moment. Meet 31-year-old Isaiah John Gellatly, a man with a broken leg. His path to the body pinned against the wall began when a police officer in Happy Valley, Oregon, responded to a 911 call about a robbery in progress. Officers quickly spotted Gellatly in a parked 1998 Honda Accord. For some reason, he was lying on the fully reclined driver's seat.

Was this his futile attempt to hide? Maybe. But it can be better. As the officer approached the car and shined his flashlight inside, Gellatly climbed into the driver's seat, put the car in gear and a high-speed chase began. Finally, Gellatly decided it was time to leave, opened the driver's door and jumped out of the still moving car. As a result, the would-be thief found himself pinned under a car wheel and broke his leg. Officers also found a ping pong paddle, a tennis racket, designer sunglasses and a Schwinn scooter inside the Honda.

18. Robber with a cane



2015 was a wild year in Toronto. This was the year of the “robber with a cane.” A man who tried to rob stores more than once, using only a cane.

Overall, it wasn't funny at all. But the police report about his atrocities is impossible to read without laughing. In all cases, this madman entered the store with a four-sided cane, waved it and demanded money from the seller. After each unsuccessful attempt, he fled the crime scene on a red four-wheeled scooter. He was listed in police reports as a man who attempted to rob stores by "aggressively using a cane."

17. Dennis Hawkins



When you come up with ideas for disguises, your first task is to make sure you don't get recognized. Proper camouflage should also be discreet so that you can blend in with a crowd of people. The disguise used by 48-year-old Pittsburgh resident Dennis Hawkins, who decided to rob a bank, failed on both counts.

It consisted of a woman's blonde wig, false breasts and some kind of clown pants. The first problem was that his face with a mustache and goatee was visible on CCTV cameras. The second problem is that his disguise was not entirely invisible. A gas station attendant called to report that a man with that appearance was trying to steal a car, shortly after police released his description.

16. A robbery that went wrong



This botched robbery would be hilarious if it weren't for the awkwardness factor.

Never has a thief been as embarrassed as this man, who plucked up his courage and walked into a beauty salon with a gun in his pocket.

Apparently, no one explained to him that it is better not to joke with women in beauty salons. Women who do manicures have enough problems in their lives, so don't bother with them. The idiot brave had to tuck his tail between his legs and leave after not a single woman gave him her things.

15. Pickpocket



And here we have a criminal - a woman.

A pickpocket was caught on camera stealing jewelry from a beauty salon customer in Los Angeles. The thief went there allegedly to get a manicure. She received the service. And she left the salon with brand new nails, as well as another woman's engagement ring. The thief was apprehended less than two days later, and the ring was returned to its rightful owner.

14. Three from Johannesburg



In 2017, a hilarious video went viral in Johannesburg, South Africa, showing three men trying to break into a house. The robbery was prevented and filmed by the owner of the house himself!

The story is this: three guys are trying to enter the territory of a house by breaking the gate. The home owner receives a break-in signal and goes outside armed with a camera to videotape what is happening. The robbers do not notice the owner of the house and try to open the gate with a crowbar until he clears his throat, making it clear that he is here. After this, the trio looks at each other in bewilderment with the owner of the house and with each other and decides to make a move.

13. Ashdon Gibbs



In 2014, a series of unusual robberies occurred in a city in Georgia. A man wearing only a cowboy hat broke into other people's houses and was caught on surveillance cameras. Somewhere he simply walked around the house naked, ate food from the refrigerator and drank alcohol found in a bar, he could turn on music and enjoy the moment, but somewhere he stupidly robbed. He was caught very quickly. Ashdon Gibbs could never explain how he decided which houses would be looted and which ones he would just listen to music with a cold beer.

12. When everything is against you



The hardest part of this case is describing all the ways this would-be ATM thief from Townsville, Australia screwed up. Firstly, the security camera footage shows a guy throwing an object at the mechanical doors of the store, and it ricochets back. But he is a purposeful person and does not back down. He hits the door until he manages to punch a hole in it. Once inside, he attaches a chain to the ATM. Unfortunately, he doesn't notice the chain snapping shut outside the gas station store. He takes off, expecting the ATM to fly out after his car, but nothing happens. In the end, the idiot has to give up - get into the car and drive away... without an ATM.

11. Michael Baker



While we all like to celebrate our accomplishments and post them online for friends and family to see, we need to think about what we share with the rest of the world. And that our messages on social networks can be seen by many more people than we think.

Michael Baker believed that draining a police car was not only a brilliant idea, but an idea that should be shared with the world. His girlfriend took a photo of him posing next to his car as he drained gas from it. Bragging is great, but he went too far when he posted the photo on social media. She was seen by his friends, relatives and local law enforcement. It was naive to believe that it would be otherwise.

10. Using a child as a cover



Since he already had a child, let him serve as a cover! This is the reasoning of one resident of the Russian Federation, who brought his baby to an electronics store and stole a laptop. While the poor baby looked around in confusion, the father of the year tucked the device under his sweater and then picked up his son to use his body as a shield from prying eyes. He managed to leave the store and already believed that he had gotten away with everything, but he forgot about the all-seeing eye of the CCTV cameras and was subsequently detained.

9. The criminal who dealt with his accomplice



A brick can be a valuable tool for breaking a door or window. But it is not so effective if the thief throws a brick not at the window, but at his accomplice.

Two robbers from China tried to break into the building by throwing bricks at the window. But something happened with the coordination of movements and the first criminal accidentally threw a brick at the second. It flew right into Tom's face. He must have liked the alternate universe he saw for the next few seconds before returning to reality with a severe headache and several severed blood vessels.

8. What I fought for is what I ran into



Speaking of brick incidents, this thief tried to break into the building by breaking glass, but the brick bounced off and hit him in the head, knocking him down. He may have never heard of Newton's third law, but karma certainly made sure that he received a reaction to his actions.

Police in Prince George's County (USA) released a video of a botched robbery in which a man tries to break into a restaurant by breaking a window with a brick. Unfortunately for him, the window turned out to be bulletproof, and the brick repaid the criminal’s actions with a solid ricochet in the face.

7. Amy Adams



Some crimes can show us where evolution has gone very wrong. For example, Amy Adams. In 2006, she robbed a store in New Zealand. A clever store owner decided to use CCTV footage to lure her back by showing her photo on local television, telling her that she had won the "Lucky Shopper of the Week" prize and had to show up in person to claim her prize.

She then returned to the store, gave her name, identified herself on surveillance footage, and was immediately handcuffed by undercover officers. During the trial, she continued to deny that she had broken any law until the judge clearly explained to her that she was guilty and it was impossible to convince anyone otherwise.

6. Rogue Worms



People, too much TV is bad for you. That's the truth. The Worm Bandits got their strange name from the way they crawled, rolled and scurried around the restaurant Mission: Impossible style, trying to fool security cameras. In doing so, they took with them about $450 in staff tips.

Of course, they are almost certainly idiots, because if they were geniuses, they would not rob pizzerias for a profit of several hundred dollars. And, whoever they are, they are clearly criminals. But there's also the possibility that these guys knew exactly where the cameras were and decided to do some kind of ninja-crawling on the floor because they thought it would be funny if it made the news. Well, suddenly?

5. Legal fight with a machete



A couple of years ago, a Pittsburgh store turned from an ordinary place into a scene from Game of Thrones for a few tense and strange seconds. This happened because the thief tried to take over the store with a machete, but discovered that the cashier had his own weapon.

When the unknown person with the blade rushed behind the counter in search of money, the cashier took out his blade - a full-sized scimitar. And just like that, a sword fight ensued for a few seconds in the aisles of one of the Pittsburgh stores.

4. Snatchers on a slippery floor



This incident can be called "jewelry theft on ice." The footage is simply hilarious.

CCTV footage shows four masked men breaking into the Gem Jewelers store in Coventry, England. However, the floor in the room had recently been waxed, which caused them some slipping difficulties. The criminals with canvas bags and axes resembled little penguins learning to walk on ice, trying to gain traction on the slippery floor. Unfortunately, thieves managed to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of gold jewelery despite their awkward penguin gait.

3. Licking the doorbell



This case is certainly strange and terribly unpleasant.

A man from Salinas, California, earned the nickname "#doorbelllicker" after a home security system recorded him licking his homeowner's doorbell for three hours. Yes, three hours.

The Dungan family, who live in the home, reported the incident to authorities after finding the man on their doorstep using a home monitoring system. At the time of the incident, the children were at home alone and, fortunately, slept through the entire commotion. Parents received a notification about activity at the front door. The video immediately received wide publicity, and the man was soon identified as Roberto Daniel Arroyo. Arroyo was also recorded emptying his bladder in the front yard. According to "#doorbelllicker", he just wanted to ring the bell and run away. A very strange guy.

2. Lemar Reed



Who said being a lawyer is boring? It's not every day that a person goes to court to plead guilty to a traffic violation and ends up dropping a gram of cocaine on the floor - right in front of the judge. Luckily, the courtroom security cameras were turned on, and a moment that Lemar Reed will regret for the rest of his life was captured on film, forever etched in YouTube history.

Why would anyone even take illegal substances with them to court? Or is this a case of a visionary entrepreneur? You never know where a client might be waiting for you, right?

1. Arrested by a woman in a Renaissance costume



In a plot twist worthy of a Shakespearean comedy, one guy got into trouble at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. A modern “knight” in not the most shiny armor tried to carry away the sword.

However, he did not take into account that there were real heroes in the crowd. Two women chased the sword thief up a hill, and one of them, dressed as a Renaissance maiden, applied a neck hold and held him there for about five minutes until her husband, dressed as a knight, appeared and restrained the thief until security arrived. And all this was filmed.

Who would have thought that Renaissance festivals could be so much fun?