Transcription (of iMessage exchange): “Hi, is this Paul?

Who is this

This is Erica from the dentist’s office. I got your number from your file

Pretty sure this violates Hippo but shoot your shot I guess

I’m not flirting with you. We have you on video stealing thousands of dollars of x-ray equipment”

  • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
    1482·
    2 years ago

    I’m trying to figure out what X-ray equipment can be stolen that is worth only thousands of dollars. A case of those films you bite on when they x-ray your teeth?

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
      162·
      2 years ago

      And why, if you have photographic evidence of grand theft, you’d text the person who stole with just “this is Erica from the dentist office.”

      I have a feeling this internet person is making stuff up.

        • kautau
          72·
          2 years ago

          And to think someone might post a comment on lemmy and capitalize every word! Nobody makes stuff up on the internet. Nobody capitalizes every word in a sentence. Sheeple will believe everything these days

        • LemmyKnowsBest
          13·
          2 years ago

          Because she saw him on video and she thinks he’s cute. And she also doesn’t value her safety and privacy. It all checks out. This story is totally credible. /s

      • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
        17·
        2 years ago

        I could see that happening in a small town “please just return our equipment”

      • Restaldt
        10·
        2 years ago

        Nah this is real I was there

        Trust me im a dentist

          • thorbot
            2·
            2 years ago

            I can verify the story as well, I was the equipment

          • Restaldt
            1·
            2 years ago

            2d the lead singer of the gorrilaz

            Harvey dent - batman villain

            Arthur dent - hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

            Dent, Idaho

            Dent, Missouri

            Dent, Ohio

            Fort dent

            Uss dent

            And of course the dent in my rear driverside quarter panel where someone slammed their car door into it in a kroger parking lot

            And a lot more i didnt mention

      • jaybone
        2·
        2 years ago

        And I didn’t even see a picture of a hippo.

        Bunch of liars posting lies around here.

      • rosymind@leminal.space
        1·
        2 years ago

        Yeaaah probably fake, but given that it could be easier to just get it back by asking rather than rescheduling patients, dealing with the police, and waiting for insurance to cover the expensive equipment it’s… possible that this is legit (probably not, but possible)

    • LemmyKnowsBest
      17·
      2 years ago

      If something costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s also accurate to say it costs “thousands of dollars.”

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        2 years ago

        I am just imagining him bored waiting for them to come back and he is like “fuck this, I am taking this shit, make this wait worth my while” and then just pulls out a tool belt and starts unbolting the thing from the wall.

        • LemmyKnowsBest
          2·
          2 years ago

          Yes sometimes the doctors really do make us wait a long time and we are just sitting there with nothing to do, I look around at all the things on the walls but I just sit there frozen because I know any moment they will walk in and catch me doing whatever it is I’m doing.

      • rosymind@leminal.space
        3·
        2 years ago

        Nah, I’ve worked in dental. Those machines are insanely expensive. This is one hand-held unit for sale just under 3k, down from just under 7k . That doesn’t count the sensors, which are also crazy expensive.

        https://universadent.com/product/nomad-pro-2/

        Most offices have machines attached to the wall, which would be extremely difficult to steal. But a nomad is portable.

        https://dentimax.com/x-ray-sensor-comparison/

        Above is ONE sensor (most offices have at least 2) that costs around 7k. There are other neccessities as well, but I think you get the point

        • neonred
          31·
          2 years ago

          Well, to be fair a few k is not expensive for medical equipment which is not a mass market, needs certification and usually lasts decades. It’s like no money.

    • gmtom
      1·
      2 years ago

      Depends how strict you are with “thousands” like a big Dexis OP 3D Panoral scanner /only/ costs $40k

      Or you can get smaller handheld ones like a Dexis IS 3800W for $10k and can probably get older models for cheaper.

      • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 years ago

        I’m surprised it’s that little. I figured the big ones were >$100k. Although idk how you could feasibly steal something like that.

        • lars@lemmy.sdf.org
          1·
          2 years ago

          Beep boop. I am¹ a Lemmy bot. It looks like you started writing the name of a magical,¹ friendly¹ animal who salutes people by flinging feces. Did you mean to refer to “hippopotamus”?

          1. not
          • LemmyKnowsBest
            2·
            2 years ago

            1. Whoa apparently you left this comment 6 days ago but it just showed up in my inbox today. I check my inbox every day and your comment did not appear until 6 days after you left it. Federation weird(?)

            2. I’mma go stalk your profile now to get evidence that you’re not really a bot, just a clever fun Lemmyer.

            • lars@lemmy.sdf.org
              2·
              2 years ago

              Lolol. My instance periodically stops pushing content. Then it plays catch up.

              Boop beep.

    • BeardedSingleMalt@kbin.social
      26·
      2 years ago

      He meant to say HIPAA. In sort, series a laws for patient protections which include looking at a patient’s record to get their phone number for personal reason.

      • aelwero
        5·
        2 years ago

        Yeah, it’s funny and nobody had mentioned it, so I did ;)

        • Roopappy@lemmy.mlEnglish
          15·
          2 years ago

          The chatter identified as “Paul” said “Hippo”. I don’t think the person above you made a bad assumption.

  • LEDZeppelin
    591·
    2 years ago

    That’s trump level defense - you can’t take me to court for stealing because that violates my Hippo rights

    • AuxBanned
      42·
      2 years ago

      That’s how it works actually - if you break the law while making the case, your case is invalid.

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
        3·
        2 years ago

        Sure, but the dental office has your phone number to be able to contact you for appointments, no law is broken in this fake internet screenshot.

      • mako@lemmy.today
        1·
        2 years ago

        No, that’s not true at all. Police and prosecutors can’t (legally) break the law to make a case.

        If a citizen breaks the law catching another citizen breaking the law there will probably be charges for both parties.

        Erica from the dentist’s office didn’t “blow the case” by texting the thief.

        Finally - and this is the most important bit that everyone seems to be missing - Erica didn’t commit a HIPAA violation. She used his phone number on file to text him, something my dentist’s office does to me as well. She didn’t share any personal information with a third party.

        This is a gentle reminder that reading something in a meme does not make it factually true.

      • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
        15·
        2 years ago

        Thats why this needs to change.

        If you commited murder and someone breaks the law to get you, you should still get convicted.

        But the person breaking the law should have no immunity either and face the consequences of their actions. But if the person abused a position of power (police, politician, etc) they should face twice the punishment, one time for breaking the law and a second time for doing so in a trusted office.

        • AuxBanned
          5·
          2 years ago

          That’s how you’ll end up in jail for no reason. If there’s no due process, anyone can Photoshop you in a crime scene for lulz. The law works as it should.

          • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
            12·
            2 years ago

            Yeah right. Thats why we have the situation we‘re in. Because the law works like it should.

            Look at statistics of poc incarceration rates or other minorities as well as false convictions.

            The law is always improvable as everything else is.

            But to my original point, falsifying evidence does not mean you can convict someone based on that. It just means the person does not automatically go free, just that the person who did it goes away for a long time.

            Please name examples if you think that there is a real benefit from letting someone go free for bad evidence except smart lawyers getting rich people off easily.

            • AuxBanned
              4·
              2 years ago

              Some criminals tried to steal my mom’s flat through the court and a bit of corruption. That didn’t fly because she fought back, showed there was no due process and the national court put these fucks into jail, as well as punishing a corrupt judge.

              If there were no laws regulating the process, she’d be homeless. So, go fuck yourself.

              • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
                13·
                2 years ago

                The first part was totally understandable and I am happy that your mom won that.

                Your fault is that you assume that not having a “the house search where we found you’ve killed 20 people was illegal so have a good life” dismissal of evidence means we have no due process at all. This is called improvement of a running system.

                And the last sentence is the reason I reported you. You sad person.

                • AuxBanned
                  1·
                  2 years ago

                  The only sad person here is you. Fuck off.

      • jettrscgaEnglish
        112·
        2 years ago

        Huh. I’m not convinced text message screenshots warrant any amount of artistic license.

          • kase
            3·
            2 years ago

            You mean to tell me this conversation is fake?? How am I supposed to believe anything I read on the internet now??

            • Reaper948
              2·
              2 years ago

              Why would they do that, just go on the Internet and tell lies?

      • lseif@sopuli.xyz
        3·
        2 years ago

        jsyk the spoiler isnt formatting for me. i think you need a title after spoiler

        • XTornado@lemmy.ml
          4·
          2 years ago

          Idk how it works but the spoiler thing is shit. Like there are multiple ways of making spoilers and some work on certain apps/instances and not in others… It’s shit.

          Theirs works fine to me on Sync

          • helpImTrappedOnline
            1·
            2 years ago

            Odd, I’m on boost and it lets me auto-make it, but I can’t see the result. Figured, as it wasn’t actually a spoiler, people would tell me if it didn’t work for them…and that they did. Wasn’t expecting mixed results.

    • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zipBanned from communityEnglish
      31·
      2 years ago

      To be honest i dont know what the hell happened there. The top and bottom are blurry???

  • neonred
    251·
    2 years ago

    Why should an employee witnessing a crime contact the thief? And even tell their name and send their phone number?

    Edit: nevermind, this was raised before