Even if the thief and victim don’t care about each other, others very quickly know that X recently had a laptop stolen and are primed to find used laptop sales pretty suspicious.
Of course, this really only works if the thief actually cares. My particular high school year had a student very well known for theft around the school including blatant grabbing stuff and running while in plain sight. It never really did him any good, and did him plenty of harm, but he kept doing it anyway.
It’s probably because it’s much easier to steal from somebody you don’t know. When everyone knows everyone, little theft occurs.
Even if the thief and victim don’t care about each other, others very quickly know that X recently had a laptop stolen and are primed to find used laptop sales pretty suspicious.
Of course, this really only works if the thief actually cares. My particular high school year had a student very well known for theft around the school including blatant grabbing stuff and running while in plain sight. It never really did him any good, and did him plenty of harm, but he kept doing it anyway.