News reaches Gutter Press of a bizarre and shocking series of crimes of identity theft targeting capsuleers in Metropolis !
The shocking crimes reportedly not only involve fraudulent electronic ID, but in some cases using stolen skin of capsuleers !
A number of logistics stations belonging to the Tribal Liberation Force and Republic Fleet have recorded incidents where staff have been approached by someone using the name and skin of a capsuleer, who asks to transfer large amounts of carbonised lead ammunition on credit, using the capsuleers reputation to claim that the appropriate payment would be along shortly.
One such incident occurred in Ofstold, where at the Tribal Liberation Force station around Ofstold IV, an individual purporting to be noted TLF and FDU pilot Axe Gerrera, asked the supply officer on duty for several thousand cubic metres of small-calibre carbonised lead rounds, and to bypass the normal TLF supply chain of goods to proven capsuleers. When the officer became suspicious, the suspect fled.
“See, I first thought something funny was going on”, said the officer to our reporter, “Because even though I’m from the same Caravan as her folks, she didn’t comment on it, treated me like a total stranger. So I was suspicious. Then when she wanted 8000 cubes of small CL, that just made me even more suspicious, as eggers don’t usually ask for that stuff. The kicker was when she signed her name with 5 R’s instead of three. So I made up some story about needing a senior officer to confirm something and called security. But she legged it before they arrived.”
Station surveillance did record an individual resembling Gerrera, with the correct tattoos, but security lost the trail somewhere in the crowds of people coming and going on the busy station.
Authorities on the nearby Republic Fleet logistics station at Ofstold V-13 reported a second incident where an individual was shot by station security and found to have been wearing what appeared to be a suit made of large portions of capsuleer skin, most of it apparently Gerrera’s, combined with artificial skin, all of which combined to create the impression of an individual with Gerrera’s clan, caravan, and naming tattoos. The individual themselves was entirely unmarked and apparently of Sebiestor heritage.
When contacted by Gutter Press, Axe Gerrera had this to say: “Damn, I guess I should start going back to scoop my corpses when I die…”
Residents of Ofstold expressed a range of opinions on the incidents.
“I’ve never seen anything like it”, said a Fleet military policeman. “Wearing someone else’s skin is the stuff of nightmares”
“I saw a case like this in the Vindication Wars”, said a veteran detective. “That was the Angels stealing the skins of dead officers to make off with ships and stores.”
“Some of the older tales have evil spirits using the skin of the improperly buried”, said an exotic dancer at the Justice Department station at Ofstold VI-15. “But this is just plain creepy”
“If someone wants to steal carbonised lead, by all means. We literally have mountains, actual cubic kilometres of the stuff, and more keeps coming in. Who is even signing the paperwork for all this ?” stated an overworked supply clerk.
“At least it’s not Nuclear or Proton”, said a young junior supply clerk. “Ace pilot Debes Sparre says that stuffs even worse”
Gutter Press recommends that capsuleers keep their skin within arms reach, when not in use.
In other news, Edmalbrurdus police admit they have little to go on, as no new leads uncovered in the ongoing investigation into large-scale thefts from toilet & bathroom fittings manufacturers.