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”

  • @[email protected]
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    14611 months 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?

    • @[email protected]
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      16211 months 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
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          511 months 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
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          1311 months 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

      • @pigup
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        1511 months ago

        👁️👄👁️

      • @Restaldt
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        1011 months ago

        Nah this is real I was there

        Trust me im a dentist

          • @thorbot
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            211 months ago

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

          • @Restaldt
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            10 months 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
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        211 months ago

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

        Bunch of liars posting lies around here.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months 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
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      1711 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months 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
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          211 months 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.

    • monk
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      411 months ago

      Found the American who thinks healthcare does cost what he sees in the bill.

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months 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
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          211 months 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months ago

        I’m Canadian. (Although dental isn’t covered by healthcare in Canada, so … Same thing in this case, kinda)

    • @gmtom
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      111 months 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months 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.

  • @aelwero
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    6511 months ago

    Alright, I’ll be that guy… Hippo…

      • @LemmyKnowsBest
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        1511 months ago

        There are a few things I miss about reddit, like the HIPAA bot.

        • @[email protected]
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          111 months 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
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            10 months 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.

    • BeardedSingleMalt
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      2611 months 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
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        511 months ago

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

        • @[email protected]
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          11 months ago

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

  • @LEDZeppelin
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    5811 months ago

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

    • bruhduh
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      211 months ago

      Better call Saul

    • @Aux
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      211 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
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        311 months 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 months 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
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        -411 months 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.

        • @Aux
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          511 months 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
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            -111 months 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.

            • @Aux
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              411 months 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
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                -211 months 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.

                • @Aux
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                  111 months ago

                  The only sad person here is you. Fuck off.

      • @jettrscga
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        911 months ago

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

          • kase
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            311 months ago

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

            • @Reaper948
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              211 months ago

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

    • @TrickDacy
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      1511 months ago

      It’s clearly photoshopped/fake af

        • gullible
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          811 months ago

          Looks like they are. I can tell from some of their words and from seeing quite a few critics in my time.

    • themeatbridge
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      911 months ago

      No.

      This joke was brought to you by your local optometrist

    • @helpImTrappedOnline
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      711 months ago

      Perfectly clear on my end

      ::: spoiler Jk, that screenshot is no good :::

        • @[email protected]
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          411 months 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
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            111 months 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
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      211 months ago

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

  • @neonred
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    11 months 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