In many jurisdictions, theft is considered a relatively tame crime. As long as it’s within the tangible realm, it can be recovered or replaced fairly easily.

However, the issue of theft ought to be tackled much more harshly as it does include more than just yoinking someone’s belongings—it’s also about betrayal. Especially if you steal from people who consider you a friend.

But then, one of those friends can craft an elaborate plan to use your own vices against you, making you spend a buttload of your own money only to be stood up, in hopes you learn your lesson.

Theft is more than just taking someone’s belongings—in the case of friends, it’s also betrayal and the like

Image credits: saad alawi / pexels (not the actual photo)

So, you can’t ever be too careful as your friends might just end up plotting against you, making you waste money as petty revenge

Image credits: Gustavo Fring / pexels (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Sea_Ad4676

In the end, the “friend” ended up losing around $2,000 because of the flight and the restaurant bill

The story goes that Redditor r/Sea_Ad4676 had a friend who’d find ways to swindle money out of his friend’s pockets. Well, the friend had enough, so they plotted a petty revenge plan.

Said plan involved a ruse whereby the thief was contacted by a “lucrative business partner” offering a deal he couldn’t refuse.

As a result, the thief ends up spending $800 on flight tickets (that’s one way) and another $400 on the restaurant bill only to be stood up by his “business partner”. The guy did end up finding out who was the culprit in this scheme and hopefully learned their lesson.

Folks in the comments had a lot to say. In one corner, everyone was either calling OP out for their childishness and stooping to the friend’s level, while others were praising them for an elaborate revenge plan.

Another contingent of commenters were wondering where the guy got the money for the flight in the first place, given his history, suggesting that too was stolen. OP took the time to address some of those comments, also providing the chat log too (part one and two).

Image credits: Victor Freitas / pexels (not the actual photo)

Some commenters speculated that the former friend might have mental health issues, prompting yoinky behavior

Believe it or not, stealing can be considered a mental health disorder in some cases. Take kleptomania, for instance. It’s a disorder where the afflicted person can’t fight the urge to steal something, even if they don’t need it.

More specifically, it is an impulse control disorder and revolves around problems with emotional or behavioral self-control. It can be caused by a number of factors, including another thing that the commenters also speculated—addiction.

Addictive disorders are caused by the release of dopamine—in this case, whenever something is successfully stolen, conditioning pleasurable feelings and a sense of reward for this particular action.

Other causes include a serotonin imbalance, causing impulsive behaviors, imbalance of the brain’s opioid system making it hard to resist urges, or simply having learned a habit that’s hard to break.

Of course, these are commenter speculations and the real reason might be drastically different. So there’s that.

What are your thoughts on any of this? Share your takes and stories in the comment section below!

Image credits: Dexon Dave Silva / pexels (not the actual photo)

The author of the post provided more context to the story as responses to people’s comments

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Some folks had disagreements with how the plan was implemented

Others, however, praised the author of the post but overall it was a mixed bag of opinions

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