It’s a new, frightening trend: flash mob robberies, and they’re being organized on social networking sites. They’re also called flash robs or flash robberies, but by any name, they turn Twitter and Facebook into things that are aiding and abetting crime.

Normal flash mobs are benign, often organized in the same manner, using social networking sites, but the events are often silly and seemingly pointless acts. One famous flash mob was the “Silent Disco” om April of 2006, in London. At various London Underground stations, people gathered with portable music players, and at a set time began dancing to their music. Mostly benign, although it did affect Underground service.

In the case of flash mob robberies, it’s the same sort of scenario, but with a criminal beat. Flash mobs are organized, mostly via Twitter, and a group of 20, 30, or even 40 teenagers show up at a store at a set time, barge in, steal what they want and leave without paying. With that many stealing all at once, there is little a clerk can do.

It is, unfortunately, a national phenomenon, with a simple Google search pulling up stories and videos from around the country. Lately, there have been several around Chicago, IL, but it is not limited to that city.

Scott Decker, a professor of criminology at Arizona State University, said,

It’s not the fault of Twitter, however, but the criminals are certainly leveraging technology to their advantage. As some localities begin to see more flash mobs of these types, their police departments have begun monitoring social networking sites. It’s hard to imagine how police could possibly do “enough” monitoring to stop these sorts of crimes.

Watch embedded videos from around the country in the sidebar.

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