If a law enforcement officer sees the crime and catches a child, the child can only talk about Neil. The mobile phone is not traceable. If the police catch Neil, he can only provide a mobile phone number. The adult allows Neill to collect the money ad jewelry, pay the kids, and then meet to pass over the loot to the adult. The adult is effectively "cut out" of the actual crime. Although some of the intermediaries like Neil or the children performing the crime may keep the money and jewelry for themselves, the adult repeats the process.
New problems for law enforcement officers to address: [a] fluidity of the crime and perpetrators, [b] spontaneous nature of the crimes, and [c] dealing with the children who commit the crime in the criminal justice system.
(via Die Puny Humans)
larry niven did his take on this with the "permanent floating riot club"
still a good read.
J.T.
There's also a similar thing in Bruce Sterling's "Discharge".
The Gypsies in Europe have been doing this for centuries. They swarm around tourists and the loveable little rascals grab cameras, handbags, wallets, sunglasses and anything else that isn't nailed down.