It seems as though teens have taken the flash mob to a new and criminal level by planning events called “flash robs,” during which they run screaming into a store, steal things in a frenzied mass and run out as quickly as they came in.

The National Retail Federation says that these “flash” attacks were reported by 10 percent of more than 100 retailers surveyed in July. The trend has taken over so quickly that retailers are scrambling to put policies in place to protect customers and merchandise before the busy holiday season.

Clearly, technology is also to blame in this new iteration of the flash mob. The fact that teens can blast out messages about where to be at what time to massive amounts of fellow mobbers via Facebook and Twitter gives pubescent mob mentality an unsettling premeditated nature.

And, while dancing in a mob in the street, or everyone standing around having red hair, may be a minor nuisance for the people who actually have somewhere to be, running into a store in a mob and stealing things can be dangerous and expensive.

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