The best scam was done with radios. They would break into one plane and steal the radios. They would break into a second airplane and replace the radios with the stolen ones, pulling the identical radios out of the second aircraft. The SNs on the first airplane would be reported, but they would never be found because they were put in the second airplane. That second owner would may not even know his airplane was touched, since all of the radios of a given brand look pretty much the same. The radios from the second airplane would be sold, and since the radios were never reported stolen, the theives could sell them without anyone knowing.
The same is true of 530s and 430s. You could replace my 530 and I may not even notice.
I can't understand why the price on eBay of 430s, especially non-WAAS, is so high. And that's why the thefts are happening.