Heck, our old print shop was in a metal building in a bad neighborhood. We sold it to a developer when we closed it. Thieves stole the air conditioners almost immediately....then the power lines...then broke in and stole the screen printing dryer we abandoned and all the wiring out of the building. When there was nothing left to steal what did they do? They stole the building. The white walls you see are just insulation....no metal left behind them. A week or two later they went back with torches and cut the beams out of the concrete.
Used to have a problem with aluminum parking
signs disappearing until they passed a law here that recyclers couldn't take them. Our scrap yards can't take copper wire or catalytic converters unless you can show proof of where it came from and why you have it.