Being it that the 'stolen'goods were attended or not, I think that all things possible to do IG have a reason to be.
Therefore if usable, if it exists either as a 'legal' way or not, it's still duable. So, if anyone takes advantage of it, it's part of the game.
It doesn't feel good to be robbed.. but then it is possible.. If it was truly to be prevented, then dropping or picking up items should be impossible (and yes, bye-bye to inv limits leaving only specifics like ores or dunnowhat to have limits).. only giving and/or trading should be. But then there are things that exist by name like the infamous 'pickpocketing' which is something I have no clue how to implement if the goal is to have an universal fairtopia Barbie(tm) world in which the path of evil is completely out of chance.
I've seen constant efforts pursuing this kind of world.. now one can drop things but they are 'guarded', for example.. to me, it seems like every step points towards elliminating some styles or ways of being.
Now, I don't like it. I think stealing or robbing or pickpocketing should still be possible and one should have better weapons in one's arsenal to deal with it. IMO it will improve the game experience for us all.
We all should be entitled to have evil or good characters and not strictly limited to RPing the situation.