I have had people take my batteries all the time. I don't know who took them but I was always the one who lost batteries. Luckily, it's not much of a problem anymore.
Some robbers may only steal the AA and AAA battery from a TV or stereo remote control because remote controls are designed to work with the TV which came with the remote unless the remote is a universal remote which can be re-programmed. Rechargeable AA and AAA and disposable Lithium-Ion batteries are also expensive, so a robber maybe only be interested in the batteries.
Rechargeable batteries from large video camera used in recording movies and TV shows maybe stolen, and the thief does not steal the large camera because the camera can be very heavy and big, and the camera is screwed into a heavy camera mount.
I also hope my batteries never become stolen, or a repair technician replace my official battery with a cheap battery from a discount store.
I am sometimes afraid that a greedy repair technicians secretly replace the official battery with a lower quality third-party battery, and take the official battery after I hire technician repair my devices or appliances with batteries.