Yes. Theft here in NZ has thieves specifically seeking out tracking systems (passive, like marked frames) scattering unwanted parts around paddocks and taking good frames only. Keep in mind that the honey frames have to be extracted, and these usually go to an extraction facility so they can notify people if suspicious. This happens frequently in NZ but our market would be far smaller. This part of the process is now requiring tracking here for quality control (quite how is a mystery to beekeepers) and do it wouldn’t be too hard to add a marker of ownership. Barcodes and QR codes are used on boxes and there is plenty of discussion about adding it to frames.

It’s too late once the hives have been gone long like in the article. No one in their right mind would want them back as the disease risk is far too great. American foul brood is cured by burning the gear.