Let's go into Dublin City Center with an iPhone and get mugged!

EdanHewittt

Gardaí have issued a warning to mobile phone users after new figures revealed a significant jump in the number of mobile phone thefts in the first seven months of the year.

Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0807/mobile-phone-users-warned-of-increase-in-thefts.html

I do quite enjoy having a phone that can compute PI to a million decimal places in my pocket, but feel an unease bringing it out in Ireland's main thoroughfares.
It seems, now, I am forced to own two phones.

- My pocket supercomputer I keep at home, where I am free to wave it around proudly without the glassy eyes of a skobe salivating over it.
- The other (cheap) phone I bring out, knowing if it gets stolen, the mugger will simply use it as a door-wedge.

Correct me if I'm right, but aren't Smartphones just a beacon that say "I have money, please rob me"? I am not talking about the QWERTY keyboard phones that you can get for a score now, but the latest model ones in the €300 / €400 price range, i.e Lumias, Galaxies, iPhones, etc? You're asking to get jumped on, waving it around in town like that amongst us mere mortals aren't you?

Yeah sure, everyone has a right to bring their personal belongings into town, providing they keep them in sight at all times, are vigilant, and are otherwise not dressing like a Hipster, which gives even more impetus to believe you have an iPhone concealed on your person, etc.

But you won't be exercising that right when you are threatened with "A syringe full of AIDs" by a gang of hoods, will you?

TL;DR version:

Don't bring expensive electronic items into town. And if you are bringing a phone anywhere (Not just in Dublin), ensure it doesn't cost your soul. #ProTIP

cometogether

Apparently there's lads going around on bikes who are experts at nabbing them. Supposedly they usually target people who are using them at the time.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Should I also not jump infront of a speeding train?

Inquitus

Only 20% were nicked from the owners person, the rest were left in cars or nicked in pubs etc.

I'd say it more says have some feckin cop on.

MadsL

You think citizens have no right or expectation of basic protection when walking in their capital?

Whilst I agree not waving expensive things around is a sensible precaution, a more zero-tolerance approach to policing on Grafton/O'Connell street would be good. As well as seeing more Gardai on foot/bikes.

I thought iPhones could be turned into useless bricks by phone companies anyway, is there any point stealing them?

Madam Marie

benwavner wrote: »

Should I also not jump infront of a speeding train?

Not with your iPhone anyway.

dj jarvis

EdanHewittt wrote: »

Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0807/mobile-phone-users-warned-of-increase-in-thefts.html

I do quite enjoy having a phone that can compute PI to a million decimal places in my pocket, but feel an unease bringing it out in Ireland's main thoroughfares.
It seems, now, I am forced to own two phones.

- My pocket supercomputer I keep at home, where I am free to wave it around proudly without the glassy eyes of a skobe salivating over it.
- The other (cheap) phone I bring out, knowing if it gets stolen, the mugger will simply use it as a door-wedge.

Correct me if I'm right, but aren't Smartphones just a beacon that say "I have money, please rob me"? I am not talking about the QWERTY keyboard phones that you can get for a score now, but the latest model ones in the €300 / €400 price range, i.e Lumias, Galaxies, iPhones, etc? You're asking to get jumped on, waving it around in town like that amongst us mere mortals aren't you?

Yeah sure, everyone has a right to bring their personal belongings into town, providing they keep them in sight at all times, are vigilant, and are otherwise not dressing like a Hipster, which gives even more impetus to believe you have an iPhone concealed on your person, etc.

But you won't be exercising that right when you are threatened with "A syringe full of AIDs" by a gang of hoods, will you?

TL;DR version:

Don't bring expensive electronic items into town. And if you are bringing a phone anywhere (Not just in Dublin), ensure it doesn't cost your soul. #ProTIP

so change the misleading Dublin bashing title then

anncoates

Just bash any junkie that tries to take it. Most of them.can barely stand, let alone fight back.

Tombi!

anncoates wrote: »

Just bash any junkie that tries to take it. Most of them.can barely stand, let alone fight back.

Junkies aren't the issue.
Scumbags are.

Local-womanizer

I have an iPhone, but I have feck all money. I got it cheap for an iPhone.

Also I only have mine out when talking to people or sitting somewhere surfing the web, I don't walk around waving it around in beggars faces laughing at their poverty....

anncoates

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

Junkies aren't the issue.
Scumbags are.

My bashing exhortation is quite catholic in its field of applicability.

Rented Mule

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

Junkies aren't the issue.
Scumbags are.

Leave the hard working junkies alone !!

starviewadams

Don't walk around with it stuck to your ear/or texting oblivious to what's going on around you and you'll be grand.

Common sense really.

anncoates

Seriously though: just try not to do stuff like texting on the street and keep your eyes open if you think you might be a target. Unfortunately they probably target teenagers rather than the likes of me.

Lawrence1895

Dress up like a sc**bag, hide the phone, sorted

zenno

Gardaí have issued a warning to mobile phone users after new figures revealed a significant jump in the number of mobile phone thefts in the first seven months of the year

I don't see the problem really...The answer is simple, use that neck that is connected to your head and look around first to monitor your surroundings and then pull out your iphone if safe to do so and use it in the comfort knowing that no scumbag is watching or looking at you from the dark corner of a building. If people don't have these basic in the wild skills then learn them. :rolleyes:

Tombi!

zenno wrote: »

I don't see the problem really...The answer is simple, use that neck that is connected to your head and look around first to monitor your surroundings and then pull out your iphone if safe to do so and use it in the comfort knowing that no scumbag is watching or looking at you from the dark corner of a building. If people don't have these basic in the wild skills then learn them. :rolleyes:

And you can tell in say... the middle of a busy street with upwards of 40 people, exactly who is and who is not a thief by eyesight alone?

Pottler

As they stomp you and rob your phone, just roar out "Ahh Leave ih out!" Loudly. Have a friend handy to video it. You will become an instant internet sensation and can then go buy lots more smartyphones. Problem solved.

Snowie

i just try not to take my phone out...walking down the street i don't have eyes at the back of my head...my head hones have a mic and if I don't like who I'm speaking to or don't want to I'll hang up..... How is any one that stupid that they walk down to the street texting away Is beyond me...

who_me

EdanHewittt wrote: »

Don't bring expensive electronic items into town. And if you are bringing a phone anywhere (Not just in Dublin), ensure it doesn't cost your soul. #ProTIP

That's nothing. I saw someone arrive into the city in a car. A CAR! Well, laa-dee-daa! And then he just left it there by the footpath, unattended.

Anyone that stupid and reckless doesn't deserve something that expensive. I had to steal it, just on general principle.

Pottler

Snowie wrote: »

i just try not to take my phone out...walking down the street i don't have eyes at the back of my head...my head hones have a mic and if I don't like who I'm speaking to or don't want to I'll hang up..... How is any one that stupid that they walk down to the street texting away Is beyond me...

So now you have to hide your phone? Nah, think I'll just keep using mine.

ejmaztec

No doubt the iPhone 93 will be wired into your skull, which will make things a bit messy up in the big metropolis when some skanger tries to rob you.

Madam Marie

The vast majority of stolen phones that are grabbed out of someone's hand are done by thieves on bikes. They usually will pass the phone to someone on foot when the round the next corner in case they are caught. Had it done to me a few years back and was shag all I could do but stand there open mouthed, catching flies.

Anyway, these days, in an effort to get my own back on such scumbaggery, I lean against a lamppost in or around the city centre on busy Saturday's with a fake iPhone 4 in my hand, gazing down at it, for hours at a time, just so I can catch one of these f***tardarians.

Now, I know what your thinking: how is them having stolen a fake iPhone really all that much of a payback for them, considering they might even sell the damn things for a few quid. Well you see, using some quality transparent fishing line, I always make sure and tie the damn things very tightly to the lamposts.

I've come to love the sound of arms dislocating from their sockets. Haven't bought a fire log in years. Lacoste wrapped arms burn for hoursso they do.

Anyone wanna buy a wristwatch? Have tons.

Intensive Care Bear

Insure it, back up all your info and stop worrying about what might happen your phone.

Tombi!

Madam Marie wrote: »

Anyone wanna buy a wristwatch?

No thank you. I don't deal with scum that attacks poor kids on bikes.

Snowie

Pottler wrote: »

So now you have to hide your phone? Nah, think I'll just keep using mine.

Nope i just don't walk around certain parts of city centers showing it off to the world! Reason why people get mugged or robbed is because there careless...

All mobile phone theft is opportunist practice. I just try not to give them to much of a chance.

Tombi!

Snowie wrote: »

Nope i just don't walk around certain parts of city centers showing it off to the world! Reason why people get mugged or robbed is because there careless...

All mobile phone theft is opportunist practice. I just try not to give them to much of a chance.

Careless? Are you joking?
I can understand if you're talking about leaving a phone/laptop/etc in the car where people can see it.
But mugging is never the fault of the victim

af_thefragile

Hah I walk around the streets of dublin with my new iPhone 5 hanging by my neck like one of those bling-bling thing rappers wear!

Biggins

To be honest, if your going around quiet and/or insecure areas with any expensive item and its visible, its might be asking for trouble.

A wise head is all thats really needed.

HeyThereDeliah

Is it only in Dublin this happens?

EdanHewittt

Too much emphasis on the lone-skobe. Very rarely happens that way.

It's these wolf-packs you see walking past you that give me the nerves.

who_me wrote: »

That's nothing. I saw someone arrive into the city in a car. A CAR! Well, laa-dee-daa! And then he just left it there by the footpath, unattended.

Anyone that stupid and reckless doesn't deserve something that expensive. I had to steal it, just on general principle.

I suppose in some sense, you are right. But when I said electronic goods, I meant things you carry on your person. Cars have alarms and such that deter theft.

That said, there must be a market for phone-theft deterrent devices, where you ring the phone after its been robbed, and it mangles the circuitry and makes it unusable. (Even if you bring it to a dodgy "phone unlocking" place that makes stolen phones workable again) - it still wont work.

*Dragon's Den Idea*

spurious

My mother has a 3310 - no-one has ever stolen it.

cloptrop

There should be an iphone app where a chainsaw comes out your phone.

mr bungle.

HeyThereDeliah wrote: »

Is it only in Dublin this happens?

no .it happened to my cousin in cork city during the summer.he walked out of a pub on the phone.he got a bottle smashed over the back of his head and phone nicked

petersburg2002

People dont go around town openly flashing their fancy laptops in the open. So why the hell do people go around flashing their 500euro Iphones. Of course people should be entitled to go around town without being mugged. But in these tough times it's just asking for trouble.

U_Fig

i know with iPhone there is a tracking method that if the phone's ever turned on again it will send a location to the person... also it'll wipe itself...but i heard of a case it was prototype at a conference i was at last year...that when activated put a charge through the iPhone case enough to immobilize the person holding it.. it was activated by a little thing you place on a key ring/belt

kind of a step up on

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/iphone-transformed-into-650000-volt-stun-gun-shocking-50008635/

sock puppet

1210m5g wrote: »

Insure it, back up all your info and stop worrying about what might happen your phone.

Yep. Don't know why anyone worries about it unless they've been mugged previously. Dublin is perfectly safe to walk around.

Rigol

EdanHewittt wrote: »

Too much emphasis on the lone-skobe. Very rarely happens that way.

It's these wolf-packs you see walking past you that give me the nerves.



I suppose in some sense, you are right. But when I said electronic goods, I meant things you carry on your person. Cars have alarms and such that deter theft.

That said, there must be a market for phone-theft deterrent devices, where you ring the phone after its been robbed, and it mangles the circuitry and makes it unusable. (Even if you bring it to a dodgy "phone unlocking" place that makes stolen phones workable again) - it still wont work.

*Dragon's Den Idea*

c4 rigged to an integrated hidden second sim-card. time and date of all calls are texted to a secondary phone under normal use conditions.
Upon theft the secondary phone is retrieved and carried on a vibrate setting. a text will appear upon 1st use of your stolen phone from the integrated hidden second sim alerting you to the use of your stolen phone.
at this point you return a text to the second sim, the circuitry is rigged to activate only upon receipt of a specific code. the c4 will explode causing instant death to the thief due to massive injury to the ear/head area of the skull.
The evidence will be destroyed in the explosion along with his jumbo breakfast roll. The st pats game will be rescheduled after stadium repairs.



(c4 acquisition and electronic rigging may be many times the value of the phone but you're guaranteed not to get caught, also your dealers and suppliers names and numbers will be prevented from falling into the hands of the cartel)

(a cheaper gps triangulating system is also available but this option would probably require purchase of a non-registered high powered rifle or silenced firearm, i have supplier details for an additional price)

DonkeyStyle \o/

Biggins wrote: »

A wise head is all thats really needed.

There may be things you can do to look like a less juicy target than the next guy, but it's still a lottery. You can be mugged on a crowded street in broad daylight very easily. There's a tendency for people to think just because they haven't yet encountered the wallet inspector, that they're doing something right, which makes them immune. Which is why it's always shocking when it happens to you.

I think it's just victim-blaming and deflection to put out an article like this. The people who got robbed were just unlucky. And thanks to the justice system that won't deal with scumbags properly, we're all playing this reverse-lottery of who'll get mugged/burgled/assaulted next. But we'll let ourselves be placated by the "Top 10 Ways To Avoid Being A Victim Of Crime", as if crime only happens to careless people, and as if we have a choice. Because the thought that any one of us could be next is too daunting.

Rigol

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

And thanks to the justice system that won't deal with scumbags properly,

exactly, and thats why my solution makes sense.

zenno

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

And you can tell in say... the middle of a busy street with upwards of 40 people, exactly who is and who is not a thief by eyesight alone?

To answer your question...yes After spending years of my life looking at how things are done I can see the lesser equation of life called scumbag from a mile away, and i'm serious, street-wise.

zenno

Pottler wrote: »

As they stomp you and rob your phone, just roar out "Ahh Leave ih out!" Loudly. Have a friend handy to video it. You will become an instant internet sensation and can then go buy lots more smartyphones. Problem solved.

LOL... i hear ye...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3zTuAPx5CY

kirving

Mobile Phone insurance is completely stupid. You pay up to €100 per year for insurance, plus a decent excess of ~€50 if your phone actually is stolen. If you look at the risk, it's not worth the money. Not even if you have a ridiculously overpriced iPhone 5. Put it on your house insurance if it's not covered by default.

I'm quite careful with my things, so I've never lost a phone, but I take it wherever the f I wan't and I don't worry about it getting stolen. In reality, the risk of it being stolen is tiny.

Hilly Bill

The guards caught a gang who was stealing these phones last week. They got it all on cctv. It was around the city centre. What they did was either grab a phone and run or surround someone and beat them up and steal the phone.
They sell the phones as quick as they snatch them, there are a couple of late night shops that buy the stolen phones for €50 , guards have them on cctv as well buying them.

Tombi!

zenno wrote: »

To answer your question...yes After spending years of my life looking at how things are done I can see the lesser equation of life called scumbag from a mile away, and i'm serious, street-wise.

Anyone can spot a stereotypical scumbag. I'm talking about a thief.

Wee Willy Harris

I don't have one I feel left out..

should I go and steal one. will this iPod touch do

zenno

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

Anyone can spot a stereotypical scumbag. I'm talking about a thief.

The more cunning of the thief/clan situation is the same of what i already said imo.

Did you ever feel that you are being watched or looked at as you were doing your own thing in a busy area ? that feeling when you know you are being watched but you don't know what person is watching you but you can feel it?

We all get it now and again and it's called instinct. It's natural to many a folk, but not to others because they are not fully aware of their surroundings and are stupefied and unresponsive to these natural human instincts.

IvySlayer

My phone is crap so no-one will steal it.

Be careful of people asking you the time, if they think you don't have a watch they'll see where you took the phone from and where you put it!!

IvySlayer

spurious wrote: »

My mother has a 3310 - no-one has ever stolen it.

Cleer, bash them over the head with it! There are some phone covers you can buy to make your fancy phone look old!

EdanHewittt

IvySlayer wrote: »

There are some phone covers you can buy to make your fancy phone look old!

Need an iPhone one of these:

http://f.cl.ly/items/1n2q3N1e1W3q2f1x1t0g/ipod_walkman_disguise1.jpg

dMaN24

A friend got robbed around Summerhill (here in Dublin) yesterday.
They didn't hurt her, but i'd still like to hurt them.