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Child Item

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

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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)

$Photo of DonkeyStyle \o/$ 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.

The Davestator

How are you supposed to check in on Facebook to tell lots of virtual strangers how awesome a time you're having if you don't have your smart phone with you?

Sofiztikated

Have an app on my SGS2 that can remotely turn on the GPS, even if the sim is switched. Track where the phone is.

While noone likes to be mugged, or blame the victim, but in all honesty, a little bit of sense can go a long way.

If you are using your phone, while walking along, hold it on the side closest to the wall, and walk that bit tighter to a wall. Leaves less room for someone on a bike to fit through. If they do, the slightest little push may knock them into the wall, or at least put them off balance.

Don't be completely oblivious to your surroundings.

Handsfree/bluetooth mother****er, use it.

Don't just leave your phone sitting out on a table, if in a coffee shop or whatever.

funk-you

Just spit more OP. It will make them think you're one of them and you'll be invisible to their eyes.

-Funk

Internet Hero

I dont know if the fact that im a stack 6 4 strong fella but i play tetris on my iphone 4 while walking around town and i never once felt like i was in danger of having it stolen nor have i had anyone make any shapes at knicking it. i think this is overblown or else it is only vulnerable small lads or girls that are having there phones nicked. dublin is safe i have never had any trouble here ever, not a single thing