Crime watch: iPhone 4/5 & Samsung Phones Targeted by Thieves

**ArcticSplash** · 11-19-2012, 04:13 PM

iPhones 4/4S/5 and Samsung phones have become a hot commodity.

1. DO NOT WALK AROUND WITH YOUR IPHONE CLEARLY VISIBLE. If you're going to take a call, stop walking and look around you before you do. Kids are targeting iPhone users because of their high resale value or they're changing out the cards in the phones for themselves.

2. Do not listen to music using the stock earbuds. iPhone users are easy to spot by their distinctive white earbuds, and the new earbuds that come with iPhone 5. Go to Radio Shack, Amazon, FYE, Target, etc. and get some different buds, preferably some black ones that aren't so prominent and easily give away that you're using an iPhone.

People are normally being targeted on the street and on mass transit. We've already had several robberies in Fishtown and Kensington and one just happened today all the way up in Bridesburg, and it was at gunpoint.

**thetalkingmule** · 11-19-2012, 05:18 PM

We could really use those two cops who were on foot for about a month a couple years back when people complained about not enough police presence. Is it just too dangerous for the cops to be walking around or a union type issue?

**Bobbie3Sheets** · 11-19-2012, 07:25 PM

I really think its time to start packing. I read and hear about crap constantly that I think its the only logical thing to do. How hard is to get a license to carry?

**lucidinnature** · 11-19-2012, 08:07 PM

Only two posts before this turned into a gun thread. Bravo.

**Sailaway** · 11-19-2012, 10:41 PM

Well, this thread is about crime, and the prevention of same. Chances are a thread about a thread about the works of Henry David Thoreau won't turn into one.

**hkp** · 11-19-2012, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by Sailaway

Well, this thread is about crime, and the prevention of same. Chances are a thread about a thread about the works of Henry David Thoreau won't turn into one.

Hank had an arsenal in that cabin, brother.

**Dayman** · 11-20-2012, 12:32 AM

I think the rule is don't be stupid in the city and do notuse your technology where there are a high concentration of lowlifes.

**lucidinnature** · 11-20-2012, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by Dayman

I think the rule is don't be stupid in the city and do notuse your technology where there are a high concentration of lowlifes.

Exactly. It is about being observant. I don't think Death Wish has the same panache with a hipster sporting a snub nose 38 over the loss of a ****ing iPod.

**AsYouWere** · 11-20-2012, 02:52 AM

Originally Posted by Dayman

I think the rule is don't be stupid in the city and do notuse your technology where there are a high concentration of lowlifes.

You mean like on public transit?

**AsYouWere** · 11-20-2012, 02:57 AM

Originally Posted by Bobbie3Sheets

I really think its time to start packing. I read and hear about crap constantly that I think its the only logical thing to do. How hard is to get a license to carry?

Somehow I doubt it's legal to pop someone running away with your smartphone in the back. If you can engineer a frontal
shot you're probably good.

**InYourVacancies** · 11-20-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Dayman

I think the rule is don't be stupid in the city and do notuse your technology where there are a high concentration of lowlifes.

Exactly. Part of why this seems to happen so much is how many people are walking around just zoned out into their phones...I see it everywhere from Center City to to Kensington and beyond. Most of them wouldn't see you coming if you wanted to just snatch their phone and dart.

Part of preventing crime is making it harder for somebody to commit one on you, either through watching your back when you do use a phone or just by minimizing how much you have it out and visible.

besides, life is more interesting when you pay attention to it

**Neb** · 11-20-2012, 07:57 AM

I wish someone would steal my Blackberry. Any takers? *crickets*

**Dayman** · 11-20-2012, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by AsYouWere

You mean like on public transit?

Depends on the route and time of day.

9 AM on the 43? No one will bother you.

I've lived in a really sh!tty part of Kensington. I've never been robbed or mugged or had anything stolen. I don't act like nor look like a target. My brother, a 130 lbs skinny hipster, has been robbed twice.

**ArcticSplash** · 11-20-2012, 12:53 PM

2 more robberies:

ARMED ROBBERY @ HUNTINGDON & SEPVIVA
A member of my congregation was robbed at gunpoint at approx. 11 pm last night at Huntingdon & Sepviva. He described the perpetrators as two black males but was too shaken to give any additional details. The M.O. sounded similar to other robberies which have been reported in the area.

And another one:
ARMED ROBBERY at 730 pm last night African American Male w/ bad teeth wearing a Red hollister hoodie held up a teenage couple for her cell phone. Do not use your phone outside if you can avoid it.

**lucidinnature** · 11-20-2012, 02:21 PM

Two people reported similar thefts at front and girard while waiting for the all night El bus. I told them to make police reports, but not sure if they did.

**ArcticSplash** · 11-20-2012, 02:26 PM

Oy it's so fkn annoying when people won't put in a police report.

**NickleDimer** · 11-20-2012, 02:36 PM

Here's a question: don't such a high percentage of people have smartphones nowadays that they could hold up pretty much anyone under 35 and get a decent piece of technology out of it? I'm skeptical if actually using your phone makes you that much more of a target.

**ArcticSplash** · 11-20-2012, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by NickleDimer

Here's a question: don't such a high percentage of people have smartphones nowadays that they could hold up pretty much anyone under 35 and get a decent piece of technology out of it? I'm skeptical if actually using your phone makes you that much more of a target.

Perhaps, but since the iPhone 5 just came out and the price is still high on it, and also the Galaxy S, they're hot commodities. Not too much of a market for older RAZR phones.

**lucidinnature** · 11-20-2012, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by NickleDimer

Here's a question: don't such a high percentage of people have smartphones nowadays that they could hold up pretty much anyone under 35 and get a decent piece of technology out of it? I'm skeptical if actually using your phone makes you that much more of a target.

True, but these jackasses are opportunists. Both people I knew were using their phones when kids with hoodies rolled up on bikes and were gone in two seconds.

**JePense** · 11-21-2012, 08:27 AM

While not a deterrent, using an app like "Find My iPhone" can help in some situations. Sure the thief can wipe the phone and make the app useless, but you have a window of opportunity before he does that. And let's face it, thieves aren't the smartest people around, so that window might be wide open.

Here is a link to the free app:
Find My iPhone

Follow the directions on this link to ensure your iPhone is properly set up to use that app. The article is somewhat dated but you should be able to figure it out for later versions of iOS.
How to protect your iPhone from theft - PC Advisor

Here are some other settings to fluster a would-be thief:
Protecting and Recovering Your iPhone and iPad from Loss and Theft

I am sure something like this exists on Android phones, too.