It's happening on city streets and in suburban malls and high schools.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/man-recovers-stolen-iphone-by-seducing-thief-on-online-dating-site-and-showing-up-to-date-with-a-large-hammer/
While out on the town on New Year’s Eve, 27-year-old musician Nadav Nirenberg lost his iPhone in the back of a cab. He called his phone several times, and when he got no answer, left messages promising a reward if the phone was returned to him.
Unfortunately, his messages went unreturned and he realized he may never see his iPhone again.
Then, just as he had lost all hope, Nirenberg noticed the phone thief had logged into his online dating profile on OKCupid and was trying to meet women. ...`But that gave Nirenberg an idea. He created a fake email and “half-believable” OKCupid account as “Jennifer Gonzalez.” Jennifer was 24 and had just moved to Brooklyn. She was also, conveniently for the thief, looking for a man to take her out.
“I sent a message to the thief (my account) and chatted him up as Jennifer…weird,” Nirenberg recalled on his blog. “I used lots of winks and smiley faces so I would seem like a girl,” he later told the New York Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/iphone-thief-photographs-herself-igotya_n_2276613.html
Police in Sussex, England -- and one miffed former iPhone owner -- are hunting for her, after she apparently stole an iPhone from the Coalition nightclub, accidentally took a photo of herself and then inadvertently uploaded it to the Internet, sharing it with the original owner, who turned it over to the cops.
The reason the suspected crook snapped the picture and tipped off the original owner? An app called iGotYa, which automatically takes a photo with the phone's front-facing camera and then emails the photo to a pre-selected email address after one unsuccessful attempt to unlock the phone.
The app works like the popular Prey software for the PC and Mac: After a baddie attempts to crack your iPhone's password once (or twice, or thrice, or however many times you set the app for), three things happen that can help lead to the criminal's capture. First, the crook's photo is taken and sent to the owner's email address. Second, the crook's location is pinpointed using the phone's GPS and is also sent to your email. And third, a text message is sent to the phone, asking the criminal to kindly return the iPhone to its rightful owner.
http://gizmodo.com/5955457/this-is-how-thieves-will-snatch-your-phone-on-the-train
This robbery happened on a subway in Hungary a few days ago. Apparently the thief there was being filmed because he was acting a little weird, and the camera-person thought there might be some funny business ahead. Unfortunately, the instinct was correct. It's incredibly suspenseful, even when you know what's going to happen, and dirty rotten thievery aside, the dude has his timing down.
Fortunately, the video got popular in Hungary, and the thief was caught. Nonetheless, it just goes to show how quick something like this can happen, and how powerless you can be to stop it if the robber knows what he's doing. Keep your eyes open and hold on tight. You wouldn't want this to happen to you. [YouTube via Reddit]
Google is your friend!
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