This week’s police blotter features one iPhone robbery and one attempted iPhone robbery that appear to be related.
A gun-toting thief attempted to rob a woman, threatening to shoot her if she didn’t surrender her iPhone near the corner of Remsen and Henry streets on February 19 at 8:30 p.m. The victim safely fled with her phone.
Later that evening, another woman was robbed for her iPhone at gunpoint. The woman was walking on Joralemon Street between Furman Street and Columbia Place at 10 p.m. when the thug came up behind her and threatened to shoot her unless she turned over the phone.
Last week also saw a pair of thefts at the UA Court Street theater. A thug took off with a purse containing $80 that a woman had left at her seat on February 14 just before 6 p.m. And on February 17, two perps bumped into a woman in the packed lobby of the theater, grabbing her phone in the process.
A car was stolen on State Street between Flatbush and Third avenues on February 19 around 10 p.m.
A perp stole a watch valued at nearly $5,000 from a locker at a gym on Court Street. The victim discovered her iPhone, wallet and Chanel watch were stolen around 2 p.m. on February 11.
Makes you wanna trade in that iPhone for a Palm Pre, doesn’t it?
Gotta guess that was the same perp.
Combination Lock: $5
Fancy Watch: $5,000
Lesson Learned: Priceless
For once it doesn’t say that the locker wasn’t locked, but c’mon….
How could she know what time they were stolen? No watch, no iPhone?
A couple of years ago the Sidekick was more popular with criminals than the iPhone, but it looks like all those 3rd-party apps, declining popularity of the Sidekick & increasing popularity of smartphones in general has changed that. I also read that the Sidekick is being phased out this year. Speaking of smartphones, I need to get one this year to replace my 4-year-old LG “dumbphone”.
No One of Consequence,
What, you don’t think there are clocks in the gym?
NOoC… here we go again, huh?
Why would anyone risk jail time for an Iphone? Is there some sort of black market for them?
Because savages are savages. They’ll steal a coconut as much as an iphone.
I’m soo glad I bought shares of Apple when I did…
It sucks when you have to worry every time you take out your iPhone for a call or changing your music, especially after dark. I might have to get a less-popular iPhone alternative, maybe even a phone with WinMo7 which seems very promising. Then again, I’ll buy what I want regardless how popular it is with those bastards.
They won’t know you have it if you don’t walk down the street talking on it or playing with your music. Pat attention to your surroundings.
Pat attention? Is that a stop-and-frisk reference, willowtown?
“They won’t know you have it if you don’t walk down the street talking on it or playing with your music”
WillowtownCop, is there an App for that?
Thanks rat, you just gave me an idea…the cloak of invisibility app.
I read somewhere that you can brick your iPhone remotely if someone steals it.
@teddy: Now you got me really intrigued about how to brick my IPhone remotely…
Main Entry: brick
Pronunciation: \ˈbrik\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English bryke, from Middle Dutch bricke
Date: 15th century
1 plural bricks or brick : a handy-sized unit of building or paving material typically being rectangular and about 21⁄4 × 33⁄4 × 8 inches (57 × 95 × 203 millimeters) and of moist clay hardened by heat
2 : a good-hearted person
3 : a rectangular compressed mass (as of ice cream)
4 : a semisoft cheese with numerous small holes, smooth texture, and often mild flavor
5 : gaffe, blunder —used especially in the phrase drop a brick
6 : a badly missed shot in basketball
-Merriam Webster
I know there is a Palm Pre app that allows you to track the device location based on GPS (you can also remotely brick it). Sorta like lo-jack for your phone.
Using a MobileMe account you can remotely wipe all the data by forcing a format. I assume this will happen as soon as the stolen iPhone is connected to the internet. So it’s not really “bricked” (broken) and can be used again. I did read somewhere that there was a way to break/brick it remotely but I don’t know how.