Recently the NYPD put out a warning to residents and tourists that cell phone thefts were on the rise for friendly people who were willing to help out strangers wanting to make a call or stealing it out of their hands as they ride the subway (the video above is from Hungary but you get the idea).
Well people, ‘Minnesota Nice’ isn’t alive and well here locally and you should probably be paying closer attention to your mobile phones when you’re on mass transit or at McDonald’s in Apple Valley.
From a recent Dakota County Criminal Complaint:
On November 7, 2012, Apple Valley police were dispatched to a robbery complaint at McDonald’s located in Apple Valley, Dakota County, Minnesota. Upon arrival officers spoke to R.M. who stated that he was studying at the McDonald’s when a male, later identified as Devon Deshawn Gordon, approached him and asked R.M. if he could use R.M.’s phone. R.M. reluctantly agreed but told Gordon that he needed to stay by where R.M. was seated. Gordon then took the phone and began walking towards the southwest door of the business, looked and R.M. and said “thanks for the phone” and then ran east towards County Road 42.
[...]
Gordon went to put the phone in his pocket and R.M. swatted his hand away. Gordon then punched R.M. and attempted to hit R.M. four or five more times but R.M. was able to block those punches. R.M. grabbed Gordon Around his shoulders and forced him down into the mulch in front of KFC. R.M. was able to get his phone back from Gordon and then ran back into the McDonald’s to call 911.
[...]
Gordon said that he had been at the McDonald’s and asked to use R.M.’s phone. R.M. let him use the phone and that he went outside. Gordon said that R.M. thought he was trying to steal his phone so R.M. assaulted Gordon.
Have you recently allowed a stranger to use your mobile phone to make a call? Do you pay attention when in public or riding mass transit, especially the LRT, to those who are around you who may attempt to steal your phone? What sorts of protection do you have on your phone to help you either remotely wipe, otherwise lock, or locate your phone? If someone stole your phone would you chase them down and confront them as ‘R.M.’ did here? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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November 20th, 2012 at 8:45 am
I stopped letting people use my phone years ago. I would often get requests for people to use my phone when I was sitting on my porch. I’d tell them where the nearest payphone was (yes, there were payphones in the neighborhood) and would even give them 50 cents for it. It wasn’t as much that I was afraid of them stealing it as I was not needing someone getting my number and thinking their friend the drug addict/drug dealer/pimp/boyfriend/whatever was able to be reached at that number. I would call 911 for people if that’s what they wanted.
November 20th, 2012 at 9:06 am
That could’ve ended a different way for R.M. had the low-life thief been carrying a gun. It’s a phone, and not really worth risking your life for it.
If you utilize ‘Find your Friends’ with iOS, you can remotely wipe your device, and then call the carrier to report it stolen so they can permanently disable on their network.
November 20th, 2012 at 9:57 am
Nils, clearly it wasn’t an iPhone. If it had been the police report would have read like this:
November 20th, 2012 at 11:49 am
Good point. Although if he had an iPhone 5, why would he also need an iPod Nano?
November 20th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Because MSPD is a moron Android user and doesn’t realize iPhone users, who have the superior media player on the market, don’t need multiple devices like Android users do.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Style points.
November 20th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
I profile strangers. So some may get the green light to use it, most others no. I can’t recall ever being asked to borrow my phone.
For the scam artists, here is how you might sneak by my profiling. Carry a old phone with you and pretend to be trying to use it but be out of power. Then ask if you can make a quick call to let your girlfriend, boyfriend, mom, dad, friend know they can pick you up. I’d be a sucker for that one, especially if you were a woman. (Women don’t lie, right?)
November 20th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
In honor of the time my then 12-year-old daughter was stranded and borrowed a cell from a kind stranger to call us for rescue, I’d like to help. On the other hand, I don’t want to be a chump. So if I’m ever approached, I’ll probably offer to place the call and pass on the message myself. That’s if I think fast enough to remember the plan. More likely, I’ll just hand over the phone before giving it much thought at all.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
I think that guy in your video has a great sense of timing!
The iPhone/iPad may have a good embedded media player, but iTunes on the Windows platform sucks big time.
No, I’m not going to take a hint and pay a premium for Apple hardware and buy into the Apple way!
At least with MS you can choose your own hardware to use on their platform.
Apple has no excuse for not fixing their software to work well on Windows, and I’m not talking about crashes, but to recover iTunes after a crash it usually involves rebooting your system, oh and sometimes you can’t get the program to close EVEN USING TASK MANAGER!
November 20th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
OK I’ve calmed down now.
November 20th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
I’ve never had any such problem on Windows. Sounds like user error.
November 20th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Whoever stole my phone would be in for a big disappointment with my enV2.
November 20th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Right. User error, yep that must be it. Couldn’t be that their code is suspect or anything on their end, OK I’ll admit it, I barely know how click a mouse so that’s why I have worked in IT for the past 12 years, oh wait…
I’ve never had an issue with Lightroom, so does that mean no one else does either?
OK maybe you were kidding just a bit and I’m overreacting but still…
November 21st, 2012 at 12:02 am
Yes I was kidding. However your response shows me just how little you know.