Brazen Street Thieves in Rio de Janeiro (safe, place, train)

[AntonioR]

It's incredible how these street urchins are able to 'ply their trade' as if it was nothing, multiple times in one day, all in the same area without a single police in sight.



What areas of Rio are these scenes most likely to occur?

[Astral_Weeks]

I was in Rio De Janeiro for a week several years ago. I was having lunch in broad daylight at a sidewalk café in Ipanema (one of the nicest parts of Rio). Busy street with lots of pedestrian traffic.

I was sitting near a group of Brazilians who were also having lunch. A thief walked right by their table and ripped a necklace off this guy's neck and went running. But the guy's friends were quick to act and tackled the thief and held the guy down until security/police came to get the guy.

To keep things in perspective I was there for one week and this was the only incident like that I saw. That said, it happens relatively frequently. Lesson learned: don't wear expensive jewelry in Rio.

These petty thieves in the video look like amateurs. When I was in Barcelona about 15 years ago I was warned about the "gifted" pick pockets in that city. Apparently they will walk up to you and in a flash get your valuables without you even realizing it. Didn't happen to me but I was careful about what I carried with me.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks

When I was in Barcelona about 15 years ago I was warned about the "gifted" pick pockets in that city.

I think things have changed in Spain, I don't think this is the case any more on such a scale as it was a couple decades ago.

Anytime you are in south or central America, don't wear jewlery and don't walk around on the street holding your cell phone.

i have a Colombian friend who has been living in Spain for the past 10 years and had gotten used to the safety of Spain. She went back to Colombia last year to visit, everyone was telling her to be careful with her cell phone, but she had forgotten what Colombia was like, she dismissed their words of advice, and sure enough got her cell phone snatched out of her hand on the street.

[UrbanLuis]

^^^ That is why I don't take my cel when I go to Central America. I buy a cheap phone when I am there so its no big deal if it gets taken. I just give it away when I leave.

[Pueblofuerte]

Nowadays even smart phones are cheap. I got a second hand Samsung Galaxy 5 for about $70 bucks and it fulfils all my needs when travelling. Google Maps, Tripadvisor, whatsapp, Air BnB, skype, etc. I used my phone on the street while I was in Brazil and Colombia a few weeks ago safe in the knowledge that if someone took it I had another backup phone back in the apartment. Never once felt like it was going to get stolen, although I know it does happen frequently I see many people still using much newer phones than mine on the street, especially in Colombia. Seriously - where do all these people get money for all these new iphone X's? I don't even have one back in London, then again I don't place importance on having the latest phone, I prefer to spend my money on other things.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by UrbanLuis

^^^ That is why I don't take my cel when I go to Central America. I buy a cheap phone when I am there so its no big deal if it gets taken. I just give it away when I leave.

Reminds me of a funny story that happened. A few years ago when I was in Cali (Colombia), one afternoon we went downtown to a place that's not exactly a shopping mall, it's a large semi-underground area with a couple hundred small shops. Basically the kind of place where they sell a lot of cheap stuff from China. This place is always extremely crowded, throngs of people, both inside and outside in the surrounding street. It's known for having a lot of thieves because there's a lot of people on which to prey. So what we do when we go there is tuck our cell phones into the front of our pants under our shirt. So I did that but this time the fingerprint sensor was rubbing up against my bare stomach and I didn't realize at the time that, in doing so, it kept trying to unlock the phone because it thought I was swiping my finger. After 5 or 10 such attempts it locked the phone permanently. Well ... things being what they were I couldn't remember the unlock password, and I tried everything I could do to remotely unlock it, but since it was registered with Google in the U.S., Google wasn't able to locate my position and couldn't remotely unlock it. Etc etc. I spent a couple hours back at the house trying to unlock it to no avail, trying to restore it from backup to no avail. So finally I had to wipe the damn thing and reinstall it (thereby losing my ability to use Wechat and Whatsapp which were registered with my U.S. phone number which was inaccessible at the time.)

So I learned a couple things from this:
* if your phone rubs against your stomach, it thinks it's your finger
* almost remember or write down your alternative passwords to unlock the phone
* maintain regular backups of your phone that you can restore from

[UrbanLuis]

Cali seems like my kind of city.

[klmrocks]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

Reminds me of a funny story that happened. A few years ago when I was in Cali (Colombia), one afternoon we went downtown to a place that's not exactly a shopping mall, it's a large semi-underground area with a couple hundred small shops. Basically the kind of place where they sell a lot of cheap stuff from China. This place is always extremely crowded, throngs of people, both inside and outside in the surrounding street. It's known for having a lot of thieves because there's a lot of people on which to prey. So what we do when we go there is tuck our cell phones into the front of our pants under our shirt. So I did that but this time the fingerprint sensor was rubbing up against my bare stomach and I didn't realize at the time that, in doing so, it kept trying to unlock the phone because it thought I was swiping my finger. After 5 or 10 such attempts it locked the phone permanently. Well ... things being what they were I couldn't remember the unlock password, and I tried everything I could do to remotely unlock it, but since it was registered with Google in the U.S., Google wasn't able to locate my position and couldn't remotely unlock it. Etc etc. I spent a couple hours back at the house trying to unlock it to no avail, trying to restore it from backup to no avail. So finally I had to wipe the damn thing and reinstall it (thereby losing my ability to use Wechat and Whatsapp which were registered with my U.S. phone number which was inaccessible at the time.)

So I learned a couple things from this:
* if your phone rubs against your stomach, it thinks it's your finger
* almost remember or write down your alternative passwords to unlock the phone
* maintain regular backups of your phone that you can restore from

LOL! Funny, but wise advice.


I am assuming you are male.


The difference is as a woman we have a few better hiding spots for these types of environments.


Normally I have loads of stuff in my hand bag ( make up, money, jewelry, keys, credits cards, cell phones, ipod, nail polish... plane tickets from last year .... all kinds of crazy stuff) and also a bag likely worth stealing even it empty.


When travelling I avoid band bags and use crappy clothes tote bags and only keep water bottles, gum, some makeup and very little in it. Things I really don't want to loose get tucked in the sides of the bra and I sort of scatter money in other spots ex each jacket pockets.. maybe in shoes ... but the good stuff credit cards, larger bills, even keys or significant documents are getting slide in to either side of bra. So if I need to pull out a card I can I casually slide my fingers in to out of that area without making it obvious. This trick also works for sneaking things in to concerts.... but that is a totally different thread.


There are certain parts of another person's body you just can not casually touch without attracting attention. Touching a women's breast in a public/crowded place is enough to trigger getting in ***** from a bunch of people all at once.


I would be worries about tucking something in that area of the body also because it would actually fall with the friction and body moves on walking or bending over.


Bra actually hold stuff if place very well. Not that I am suggesting you were a bra when traveling to keep your stuff in place, but just reminding any women that might be reading this that this is far better then this tip is far better then a money belt.


So if I did get robbed I would just toss over my bag, run and hope the person robbing me enjoys the peach lip gloss, chewing gum and the bottle of water !

[AntonioR]

You should throw in there some Monopoly money just for the heck of it. lol

[Milky Way Resident]

I guess wearing flip flops is a bad idea in Rio. I'd go with trainers just to be able to run away from them.