{"id":465245,"date":"2025-12-22T22:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465245\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T22:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T22:11:16","slug":"exclusive-crafty-pickpockets-swipe-more-phones-from-nyc-music-venues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465245\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Crafty pickpockets swipe more phones from NYC music venues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skilled pickpockets swiped as many as dozens of cell phones during two concerts in Brooklyn this month \u2014 less than a month after 20 phones were taken<\/a> during a local show in the growing targeted scam.<\/p>\n

A man filed a police report for his missing phone after a performance by the metal band Silverstein at the downtown Brooklyn Paramount on Saturday night \u2013 and according to social media, dozens more were snatched during the event, too.<\/p>\n

Thieves looted more cell phones at bustling Brooklyn music venues in December, according to authorities and concertgoers. Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWas just there last night and again over 30 people got their phones stolen at Brooklyn Paramount,\u201d a Reddit user fumed.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another person wrote, \u201cMy phone was stolen along with many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally sad that this is what\u2019s happening at these events.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thefts are believed to be part of a global crime network, with the illicit goods often winding up in China as part of a wildly lucrative resale market. Ruan J\/peopleimages.com \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

About a week earlier, at the Bushwick music hall Brooklyn Monarch, two people told cops their phones were stolen after a Dec. 14 show featuring several metal bands<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at [the show],\u201d and about 11 people got their phones stolen last Sunday,\u201d a Reddit user wrote. \u201cIt was a group of younger people who did it, enough of us figured it out but they fled pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crimes come after The Post revealed 20 phones were reported missing from Paramount concertgoers following a Nov. 7 performance from the emo band Hot Mulligan there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid anyone else get their phone stolen at the Silverstein show? I\u2019m convinced the same pickpocket that was at the Hot Mulligan show got this one too,\u201d a Reddit user said.<\/p>\n

Many such thefts either don\u2019t go reported to cops or remain unsolved. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

Another person wrote of the Paramount, \u201cSeemed inevitable, the venue is starting to become notorious for this\u201d \u2014 adding that new signs were placed outside the venue and on indoor screens warning fans to \u201cbe aware of pick pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rep for Paramount told The Post in a statement, \u201cWe are taking these reports very seriously and continue to operate in close partnership with the NYPD. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also providing additional guidance for fans about how to look after their personal belongings during a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Post request for comment from Brooklyn Monarch was not returned.<\/p>\n

Cybersecurity expert Robert Siciliano previously told The Post that the ongoing wave of concert thefts are part of a global crime network, with the goods often winding up in China as part of a wildly lucrative resale market.<\/p>\n

At the Brooklyn Monarch in Bushwick, a pair of phone thefts were reported to police after a Dec. 14 show.\u00a0 Google Maps<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an organized effort, no question about it,\u201d Siciliano said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that the devices themselves are getting much more expensive\u201d with iPhone prices nearly doubling over the past decade<\/a>, he said. \u201cUS-based devices that are stolen can easily be used in countries like China because their networks aren\u2019t following the same blacklist protocols as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some concertgoers outside the Brooklyn Paramount said they are taking measures to protect themselves. Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post<\/p>\n

Pickpocketing and grand-larceny reports are both down citywide year-over-year, according to police data \u2014 but Siciliano noted that many of these types of incidents aren\u2019t reported to authorities, and even the active cases seldom get solved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, five to 10% [of cases are solved] at best, and that\u2019s when they go after the middlemen responsible for packing up the hardware and shipping it out overseas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some concertgoers said they are taking measures to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually when I go to festivals, I don\u2019t take my phone with me anymore,\u201d said Dan Novakov, whose phone was pickpocketed at a festival in Orlando, Fla., a few years ago, outside the Brooklyn Paramount.<\/p>\n

Venue concertgoer Aldo Battista said, \u201cWe are from Italy and are pretty used to [pickpocketing].<\/p>\n

\u201cMy secret is to put everything at the front, in my pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skilled pickpockets swiped as many as dozens of cell phones during two concerts in Brooklyn this month \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":465246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1121,21200,4219,5248,405,403,7619,5226,5225,5228,5227,8156,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-465245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-concert","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-city-life","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-theft","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115765515824634780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}