If you don’t pay attention for a moment, your cell phone is gone
The police were able to catch and arrest three mobile phone thieves in the act at the main train station in Cologne. They seem to have specialized in the umbrella trick.
Around New Year’s Eve the mood is boisterous, many people are on vacation, visiting friends and relatives – and forgetting that pickpockets don’t take a break. They even take advantage of distractions and hustle and bustle to pull their scams through.
Three men and an umbrella: caught stealing a cell phone in Cologne
The federal police officers of the pickpocketing search and investigation group (FEG TD) noticed three middle-aged men in the main station of the Rhine metropolis on Friday (December 30, 2022). These pursued a woman – from the train station to downtown Cologne. In the shopping crowd, the crook trio then turned the umbrella trick to: One turned himself in in front of the woman and stretched an umbrella carried along as privacy screen on. The other two crowded together behind then past the 36-year-old lady, one of the two deliberately reached into her jacket pocket to steal the mobile phone. The Cologne civil servants struck on the spot, the three mobile phone thieves were in custody at the turn of the year. They were known to the police (source: Federal Police Headquarters in Sankt Augustin). The surprised woman got her mobile phone back.
The federal police did not say how often the thieves had used this scam in the past. However, the trick is apparently simple and can be implemented quickly and practically anywhere. The opened umbrella serves not only as a Diversion, which aims at the victim, but also effectively prevents other passers-by in the area from becoming witnesses – after all, they do not see the accomplices behind the screen reaching into their pockets. Even surveillance cameras in public places become like this in the truest sense of the word “shielded”because the actual act is hidden.
So the rule is: Keep your eyes open in the hustle and bustle (shopping mall, train station, airport) – especially when someone suddenly opens an umbrella. It could be a deliberate diversion that initiates the theft of cell phones and other valuables.
