Imagine your cell phone is stolen at a concert and you find out about a theft ring! This is what happened to a man who after losing his cell phone, he went to search for it and he encountered a situation he thought he would never have to experience… Thanks to a phone call, he could track where his cell phone was which led him to find out a theft ring!
Although this happened in France, other countries have taken notes and are concerned about security at massive events.
Cell phones are very attractive for thieves anywhere, not only at events. So, we need to be careful and have them very well kept everytime we go out. Let’s see more about this story!
Heavy Weekend festival
This is a festival for heavy metal music lovers, but this time ended up being the scene of a theft ring discovery. This festival was held in the Zénith du Grand Nancy from the 7th to the 9th of June and gathered more than 35,000 people that weekend. However, not everything was going as fun as it should because at least 25 cell phones were stolen, which concerned many people at this festival.
Lost cell phone led to an unexpected situation
This festival experience was a peculiar one for a man at the festival. His cell phone disappeared and he decided to track it by calling himself using his friend’s cell phone, and the signal was leading them to the parking space of the event. There he saw a man with his cell phone in a man’s pocket.
From this moment, the festival stopped being an entertainment event and it became a solving case of a theft ring. The man who stole the cell phone had 24 more of these devices, some of them covered in aluminum foil to block GPS signals and avoid being tracked.
Heavy metal lovers captured the thief
The alleged thief was a 57 years old man and was confronted by people at the festival. There was a struggle between the alleged thief and the man whose cell phone was stolen with the help of other attendees. The man who supposedly stole those cell phones fell on the floor and got injured, so he had to be taken to the hospital.
After this conflict, the police confirmed this man had 25 of these devices, but they couldn’t guarantee all of them were stolen at the festival.
More common than you might think
These types of robberies are a trend among thieves in festivals, concerts and massive events because thieves take advantage of people enjoying the events and not paying much attention to their cell phones. Some of them operate on their own, which is the case of the Heavy Weekend festival, but others are part of an organized network.
Some cell phones have already been given to their owners by authorities, and they expect to identify the rest of the devices to be given to the right people too. What happened to the perpetrator? He was released with a court summons and he must go to the tribunal soon.
What we learnt from this story
This has shown the importance of reinforcing security in massive events like the Heavy Weekend festival. France, where all this issue happened, and its neighbor country (Spain) are places where massive festivals are done during the entire Summer and the events’ organizers must implement measures to prevent these types of crimes and offer immediate help in case of emergencies.
We, as attendees, should also take precautions like: never be far from our devices, never leaving them without supervision and activate functions like remote location. You should always try everything that comes to your mind to make sure you avoid being stolen, so be careful next time you go to a massive event but don’t forget to enjoy!
