Bar Patrons Beware, Cellphone Thieves Are Multiplying
DENVER (CBS4) - Police say it's a problem, downtown bar and restaurant managers are frustrated, and patrons are asking for help. They can't actually call for help because the problem is their cellphones are being stolen on a nightly basis.
Lower Downtown restaurants are full of fun, food, and apparently cellphone thieves.
"I was out in downtown Denver with friends. I had my purse on just like this (around her shoulder)," said a woman who chose not to be identified.
The woman was one of many on a recent Saturday night who had their cellphones stolen in LoDo.
"The band that was playing actually stopped to announce, 'Ladies, check your bags, people are stealing cellphones.' I think they said the ninth one in about 5 minutes."
Michael Harper was at a different bar, but had a similar story.
"I was at a bar with friends … I had it in a lower pocket in the back of my pants. And someone had just reached in the back and kind of pulled it out," Harper said.
At the Ginn Mill bar in LoDo cellphone thefts have been a huge problem. The number of phone thefts was so high -- 12 to 15 per weekend -- the manager added extra security personnel on top of the 32 security cameras hidden around the bar.
CBS4's Suzanne McCarroll looks at surveillance video of cellphone thieves at the Ginn Mill (credit: CBS)
Cameras routinely capture images of thieves combing the bar, ready to pounce on unattended phones. They recently caught two men working together.
"The thieves when we caught them had six, seven cellphones on them," Ginn Mill manager Jimmy Shviraga said.
Now bartenders and wait staff are told to be on alert for high-tech pickpockets.
"I tell the staff, 'Look for people walking through the crowd. If you notice someone that's walked by you two or three times, and they don't have drink in their hand, there's a good chance they're just looking for people's purses and wallets and cellphones," Shviraga said.
Once a phone is stolen, even if it's immediately disabled, the thieves can easily sell the phone. The thieves can ship them overseas or use them for parts. According to a manager at Mac Outlet in Englewood, the total device value can be anywhere from $650 to $950.
The Find My iPhone feature can help locate a phone, although thieves seem very adept at disabling that feature almost immediately.
Some bar patrons realize the danger and are going to extremes to hide their phones.
"That's why I always keep my phone here (takes phone out of her bra)," a woman at a bar said.
