xxx....and counting.

[Alzinho]

I just got mugged on the subte. They tried to grab my mobile and snatch the watch off my arm - both cheap items bought here - but I had 2 hands on the mobile and the watch has a very strong strap and they got away with nothing. Just a scratched thumb and a bruised wrist to show for it. I'm still counting it as a 'robbery' though, albeit a failed one!

The title of this thread was going to be "16 and counting" - 16 being the number of times I have now been robbed since coming to Argentina 3 years ago, but then I thought when I come back to report the next one it'll be 17, so instead of having to start a new thread every time I put in the variable 'xxx'.

I made it 'xxx' rather than 'xx' because of the inevitability of it eventually reaching treble figures.

A new development this time was that one person spoke to me and apologized on behalf of her country afterwards. That's the first time I've ever received any sympathy or recognition that something 'wrong' had happened. Thankyou lady.

:-/

Al

 

[Neil]

I never have my mobile out in subte....inviting trouble. Lets the other suckerz waving them around be the targets.....

 

[jazrgz]

glad to hear you´re ok Al ...and that those bastards were not able to take anything !

 

[Alzinho]

I never have my mobile out in subte....inviting trouble. Lets the other suckerz waving them around be the targets.....

Yeah, of course, but sometimes it's unavoidable. And the reason they didn't get it is because, being aware of this, I had hold of it with both hands.

 

[almagestos]

Yeah, of course, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

I think it´s avoidable, turn off your cell phone in subte, bus or dangerous areas... you must prevent!

 

[Hellek]

When I was 16 I spent two weeks in Paris with school. My teacher's handbag got mugged twice in the subway and I for myself saw two ocassions where mobile phones were snatched right out of the hands of someone. All that within less than 14 days!
When the french exchange students came to Austria for the return visit, after some shopping in my city's biggest shopping center, they figured out they don't have security guards and not much protection anyway (it is very safe where I grew up) and started stealing clothes, perfumes, electronic gadgets, all kinds of stuff. They did not run into any trouble.

When I was in Marseille (France as well), I once saw a puddle of blood on the street. Another day, guys on a motorcycle tried to snatch my mum's purse. That was within two days we spent there.

When I was in Rome with school, a few of our wallets got stolen by pickpockets. Did not encounter any agressiveness though.

In my 2,5 weeks in BsAs, I never saw any bad crimes. Never saw anything getting snatched from anybody, never saw anybody getting beaten up. And never fell victim to any crimes myself either. Except that my bank gave me a horrible exchange rate and additionally charged me about 2,5€ per transaction.

Bottom line: Big cities are always a bit dangerous. You can always have bad luck, and you can also provoke having bad luck. I don't know what it is in your case. Either way, cellphones being snatched in the subway is the most usual thing you can imagine ... for 10 years already.
You can try using the cheap hands-free set that comes with the phone, get a cheap second phone for use on the street, or just reduce usage to relatively safe places. At least I figured out for me, that those would be my options, I went for the third.

 

[esllou]

when you're in big cities, you have to set yourself certain golden rules. It's just common sense. I've been here 15 months and following these rules, have only had one thing happen to me...my knapsack got pinched from under a table but plain clothes police nabbed the guy within 100 yards so I didn't lose it.

1. never go to an ATM after 8-9pm
2. never leave bank/ATM vestibule (chandler!!) with wallet in hand. Do all of that while you're standing at the ATM itself.
3. never use phone, ipod, whatever on a bus, subte.
4. don't go out with ATM cards, credit cards, unless you actually know you're going to use them.
5. never give a bigger bill than a 20 pesos to a cab driver. If possible, use tens. If possible, use fives. You get the picture.
6. never stop to talk to strangers in the street. This is a tough one to follow but a lot of the scams begin with stopping you in the street and catching you off guard.
7. If you have bags with you outside at a cafe, put it in your lap. If you have to put it on the ground, put your leg through a handle. (this is the one I added after my incident!)

feel free to add others.

 

[JoeKelly711]

My sympathies to you! I'm glad they failed, those bastards!!!

 

[andcwilly]

what subte line were you on? which do you guys think is the most dangerous?