{"id":2179329,"date":"2025-11-28T01:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T01:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2179329"},"modified":"2025-11-28T01:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T01:03:39","slug":"exclusive-thieves-nab-20-phones-at-one-nyc-concert-as-expert-warns-music-fans-are-targets-of-global-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/exclusive-thieves-nab-20-phones-at-one-nyc-concert-as-expert-warns-music-fans-are-targets-of-global-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Thieves nab 20 phones at one NYC concert &#8212; as expert warns music fans are targets of global network"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Thieves stole 20 phones during a single Brooklyn concert, The Post has learned \u2014 as one expert warns it\u2019s part of a growing trend targeting crowded music venues tied to an international black market.<\/p>\n<p>Cops were called to punk band Hot Mulligan\u2019s performance at the Brooklyn Paramount on Nov. 7 when a slew of unsuspecting concertgoers were seemingly pickpocketed\u2013 with the thieves turning off the phones so they couldn\u2019t be tracked, officials confirmed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Police were called to the Brooklyn Paramount in Downtown Brooklyn during punk band Hot Mulligan\u2019s show, where 20 phones were reported stolen. <span class=\"credit\">Google Maps<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>No arrests have been made to date, but the investigation is still ongoing, an NYPD rep said.<\/p>\n<p>Attendee James Crowley, 31, said he saw multiple people scanning the floor at the Downtown Brooklyn venue, looking for phones that they thought they might have dropped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been going to shows since I was 14\u2026I\u2019ve never seen anything like that,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>One bystander finally said, \u201cI think people are having their phones taken,\u201d according to Crowley.<\/p>\n<p>The incident is the latest in a growing series of mass phone thefts, with the stolen goods oftentimes winding up in China as part of a wildly-lucrative resale market, cybersecurity expert Robert Siciliano told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>The surge in demand for secondhand phones in China began in 2022 as the world emerged from pandemic lockdowns, Siciliano said. Now, the average iPhone is worth between $300 to $500 to thieves \u2014 and Chinese resellers can generate up to $5,000 in profit for a single phone stolen from the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is that the devices themselves are getting much more expensive\u201d with iPhone prices <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/size-and-price-of-every-iphone-ever-released\">nearly doubling over the last decade<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\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 he said.<\/p>\n<p>Lackadaisical prosecution of petty thefts in \u201cmostly blue states,\u201d paired with limited police resources, has led to thieves \u201crealizing that they were literally getting away with crime,\u201d Siciliano said.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, only about 5 to 10% of US phone theft cases are solved, Siciliano said, as lengthy investigations require cops to crack password-protected devices and go after the middlemen shipping devices overseas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey often don\u2019t have the budgets for that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>In addition to the Brooklyn Paramount, police reports were filed over the summer for phone thefts at Under the K Bridge (above) and Brooklyn Storehouse, police sources confirmed.  <span class=\"credit\">Wayne Carrington<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In addition to the Brooklyn Paramount, police reports were filed over the summer for phone thefts at Under the K Bridge and Brooklyn Storehouse, police confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHad my phone stolen last night [at] Under the K Bridge, both the police and the guy at Verizon said 20+ people have come in today with the same story,\u201d one Reddit user <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/avesNYC\/comments\/1mfxwv4\/at_least_20_phones_stolen_last_night\/\">wrote in August.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another Reddit user described a \u201cwhole line of people at lost and found missing phones\u201d after punk band Turnstile\u2019s concert at the same outdoor venue in June. <\/p>\n<p>Turnstile\u2019s summer tour appears to have been rife with pickpocketing complaints, with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DO_zxLbEs7a\/\">hundreds of apparent victims<\/a> leading the band to project an on-screen warning to fans in Los Angeles:<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/turnstile\/comments\/1nycr83\/seen_on_the_screens_at_the_la_show_attention\/\"> \u201cAttention secure your phone K thnx bye.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like that,\u201d avid concertgoer James Crowley, 31, said of the mass phone theft at the Brooklyn Paramount. <span class=\"credit\">Tiktok\/jamespcrowley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A spokesperson for Live Nation, the Brooklyn Paramount\u2019s operator, told The Post there have not been any \u201cnotable\u201d theft reports at the music hall outside the Nov. 7 incident, and deferred all further questions to the NYPD.<\/p>\n<p>Monica Minier, a Queens resident who says she attends at least two concerts a week, told The Post her phone was swiped at a show for the first time at Warsaw in Brooklyn on Oct. 9 during rock band High Vis\u2019 concert.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMultiple\u201d others were pickpocketed in the same night, according to one <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/NYCConcerts\/comments\/1o31zke\/please_be_aware_of_pickpockets\/\">Reddit thread.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was clearly [part of] a pattern,\u201d Minier, 46, said, noting she stood on a lost-and-found line with a woman whose wallet had been swiped. \u201cI ended up leaving to go home and wipe my phone, and then about five days later \u2026 it ended up in China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A request for comment from Warsaw\u2019s management was not returned.<\/p>\n<p>Minier, who said she didn\u2019t file a police report, said she is more upset at Warsaw\u2019s management than the thieves \u2013 and demands increased, more visible venue security in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHire more staff or be more visible,\u201d she fumed, \u201cbut I don\u2019t see what\u2019s in it for [the venue] unless people stop going to shows because they\u2019re afraid of this.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The crime trend is \u201con the rise, and it is global,\u201d said Robert Siciliano, a cybersecurity expert and\u00a0CEO of Protect Now LLC. <span class=\"credit\">Safr.Me<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Until then, Minier said she will start using a tether on her phone. Crowley has similarly begun wearing pants with front-zippers to shows to deter thieves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really disappointing,\u201d Minier said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis feels new, this feels targeted, and it certainly feels like something that, now that it has worked, will continue to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the apparent trend, an NYPD spokesperson told The Post pickpocket complaints are down citywide 11%, 1,474 in 2024 to 1,318 this year to date.<\/p>\n<p>Pickpocket crews were busted <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/09\/us-news\/migrant-pickpocket-crew-nabbed-working-the-crowd-at-nyc-governors-ball-festival-police\/\">swiping phones as recently as this summer at the Governor\u2019s Ball Festival in Queens<\/a>. All were released without bail pending return court appearances.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thieves stole 20 phones during a single Brooklyn concert, The Post has learned \u2014 as one expert warns it\u2019s part of a growing trend targeting crowded music venues tied to an international black market. Cops were called to punk band Hot Mulligan\u2019s performance at the Brooklyn Paramount on Nov. 7 when a slew of unsuspecting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2179330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22021,401927,25879,403851,419567,30786,37798],"class_list":["post-2179329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-brooklyn","tag-cybersecurity","tag-metro","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-nypd","tag-theft","tag-us-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Exclusive-Thieves-nab-20-phones-at-one-NYC-concert.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2179329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2179331,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179329\/revisions\/2179331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2179330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2179329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2179329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2179329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}