A series of nighttime cellphone thefts has targeted people leaving bars, nightclubs, and ride shares in Downtown, Back Bay, Fenway, and the Seaport, mostly between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. Suspects have used tactics including stealing phones during or after rideshares, offering unsolicited rides, pickpocketing, shoulder surfing to observe passcodes, asking to borrow phones, and offering to take photos. Some incidents involved physical or verbal threats or violence. Once phones are taken, suspects access sensitive information and make unauthorized transactions through apps and accounts, and have fraudulently used credit and debit cards.
Current tactics utilized by [suspects] have included - stealing phones during or after ride shares, offering unsolicited rides, and utilizing physical or verbal threats or violence against victims. In previous cases, suspects pickpocketed victims, "shoulder surfed" to observe and steal passcodes, asked to borrow phones to make a call or to exchange contact or social media info, or offered to take photos or videos for victims.
Once in possession of the phone, suspects have accessed sensitive information and made unauthorized transactions using financial apps. Targets have included Apple ID accounts, Apple Pay, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, cryptocurrency wallets, and sports betting apps like DraftKings. In several cases, credit and debit cards have also been used fraudulently.
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