Thieves Using Simple Scam to Target Cellphones
A Chicago eatery caught a duo swiping a man's cellphone off the table.
— -- Thieves are using a simple scam to steal cellphones from unsuspecting strangers -- and one eatery allegedly caught the trick on camera.
After numerous customers at Chicago's Popeyes-Gold Coast Dogs restaurant complained about lost cellphones, the manager checked his surveillance video.
In one instance, the video showed a man eating alone at a table with his cellphone resting nearby. Two young men then walk into the restaurant, pull fliers out from under their shirts and then approach the man who was eating.
In the video, they cover the phone with the papers as they speak briefly to him. Moments later, the pair leave, allegedly taking the man's cellphone with them. The man can be seen on the video lifting his tray, trying to figure out what happened to his phone.
"I think it's kind of sad that this is now our new normal that we have to be extra, extra, extra cautious with our belongings," Bridgette Gilbert, a customer at the restaurant, told WLS, an ABC News affiliate in Chicago.
The manager of the eatery told WLS that he'd fine-tuned his cameras after he'd heard from police about similar crimes being committed at area restaurants.
According to Consumer Reports, more than 2 million cellphone were stolen in 2014.
