Security report on the Rio street
OK guys don't forget about the safety while mongering in Rio because those gangs of boys you saw or heard about has become aggressive lately, very aggressive. They are attacking people daylight, robbing Cell phones, handbags, necklaces, watches etc. If you are talking on the cell phone in Rio, you better watch out. How bad is this situation? Well, bad enough that insurance companies has started advertising "cell phone insurance". It has been on TV lately as more and more people are complaining that the government is not doing anything about these boys. The problems is that the boys committing these crimes are between 12-16 and the government seem to have their hands tied. The boys (4-8 of them) see their target and attack, grab stuff and start running and that is it, in some cases they become violent if the victim is resisting. So pay extra attention on the streets; day or night.
Cheers!
Don't shoot the messenger.
[QUOTE=FuckAfMedDig;1718851]I've been in Rio 10 times in the last 2 years and its 100% the case.
I've seen 100's of incidents. Muleques runnin on to buses-snatching stuff on beach and on beach front and at night. Be sensible.
Don't bring valuables to the beach and especially on weekends this is an issue when theyre out of school and come from Zona Norte and run back on metro.[/QUOTE]It seems like every time someone writes about security problems in a city / country on this forum, some other member always question the truth in the report. But fortunately this time, there was FAMD, to back the poster up.
I can't see any reason why anyone would write a false security report, as there is nothing to gain on it. Lets take a look at it:
Most mongers in any given country will be locals. So if the "false report" was about scaring away other customers, a international forum like this would be a very ineffective way to do it.
The same with the people that always comes to question the truth about the warning, if they have a business interest (ie, a restaurant, a hotel) the few p4 p visitors will be just a tiny fraction of the total number of visitor to the city.
So a security report on a international monger forum would not affect their business.
I believe that when someone takes the time to write a heads-up / warning report on a small travelforum like this, it is to alert and help other travellers from getting into trouble.
I have first-hand experience about giving advice to newbee travellers in Rio, and they ignored the heads-up / warning. And then they got mugged and pointed in the face with a gun.
These two "cowboys" left Rio and Brazil 2 days later because of the incident.
I wish more people would at least consider, that when they get a heads-up, it might just be because that person is being friendly, and want them to have a long, good vacation, with nice memories.
I also would wish that every time someone tries to help, with a warning post or whatever else, that the post didn't got jumped on by someone.
Happy hunting, Ken Apples.