Techies mean rich pickings for robbers

Bangalore: It has become a regular routine for a techie in Bangalore to get robbed of his money and valuables. According to a research every two days, a techie in Bangalore gets robbed of his money and valuables.

In the last two months, more than 30 cases have been registered across eight police stations in the city, as the well-earning techie, with his laptop and other expensive gadgets, makes a tempting target for conmen and robbers.

Imran Gowhar and Manjunath L Hanji of Mid Day tried tyo find some latest tricks being employed to relieve young working professionals of their cash and valuables in the IT city.

First case was of Babu C (26), an IBM employee, who was returning home from work on his bike, when he reached near Nagawara Ring Road he noticed a young woman asking for a lift, which Babu was happy to provide. As they set off, a Maruti van intercepted them and before Babu knew it, a gang of four had dragged him into the four-wheeler. Babu was beaten, and his gold chain, earring, wallet and expensive wristwatch taken from him, an estimated loss of Rs 50,000.

The police have not made any progress in the case yet. It seems there is also some CCTV footage the police have asked for but have not been able to lay their hands on.

Second case was of Abhilash M V, who was at Kalasipalya to purchase car spare parts last Saturday . When he was parking his car on the busy Siddaiah Road, he was beckoned by a man and asked to check something under the car. He stepped out of the car to notice nine currency notes, which he picked up before moving on. But then, he noticed the rear door of the car was ajar, and that his laptop bag was missing. "I lost everything," said Abhilash.

In a variant of this method, vehicle owners are told someone behind them is calling them, and when they are looking that way, any valuables in their car are stolen through an open window.

Recently a new tricke has been applied by thieves, where sticky tapes are pasted on the rear windshield of a car, and when drivers get out to check what it is, the thieves snap into action, making away with laptops and other costly things that may be in the car and in a few cases the car itself.

There are also some other methods of deception that have been tried, tested and perfected over the years, to the extent that people still keep falling victim to these. One of these is temporarily blinding the victim by throwing muck in his eyes, snatching his belongings and making a run for it.

This method also has the advantage of the victim being, most of the times, unable to identify the culprit if he is caught at a later point in time. Then, there is also the 'fake police method', in which conmen pose as cops and call victims over on roads to tell them to be careful with their laptops and other valuables since there have been many robberies in the area.