hey everybody QrooPaul here welcome to the channel this is going to be one of my safety and security
videos um i just want to make you aware of a fairly common scam that we've been seeing for
well years in the riviera maya i decided to actually do the video today though because
i just heard from one of our viewers in the riviera maya area who said that his neighbor
fell victim to this just this week so i said you know what i'm going to let people know about it
the scam goes by a few names robomostassa which means mustard robbery robo de la mancha
stain robbery it works like this normally the criminal comes up behind you and then squirts
you with some type of sauce or liquid mustard is very popular and that's why they get that name
then the person kind of goes by and they bring it to your attention hey
you have something on your back there so you start to look then they come up and
offer to kind of help you you know they take out a napkin or let me help you a little bit
so while you're distracted and they're already making contact with you they take advantage of
that opportunity to you know pickpocket you take your belongings your purse cell phone things
like that in most cases the victim is completely unaware that they've even had those items stolen
until much later now i personally know two people who have been the victims of this one
they were both approached inside of a home depot in plyto carmen a couple years back in those cases
they were shopping inside the store when someone came up and made them aware of a stain on their
back etc so they ended up going to the bathroom in both cases to get cleaned up and the suspect
followed them inside and was still helpful oh you still have a little something there oh let me help
you with that and they were both pickpocketed they didn't even realize that they'd been pickpocketed
until they went up to the counter and they went to go pay for something and they realized hey
i don't i don't have my wallet so here's some surveillance footage of a criminal in mexico city
attempting the same scam on an older couple there okay so this is our suspect vehicle and
our suspect is leaving the passenger side of the vehicle to go look for some prospective victims
it doesn't take him long to find one this couple here are his targets so as they pass here he comes
now he's swinging his arm a lot because he's actually squirting the sauce here some of it's
hitting the sidewalk and also hitting the woman that's why they're looking back at the sidewalk
you saw he just pocketed whatever container the sauce was in now of course this is where he goes
to being the very super helpful citizen who just happens to be walking by and then points out that
something has gotten on you now he offers his handkerchief this is normally when the
pickpocketing would occur except these two are pretty street savvy the man moves away from and
so does the woman so it doesn't have a pickpocket opportunity there they return the handkerchief and
go into a store immediately now the suspect vehicle you'll notice had just pulled away
so it pulls down the road to pick up the suspect again and he leaves empty-handed because these
folks are pretty street savvy now i got to tell you they did a really good job avoiding being
victims because they distanced themselves from the suspect and this particular video came out
in the news because they actually made a police report after and then you know the news outlets
took this opportunity to try to warn people about this type of scam so let's talk about some tips if
you find yourself in a similar situation a big one is to stay polite and non-aggressive you certainly
don't want to escalate the situation to something more serious where you might be injured nicely
turn down their request for help but don't allow them to get close to you in that video the older
couple they were pretty good about moving their bodies and not allowing the suspect to get close
walk away from the suspect if you're inside a store when this happens go to the area of the
registers or look for a manager if you're outside try to walk back into a building
if that's the closest place to go or if you're near your car get in your car and lock the door
so those are some useful tips if you find yourself in that situation but to be honest the best thing
is to not find yourself in that situation right how you're carrying your belongings may make you
a more attractive target for would-be pickpockets don't carry wallets or cell phones in your back
pockets if you carry a purse make sure that you keep it closed and you carry it more in front of
you the type of purse you carry may also make you more attractive to pickpockets purses with zippers
instead of clasps are more difficult to open think about things like that you know when you're
planning your wardrobe whenever i do a video like this one about safety and security someone in the
comments section will inevitably accuse me of fear mongering or trying to make mexico look bad you
know nothing against those folks i mean i really like that they defend mexico's honor with such
gusto but you know as a career law enforcement officer i've seen the benefit of educating people
to reduce the effectiveness and incident of crime so here i am educating folks to keep them safe
and that's all it is not trying to make anybody look bad so no reason to mention
chicago in the comments all right well i hope you enjoyed the video until next time hasta luero