8 ms·

As a middle-income tourist who has had multiple holidays in Rio, the closest I've come to being robbed was by a taxi driver that wanted $200 to travel from Corc

by blowski 11y ago

As a middle-income tourist who has had multiple holidays in Rio, the closest I've come to being robbed was by a taxi driver that wanted $200 to travel from Corcovado to Pao de Acucar. Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on holiday. EDIT: I guess I'm attracted to cities with higher crime rates.

cven714 11y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6GLohPq8k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6GLohPq8k Not that incidents like this don't occur in other cities in the world, but it shows that avoiding dodgy areas at night might not be enough.
- bitL 11y ago
  Copacabana is a dodgy area already and Zona Norte is a warzone.
  - ramon 11y ago
    Imagine further out like Nova Iguaçu, I must have to go there with War Tanks at least so I can comeback alive!
- googletazer 11y ago
  You can probably imagine where these people are going in 5, 10, 15 years - worse and worse offenses. Sounds like whoever will replace Dilma needs to legislate firing squads, or conceal carry.
- matwood 11y ago
  That video is pretty bad. One, it looks like the same kids over and over so the cops clearly do not care. Two, I was wondering what the gun laws were there until some guy chased them with a hand gun. If someone is looking to go have some fun fighting it seems like walking around with a cardboard iPhone might be the ticket. I'm only sort of kidding. I know if some kid grabbed my wife while we were walking down the street there would be a fight. The only other place I have seen it like the above is the gypsy kids in Rome. Even then though they were more slight of hand pick pockets than the blatant assault in the video.
  - blowski 11y ago
    My colleague had his phone stolen as he was talking on it by two guys on a moped - that was in Bond Street, London.
    - matwood 11y ago
      I did not mean to imply it could not happen anywhere. Only that this was exceptionally bad, and Rome was the only other place I had seen with the swarms of kids blatantly stealing.
    - toyg 11y ago
      Lol indeed. I witnessed a lady with huge shopping bags in Bloomsbury getting her iPhone stolen from a bicycle. The guy acted like it was the most normal thing in the world, just snatched the phone while speeding down a cycle lane. Tons of other cyclists around, going as fast as this guy, and nobody cared.
    - GFischer 11y ago
      A few years ago, a coworker was talking on a Motorola Razr when a thief tried to steal it at a run... he ran with the top half and left my coworker with the lower half :P I've had a phone pickpocketed from me too.
  - HillaryBriss 11y ago
    >... what the gun laws were ... Almost 60,000 people were murdered in Brazil in 2014, most with guns. While some Latin American countries have higher per capita murder rates, in absolute numbers, Brazil is the deadliest place in the world outside Syria. Brazilians are far more likely to be shot to death than Americans, a more populous country where there are about 8,000 to 9,000 gun homicides each year. ... Right now, Brazil actually has tough gun laws. More here: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/28/472157969/brazil-has-nearly-60-000-murders-and-it-may-relax-gun-laws http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/28/472157969/b...
    - 15155 11y ago
      They should just add some more laws, that will clearly solve the problem!
- dimino 11y ago
  The only difference between this and what happens to you in NYC is you don't notice.
fhsdfgdv 11y ago
talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Please don't apply your standards other cities of the world. What you described does not happen in my (capital) city. In fact if you drop something, you will likely get it back.
- deanCommie 11y ago
  He said in a dodgy area. Pray tell what is this magical city you live in that does not have a single dodgy area.
  - fhsdfgdv 11y ago
    If by dodgy you mean areas where people regularly steal and harass, then no, we don't.
    - blowski 11y ago
      OK, I'll rephrase to "a lot of other cities in the world" - London, New York, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin, Rome. All of them have their fair share of dodgy places that you should approach cautiously. What city do you live in, by the way? The only city I know of deservedly with this reputation is Singapore.
      - mootothemax 11y ago
        > Warsaw I'm deliberately singling this one out as a point of pride: Where in Warsaw can't you walk down the street reading your iPhone? I'll concede pickpocketing can be an issue on buses, and racism is very much an issue in present times. Issues with muggings, though?
        blowski 11y ago
        I didn't get mugged, but I was getting a coach to Radom, and the bus station didn't feel like a crime-free paradise. That said, I've spent quite a bit of time in Poland as well (mostly in Kaszubia), and the only trouble I had was in Krakow (and it was me being stupid that led to it). So no complaints about Warsaw at all, just pointing out that most of the time, I didn't feel any more or less safe in Warsaw than Rio.
fllr 11y ago
Not that I don't agree with you... I do. But, being brazilian, the idea of walking around at any time with my iphone out makes me cringe. I love my country, and I think everyone should visit it, but just keep away your iphones and anything of value while walking about, and you'll be fine!
- blowski 11y ago
  Yeah, I lived in BH - I have blonde hair, so I didn't need an iPhone to say I was a rich gringo.
  - ececconi 11y ago
    My entire family has blonde hair and they are from Brazil. They're from Florianopolis though.
- ramon 11y ago
  I keep on walking around with my iPhone everywhere in Rio, so has my wife. Never been stolen! I use it everywhere, it's my only phone. Maybe it's because I'm a big guy, the thiefs might be afraid to steal a big guy? but what about my wife, she's tiny.
  - oscardelben 11y ago
    This is not how statistics work. You can't generalize from just your personal experience.
rsync 11y ago
"Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on holiday." I generally espouse this view ... that being sensible and street smart are the important parts to visiting different cities and that, in general, they are all fairly safe. However, I also would describe Rio and Sao Paulo as a little further along the danger/risk meter. You know all those warnings and rules of thumb that people pass on about pickpocketing and scams and tricksters and so on ? And they never really pan out or materialize ? In Rio, they do. I would feel more safe (than Rio) in Shanghai or Shenzhen, less safe (than Rio) in Tijuana.
- tluyben2 11y ago
  Shanghai feels incredibly safe and i've walked around in a lot of places where my colleagues thought it was dodgy (it wasn't; just poorer). I have not one time felt unsafe in Shanghai and I go there a lot. That's quite different from say, Fort Lauderdale, which was the first time in many years I really felt threatened when we stupidly went to a very dodgy gas station. Actually that was second time in that same business trip when actually on the Orlando Disney area in one of the Disney hotels two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Never had anything remotely look like violence, robbery or even weirdos like that in Shanghai/Suzhou. The time before this US thing (where nothing happened but it made the hairs on my neck stand up and we did realize we were close to getting robbed) was about 10 years ago when I got robbed at knife point in a small town under Barcelona. While feeling completely fine walking through weird neighborhoods in Belize. So you never know... When I was around 8 my teacher in school said 'if you go to Amsterdam, you die; this city is so dangerous that when you go there, you will most surely get robbed, raped and murdered'. Apparently in a certain part of the Netherlands this idea was prevalent as when, 10 odd years later, I went to the university of Amsterdam my grandparents had something like 'Ok, this is it, this is the last time we saw him. He dead.'. Then I lived there and I actually lived in the neighborhood which was 'known' to 'everyone' that you will die there; de Bijlmer. Ofcourse, it was great; all these murderers and thieves offered me beer and food before going to uni in the morning; they invited me to the bars under the flats at night. I walked through that place (and other 'you'll die' places) in the middle of night and never felt anything resembling fear. I want to go to Brazil and I will because of a client soon, but he, born and raised in Sao Paulo, says even he doesn't like it because of the crime. And he knows this city well. I'm not sure what to believe but we'll see... Not bringing any iPhone that's for sure.

by blowski 11y ago

cven714 11y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6GLohPq8k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6GLohPq8k Not that incidents like this don't occur in other cities in the world, but it shows that avoiding dodgy areas at night might not be enough.

bitL 11y ago
Copacabana is a dodgy area already and Zona Norte is a warzone.
- ramon 11y ago
  Imagine further out like Nova Iguaçu, I must have to go there with War Tanks at least so I can comeback alive!
googletazer 11y ago
You can probably imagine where these people are going in 5, 10, 15 years - worse and worse offenses. Sounds like whoever will replace Dilma needs to legislate firing squads, or conceal carry.
matwood 11y ago
That video is pretty bad. One, it looks like the same kids over and over so the cops clearly do not care. Two, I was wondering what the gun laws were there until some guy chased them with a hand gun. If someone is looking to go have some fun fighting it seems like walking around with a cardboard iPhone might be the ticket. I'm only sort of kidding. I know if some kid grabbed my wife while we were walking down the street there would be a fight. The only other place I have seen it like the above is the gypsy kids in Rome. Even then though they were more slight of hand pick pockets than the blatant assault in the video.
- blowski 11y ago
  My colleague had his phone stolen as he was talking on it by two guys on a moped - that was in Bond Street, London.
  - matwood 11y ago
    I did not mean to imply it could not happen anywhere. Only that this was exceptionally bad, and Rome was the only other place I had seen with the swarms of kids blatantly stealing.
  - toyg 11y ago
    Lol indeed. I witnessed a lady with huge shopping bags in Bloomsbury getting her iPhone stolen from a bicycle. The guy acted like it was the most normal thing in the world, just snatched the phone while speeding down a cycle lane. Tons of other cyclists around, going as fast as this guy, and nobody cared.
  - GFischer 11y ago
    A few years ago, a coworker was talking on a Motorola Razr when a thief tried to steal it at a run... he ran with the top half and left my coworker with the lower half :P I've had a phone pickpocketed from me too.
- HillaryBriss 11y ago
  >... what the gun laws were ... Almost 60,000 people were murdered in Brazil in 2014, most with guns. While some Latin American countries have higher per capita murder rates, in absolute numbers, Brazil is the deadliest place in the world outside Syria. Brazilians are far more likely to be shot to death than Americans, a more populous country where there are about 8,000 to 9,000 gun homicides each year. ... Right now, Brazil actually has tough gun laws. More here: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/28/472157969/brazil-has-nearly-60-000-murders-and-it-may-relax-gun-laws http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/28/472157969/b...
  - 15155 11y ago
    They should just add some more laws, that will clearly solve the problem!
dimino 11y ago
The only difference between this and what happens to you in NYC is you don't notice.

fhsdfgdv 11y ago

talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Please don't apply your standards other cities of the world. What you described does not happen in my (capital) city. In fact if you drop something, you will likely get it back.

deanCommie 11y ago
He said in a dodgy area. Pray tell what is this magical city you live in that does not have a single dodgy area.
- fhsdfgdv 11y ago
  If by dodgy you mean areas where people regularly steal and harass, then no, we don't.
  - blowski 11y ago
    OK, I'll rephrase to "a lot of other cities in the world" - London, New York, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin, Rome. All of them have their fair share of dodgy places that you should approach cautiously. What city do you live in, by the way? The only city I know of deservedly with this reputation is Singapore.
    - mootothemax 11y ago
      > Warsaw I'm deliberately singling this one out as a point of pride: Where in Warsaw can't you walk down the street reading your iPhone? I'll concede pickpocketing can be an issue on buses, and racism is very much an issue in present times. Issues with muggings, though?
      - blowski 11y ago
        I didn't get mugged, but I was getting a coach to Radom, and the bus station didn't feel like a crime-free paradise. That said, I've spent quite a bit of time in Poland as well (mostly in Kaszubia), and the only trouble I had was in Krakow (and it was me being stupid that led to it). So no complaints about Warsaw at all, just pointing out that most of the time, I didn't feel any more or less safe in Warsaw than Rio.

fllr 11y ago

Not that I don't agree with you... I do. But, being brazilian, the idea of walking around at any time with my iphone out makes me cringe. I love my country, and I think everyone should visit it, but just keep away your iphones and anything of value while walking about, and you'll be fine!

blowski 11y ago
Yeah, I lived in BH - I have blonde hair, so I didn't need an iPhone to say I was a rich gringo.
- ececconi 11y ago
  My entire family has blonde hair and they are from Brazil. They're from Florianopolis though.
ramon 11y ago
I keep on walking around with my iPhone everywhere in Rio, so has my wife. Never been stolen! I use it everywhere, it's my only phone. Maybe it's because I'm a big guy, the thiefs might be afraid to steal a big guy? but what about my wife, she's tiny.
- oscardelben 11y ago
  This is not how statistics work. You can't generalize from just your personal experience.

rsync 11y ago

"Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on holiday." I generally espouse this view ... that being sensible and street smart are the important parts to visiting different cities and that, in general, they are all fairly safe. However, I also would describe Rio and Sao Paulo as a little further along the danger/risk meter. You know all those warnings and rules of thumb that people pass on about pickpocketing and scams and tricksters and so on ? And they never really pan out or materialize ? In Rio, they do. I would feel more safe (than Rio) in Shanghai or Shenzhen, less safe (than Rio) in Tijuana.

tluyben2 11y ago
Shanghai feels incredibly safe and i've walked around in a lot of places where my colleagues thought it was dodgy (it wasn't; just poorer). I have not one time felt unsafe in Shanghai and I go there a lot. That's quite different from say, Fort Lauderdale, which was the first time in many years I really felt threatened when we stupidly went to a very dodgy gas station. Actually that was second time in that same business trip when actually on the Orlando Disney area in one of the Disney hotels two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Never had anything remotely look like violence, robbery or even weirdos like that in Shanghai/Suzhou. The time before this US thing (where nothing happened but it made the hairs on my neck stand up and we did realize we were close to getting robbed) was about 10 years ago when I got robbed at knife point in a small town under Barcelona. While feeling completely fine walking through weird neighborhoods in Belize. So you never know... When I was around 8 my teacher in school said 'if you go to Amsterdam, you die; this city is so dangerous that when you go there, you will most surely get robbed, raped and murdered'. Apparently in a certain part of the Netherlands this idea was prevalent as when, 10 odd years later, I went to the university of Amsterdam my grandparents had something like 'Ok, this is it, this is the last time we saw him. He dead.'. Then I lived there and I actually lived in the neighborhood which was 'known' to 'everyone' that you will die there; de Bijlmer. Ofcourse, it was great; all these murderers and thieves offered me beer and food before going to uni in the morning; they invited me to the bars under the flats at night. I walked through that place (and other 'you'll die' places) in the middle of night and never felt anything resembling fear. I want to go to Brazil and I will because of a client soon, but he, born and raised in Sao Paulo, says even he doesn't like it because of the crime. And he knows this city well. I'm not sure what to believe but we'll see... Not bringing any iPhone that's for sure.