Three men arrested after accidentally livestreaming own crime for 90 minutes

Huat Zai · February 16

Victim relieved to prove this ridiculous crime actually happened.

We live in an age flooded with viral content and so many people vying for a bit of Internet fame that they try to concoct increasingly absurd videos which sometimes blur the lines between reality and fiction. This unfortunately makes our BS detectors so sensitive that we can easily dismiss actual outlandish events as hoaxes.

Such a case happened last October in which a team of bumbling thieves stole a smartphone that was in the middle of a livestream and broadcasted their entire crime to the world. Honestly, “bumbling” is putting it mildly, because the criminals were so accidentally well-documented by themselves that the video almost looked professionally made. As a result, for nearly half a year, the victim had to deal with countless accusations that the whole thing was a hoax.

To recap what happened, the victim was walking in Yokohama at night while intoxicated when he decided to start up a livestream. However, his condition got the better of him and he dozed off on the street with his stream still running.

He was snoozing online for about 12 minutes when suddenly a hand reached into the frame and plucked the man’s wallet from his bag. The theft did little to rouse the drunken man, who continued to sleep for about an hour. It was at that time that nearby security cameras picked up the thief coming back and snatching the smartphone that was livestreaming the man.

The thief then got into a van driven by an accomplice with the phone still livestreaming. At one point the thief remarked that the phone appeared to be doing something and later on wondered out loud whether it was recording them, but proceeded to do nothing about it. All the while, everything they said and even the audio directions from the car’s navigation system were letting everyone in on where they were and what they were doing.

Then, still on camera and with his face nicely framed, the thief called another accomplice and told him he was bringing some stolen goods. The audience of this livestream, which at some points reached 80 viewers, then watched as the thief entered a hotel and knocked on the door of Room 803. I know this because even the room number is easily seen in the video.

The thief then put the still-broadcasting phone on a table with the camera facing up and both men’s faces are so perfectly framed you’d think Tarantino himself set up the shot. They went through the victim’s wallet and the thief explained that there wasn’t any cash but it had a card that he could use to buy some cigarettes at a convenience store.

They then turned to the phone and as the accomplice looked at it, he remarked, “I wonder if it’s locked. It’s says something like ‘reporting [to the police]…'” After that, the thief responded with an almost Looney-Tunes-like comedic precision, “O-O-Online?!” just before the video feed finally stopped about 90 minutes after the theft occurred.

Needless to say, the authorities had ample evidence to work with and recently arrested all three men both for this crime as well as another theft that same month from an apartment in Yokohama. They were all between the ages of 47 and 50 and judging by the rather formal way the thief talked to the others, it may even have been a part of a more organized ring.

After the arrests, the victim spoke to the media and expressed his relief that his story was finally vindicated. During the livestream and afterward on social media, there were numerous comments of “This has got to be a put-on,” “This can’t be real,” and “This is a joke, right?” However, the victim could only put up with it all until he had the proof in the form of the arrests.

He described the time after as frustrating and feeling like he had a chip on his shoulder both from being victimized and not being believed about it. Now, he says it’s like a weight has been lifted and he expressed his gratitude towards the police.

https://soranews24.com/2024/02/16/three-men-arrested-after-accidentally-livestreaming-own-crime-for-90-minutes/