Pokémon Go used to lure victims of armed robbery spree in the St. Louis area - Polidicks

[url]http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/10/12139968/cops-pokemon-go-used-to-lure-victims-of-armed-robbery-spree[/url] [url]https://www.facebook.com/180316078675503/photos/a.262124017161375.70607.180316078675503/1272368709470229/?type=3&theater[/url] [quote]Police in O'Fallon, Mo. believe four suspects used Pokémon Go to set up a string of armed robberies over the past few days in the St. Louis area. The suspects are in custody but haven't been identified because they have yet to be formally charged, the O'Fallon P.D. said in this statement on the department's Facebook page. Explaining how Pokémon Go was or could have been involved, police believe the suspects added a beacon outside a Pokéstop within the game to lure players to the area. "Apparently they were using the app to locate ppl standing around in the middle of a parking lot or whatever other location they were in," O'Fallon cops said in the statement. The four suspects in question were also wanted for multiple holdups in St. Louis and St. Charles County, northwest of the city. A news release implied Pokémon Go was used in some of those robberies as well.[/quote]

It hasn't even been a fucking week yet

Damn, Team Rocket is really stepping up their game. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Pointless reply" - Novangel))[/highlight]

I'm amazed that it took such a short amount of time for somebody to put this app to a crooked use.

[QUOTE=Linkuya;50685999]Damn, Team Rocket is really stepping up their game.[/QUOTE] This was exactly what I was thinking. There's other games that use similar systems to pokemon go and it hasn't been a problem, the theifs only caught onto this opportunity because its such a large franchise I'm assuming.

Oh come on.

these dimwits are gong to get the game ruined for the rest of us as soccer moms see this type of news and rally to get the game banned

I knew it was a matter of time till something bad happened with the lure modules in this game. Be careful if you're going to one late at night, something is bound to happen at one of those.

[QUOTE=Ricenchicken;50686121]I knew it was a matter of time till something bad happened with the lure modules in this game. Be careful if you're going to one late at night, something is bound to happen at one of those.[/QUOTE] Too late. We've already had 3 people who went out at like 2 AM held up and had their shit taken.

Nintendo has really screwed up imo, There's already talks of lawsuits because it's tagging people's homes and businesses, and people have been already fired.

This is why we can't have nice things

Despite the fact this isn't a remotely new concept for a mobile game, and arguably is more refined in the progenitor game, Ingress. I have yet to hear of anything like this happening via Ingress. Despite it being around for years and having a pretty fucking sizeable player base. Just find a remote portal, hang around said portal and look for people with a 10m radius of the thing. Ingress players used to go out of their way to capture any fucking portals they could feasibly reach.

I remember reading articles about people getting in trouble with the police playing ingress. plus I don't think ingress blew up nearly as fast as this did with kids and teens.

this seems like more of a social experiment than a game

Hmm. Someone put a lure module on a poke stop in the parking lot of a hospital across the street from my apartment last night at like 1am.

I'm tempted to download this but at the same time I almost don't want to because [I]everyone[/I] is addicted to this all the sudden. It's like Pokemon GO is changing how society functions all the sudden a night or so ago my stepdad and little brother went out at [I]10 pm[/I] to go to a park that had a 'pokestop' (whatever that is) and I thought that was absurd, only for them to get back and tell me that they [I]weren't the only ones there[/I]

Filthy frank was right

I still love how this app is just as dangerous as going outside is but people are blaming the app Going outside [I]has inherent dangers[/I]. It is not the fault of the app that this is the case. Going outside has [I]even more inherent dangers[/I] when you're holding out a 600 dollar device and not looking around you.

i've heard of people getting kidnapped while playing ingress. this isn't exactly surprising though it's still depressing as hell

I went to philly yesterday to visit some relatives and I was bored so I went out to find some pokestops and they had some in some really sketchy areas, I'm pretty intimidating so I wasn't bothered but I saw some little kids around looking for it and for some people those kids are easy pickings for $600 dollar phones. Here's one I took a pic of [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ywXia7W.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=phygon;50686711]I still love how this app is just as dangerous as going outside is but people are blaming the app Going outside [I]has inherent dangers[/I]. It is not the fault of the app that this is the case. Going outside has [I]even more inherent dangers[/I] when you're holding out a 600 dollar device and not looking around you.[/QUOTE] But the robbers used the app to find where the players were, it wasn't just random phone theft because they had their phones out. They used the in-app incense to locate them, as it's basically a beacon of someone's (or a group's) location for 30 minutes. I wouldn't blame the app entirely but it definitely played a part and was a tool for the robbers. Edit: Mixed up incense and lure modules. Pretty sure the robbers were looking for lure modules at Pokestops.

[QUOTE=Revan564;50686781]But the robbers used the app to find where the players were, it wasn't just random phone theft because they had their phones out. They used the in-app incense to locate them, as it's basically a beacon of someone's (or a group's) location for 30 minutes. I wouldn't blame the app entirely but it definitely played a part and was a tool for the robbers.[/QUOTE] It's no more of an indicator of people's locations than waiting outside a bar, club, or any other place where people go at night to be honest.

The only indicator you have of people around you playing this game is that they're in the same location as you and they're probably looking at their phone.

[QUOTE=phygon;50686836]It's no more of an indicator of people's locations than waiting outside a bar, club, or any other place where people go at night to be honest.[/QUOTE] I get your point that it's dangerous to be anywhere at night but the app is what gave away where players were and how the robber's found their victims. It's hard to not put some partial blame on the app for even having that capability at night, especially for a children's/family game.

Reminds me of that 2000 episode of 'The Sopranos' where Christopher hijacked a truck full of Pokemon cards. How times change, now Pokemon is being used to hijack [b]people[/b].

If I was a reporter gathering facts about these robbers I'd ask the cops "So did you catch them all?"

its a source of location data, people like to for some reason find some sort of location information and abuse whats at it instead of randomly getting people for whatever reason.

[QUOTE=Revan564;50687009]I get your point that it's dangerous to be anywhere at night but the app is what gave away where players were and how the robber's found their victims. It's hard to not put some partial blame on the app for even having that capability at night, especially for a children's/family game.[/QUOTE] The lures don't give away player locations. As far as I know, there isn't a way of tracking other players actual location. The lures just show up for everyone, so people are more likely to head towards them if they are playing in the area but you don't know if anyone else is there unless you actually see them in person.

This game is blowing my mind. I'm seeing popular tumblr posts about how its giving people a reason to finally leave their bedrooms/houses. I must be getting old because that sounds so pathetic to me...

So how about making the lures invisible/unusable during nights?