Fake charity muggers steal Rolex watches using David Blaine trick
Nick KenyonImagine you’re walking down the street, minding your own business, when someone stops you and asks if you have time to sign a petition to support a good cause. You think: “Sure, this will only take a few seconds,” so you agree and sign your name at the bottom of a very long list of other names. The person holding the clipboard thanks you profusely for your time, tucks the clipboard under their arm and insists on shaking your hand with both of theirs. Feeling pleasantly self-righteous, you keep walking down the street, only to arrive at your destination and discover that your Rolex is no longer on your wrist.
This is what police allege happened recently outside the Stoneham Golf Course in Southampton, England, where an unsuspecting man had his Rolex stolen by a woman who asked him to sign her petition. Nearby, a week later, there was another robbery by a woman with a petition outside Wellow Golf Club, where another man reported his watch missing to police.
So if you’re a golfer in the Southampton area who is also a watch enthusiast, keep alert if anyone approaches you with a clipboard in hand. Police believe that the two incidents are linked and are appealing to the public for any further information they might have.
This does leave us with one question however – how were the watches stolen without the men noticing? This is not confirmed, but well practised folks in the art of pick-pocketing are more than capable of sliding a watch off your wrist without you noticing, either on a leather strap or with a bracelet. How do they do it? Just check out this clip of magician David Blane taking the timepiece off the wrist of then President George W. Bush.