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Easy one to sort out.

If it can be sold for drug money, keep it hidden.

Nasty - Improving, but still nasty.

11/13/23 @Droplover.  Glad that it ended well.  Yes, that's common throughout the country, and happens to people walking around on the street looking at their phones as well.   Important to be aware of our surroundings at all times.

Yes, it would have certainly ruined our evening had the phone been stolen.  We are pretty careful when walking around with our phones, taking off watches and jewelery but someone sticking their hand into a car is just another level that we never even considered

No Texting or Yacking on the phone within public sight or public places!

Always, always, find a secluded place to keep up with your chatting and banter.

That means paying for coffee at the coffee shop, or soda pop at the lunch counter to engage.

Most smart phones are unlocked here, and sold for a pretty penny at retail. So they are a perfect commodity for street crimeys looking for a quick and profitable score.

Wow.

When I was visiting the art museum in São Paulo.  I was on my phone looking for the Uber driver outside, and the museum assistant yelled at me "Hey, come here" He politely said "don't do that, come inside the gate"

😅Thanks for the heads up @DropLover

    Yes, it would have certainly ruined our evening had the phone been stolen.  We are pretty careful when walking around with our phones, taking off watches and jewelery but someone sticking their hand into a car is just another level that we never even considered -@Droplover

Windows rolled up. Choose rides with A/C. Most taxicabs have it covered.

Silly question - Maybe off topic

Why would anyone want to move to a place where you can't use your phone for fear of it getting stolen?

Surely the OP's experience is a wake up call rather than just a nasty story.

   11/17/23 Silly question - Maybe off topicWhy would anyone want to move to a place where you can't use your phone for fear of it getting stolen?Surely the OP's experience is a wake up call rather than just a nasty story.      -@Fred

Not a silly question, just an uninformed one.  The answer is, "Because it's Brazil."  Most expats who come to Brazil already feel a connection;  it's seldom a random choice.  For people who get it, no explanation is needed; for people who don't, no explanation may be possible.  As the saying goes, "Brazil is not for beginners".  People either learn fast and adjust here, or leave fast and usually never return.

I still live in the USA and l can assure the are many places you would be foolish to openly display a valuable item like a new iphone. We are also experiencing high rates of armed carjackings, with the majority being commited by teenagers. They seldom make the news unless someone is hurt or killed.

Every place has its issues. Safety is an important component, of course, but it can be minimized by taking your own precautions ...

@martinsan I agree.  In all the trips to Brazil we've made over the years and the the 4 years we have lived here we have never had any issues related to safety before.  It was a good lesson for us to add to our precaution list. 

Old news.

Move to Chicago and get shot on the weekend. Crime exists around the world in different forms......don't sweat it.

Seriously.

I'm walking on the calcadao on morning in Copacabana.......40 degrees.......dude 20' in front of me is FOB.......nice fresh sunburn and a heavy gold chain on his neck. Wearing a Union Jack emblazoned wife beater t-shirt.

Out of the corner of my eye I see this pivete walking towards him in front of me. He's looking at me, so, I give him the Carioca thumbs up to show we're cool and I'm not a threat.

Within 15 seconds he walks past him, turns around, rips the chain off his neck, and is across the 6 lanes of traffic on Avenida Atlantica before the limey knew what hit him.

It's midnight in Copa. I'm drunk at La Maison restaurant, having finished off a bottle of Teachers Whisky with a couple of the local garotas de programa that I knew. Never slept around, just became casual friends.

Across the street on the calcadao we hear a cop yelling at a guy, dude reaches into his mochila and the cops draws down on him and pumps three caps into his ass before he hits the ground.

Paid my bill and walked home.......alone.

In my city in Canada 5 people were killed in 5 months about 3 blocks from my DT apartment over crack deals.

    I still live in the USA and l can assure the are many places you would be foolish to openly display a valuable item like a new iphone. We are also experiencing high rates of armed carjackings, with the majority being commited by teenagers. They seldom make the news unless someone is hurt or killed.
   

    -@KenAquarius

Isn't that the truth? I still live about half-time in the USA myself and get around a lot. I am in either Seattle, Portland, or Sacramento every other month or so, and today in those cities, you cannot walk most of the city streets at night, and some areas during the day are just as bad. In the days of old, I worked in Chicago, Baltimore, etc. and we used to think violence in the US cities was confined there, but no longer.

    Silly question - Maybe off topicWhy would anyone want to move to a place where you can't use your phone for fear of it getting stolen?Surely the OP's experience is a wake up call rather than just a nasty story.        -@Fred

I still travel a lot and am from Reykjavik, Iceland. There are very few safe-feeling cities in the world, even Reykjavik today is no longer safe. I feel safer in Odesa Ukraine than I do in San Francisco. I'd rather walk alone in Shanghai at night, and I do, than in Baltimore, Chicago, LA, New Orleans, Portland, or Seattle. I live part-time in Sao Paulo, downtown, and in my fifteen years there, I have never seen any act of violence or theft. Yes, of course, it happens, but I have not seen it. I walk the downtown area alone all of the time. Yes, there are bad areas I avoid, but in Seattle, Portland, or Sacramento, you can no longer walk out of the Amtrak stations onto the city streets. I grew up in San Francisco and today, I avoid that dirty dangerous city like the plague. Walk the Fisherman's Wharf area alone at night? no.