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Robbed in Ibiza - Robado en Ibiza
Hey traveling photogs - after all these years of guarding my equipment and consistently driving all of my assistants crazy with a healthy dose of paranoia, I was just robbed in Ibiza, a small island off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. Losses include a Canon 5D Mark II, L Series 80-200 2.8 Lens, Multiple Compact Flash Cards, etc. These guys were good - in seconds they had taken my gear out of the back seat of our rental car while we were in the car! As an FYI, here's their technique: I had momentarily stepped out of the car and was just feet away at the ATM machine. My wife was in the front passenger seat. With my back turned, they tapped on the back of the car and told my wife that there was a problem under the car that she should see. A leak or something - she doesn't speak Spanish and they were very alarming so they caught her off guard. With her being distracted for a fraction of a second, an accomplice reached in from the front and grabbed our gear all the way in the back seat. It was instant. Then they simply disappeared before we even knew that we had been duped. I first heard of this technique 15+ years ago from a National Geographic photographer but never imagined that I would fall victim to it. This happened in Playa en Bossa and the police station was packed with tourists that all had similar stories. Congratulations if you are a photographer that happened to have purchased a Canon 5d mark ii from the street in Ibiza, however, out of professional courtesy, please send us the Compact Flash Card from the camera. My usual practice of downloading the day's shoot onto another medium (kept separately) will not help us recover the images that were actually in the camera at the time. We have insurance but as you all can appreciate the images are irreplaceable. My information is marked on the CF card. Hope this information helps someone else out there. Si usted compró una cámara usada en ibiza por favor envíenos la tarjeta compact flash. Mantenga la cámara, pero necesitamos las imágenes. Gracias. Jul 10 11 12:24 pm Link Wow..sorry to hear that! Jul 10 11 12:30 pm Link Glad your wife is ok! Jul 10 11 02:20 pm Link Ibizas full of robbing Spanish arseholes. Sorry to hear, working with alot of people In the dance industry it happens alot out there. Jul 10 11 02:27 pm Link -sorry to hear. Jul 10 11 05:21 pm Link I grew up in Mallorca, an island right next to Ibiza. I was always afraid of flawnting my camera around (and I was using an old beat up Nikon Camera back in 1993). Even these days, I am very afraid of traveling with my gear...I am sorry to hear what happened and I hope you were insured. Jul 10 11 06:01 pm Link From the US State Dept Travel page on Spain: "Theft from vehicles is also common. “Good Samaritan" scams are unfortunately common, where a passing car or helpful stranger will attempt to divert the driver’s attention by indicating there is a flat tire or mechanical problem. When the driver stops to check the vehicle, the “Good Samaritan” will appear to help the driver and passengers while the accomplice steals from the unlocked car. Drivers should be cautious about accepting help from anyone other than a uniformed Spanish police officer or Civil Guard. Items high in value like luggage, cameras, laptop computers, or briefcases are often stolen from cars. We recommend that travelers not leave valuables in parked cars, and keep doors locked, windows rolled up, and valuables out of sight when driving" http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t … tml#safety I strongly urge anyone planning to travel abroad to read these US State Dept info pages before leaving on your next trip. I have been doing so for many, many years. http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html Jul 10 11 06:18 pm Link That's some Artful Dodger ish!!! Some tricky people out there! Sad to hear about your gear. Jul 10 11 07:13 pm Link two years ago at a restaurant on the beach, my camera was gone. In the middle of lunch! The waitress ( who had her nose dirty with withe powder....) took the dirty dishes and my camera back to the kitchen. I run after her.....called the police...made a big scandal.....but never got my camera back...... no more Ibiza...it's over rated anyway. It was great 20 yrs ago. Now it's full of secretaries and losers on cheapo flights...... Jul 10 11 10:42 pm Link alessandro cecconi wrote: Yeah, those horrible secretaries. No one wants to be around them when on vacation. Jul 10 11 11:00 pm Link That sucks big time!! especialy during your vacation. I made it easy for the f**kers passed Vegas vacation. I forgot to lock the car in the hotel parking garage after a early morn(3am) desert shoot. They cleaned the car of stuff that was valuable to them (all small stuff). Lucky for me, they left the fold chair bag with my lightstands, umbrella's and Apollo softbox (i wonder why ) Jul 11 11 02:42 am Link I lost a camera in Costa Rica by someone misdirecting my attention for a few seconds. I was even trying to not let my guard down. I failed. Malodave Jul 11 11 08:54 am Link Yeah, I've been kicking myself big-time but the truth is that sooner or later our guard gets let down in some form or another. It's a timing thing and nobody is invincible. It was especially hard on my wife but I've tried to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. There were too many variables that had to fall into place for someone to take advantage of us. And we do have insurance so we're just out the pics and a fat deductible. The truth is that we are incredibly fortunate in more ways than we can count. Also, I received a great email from another photographer who turned me on to Stolen Camera Finder dot com. I had never heard of it but apparently you get an email notification as soon as one of your pics shows up on the web. It uses the encoded data (including camera serial number) from your pics so that as soon as one of your images shows up on the internet you can tell where it comes from. Pretty smart really; I mean, we tag all of that information on all of our images anyway so why not use it to our benefit. I'll have to report back if it actually works. Jul 11 11 04:45 pm Link Really sorry to hear of your loss... that's devastating. Thanks for the heads up though and sharing your advice so that hopefully others can avoid a similar crime. I just got back from shooting in Mallorca and was concerned about street crime too, but mostly in Barcelona on La Rambla - esp. after reading this[1]. I kept a good guard of my gear, but sadly fell victim to one of the street con/confidence games and literaly 'gave' my money away - but it was just money at not images - though I think they thugs were ready to steal my gear any moment once they surrounded me. I'm planning to shoot in Ibiza in the future... I'll definitely be on guard! [1] http://photo.net/spain/barcelona Jul 11 11 06:54 pm Link Aesthetic Media wrote: You helped me. It never occurred to me to write my info on all my CF cards. Great idea, even if you simply misplace them. I'll do it tonight on all my cards, thanks for the great tip. Jul 11 11 07:32 pm Link Photo DeLux wrote: Let me know when you are shooting in Ibiza. I'll be back for sure but I have some great ideas that two or more photographers could do to make the trip easier and more successful. As you might imagine, most of the trip was just location scouting and making contacts. Jul 12 11 10:14 am Link |