I have been a victim advocate in Chicago for more than 25 years. Criminals seem to target blind people less often for robberies because a blind person does not know that a gun is pointed at them or that a criminal is displaying an unsheathed knife. This needs to be explained and described to the blind person before they comply with the criminal. They want to act quickly and disappear and the extra communications needed for compliance requires extra time and hassle.
More likely, the blind person will experience theft when a phone is left on a table at a public place like a restaurant and a criminal picks it up and runs away with the phone. Phones left in coats or unattended backpacks are also in jeopardy of theft. Another theft possibility is when a blind person is casually using the phone on a train or a bus and the criminal yanks it out of the user’s hand and runs away when the door is open. As mentioned, a common way to avoid phone robberies is to avoid using the iPhone in public. When it needs to be used, such as with a navigation app, the phone should be in a pocket or held closely near the body with a hand firmly grasping it. Sighted criminals target those who are flashy with their Apple tech. I also have a strategy to prevent criminals from getting in my face and causing problems to my safety. I carry around a two or three ounce can of Heatwave brand pepper spray, Napalm strength. This is way more intense then the pepper spray sold in most retail stores and even more intense and painful than the pepper spray police use. Fox is another good brand. These pepper sprays drop bad guys in seconds because they strip the protective oily layer on the surface of the skin so pain is felt immediately. I get the fog version as a blind person because it is difficult to aim a stream accurately. A three second blast of Heatwave Napalm strength to a criminal putting a phone up to my face will cause him to drop the iPhone and writhe in an inescapable cloud of intense and sustained pain. Small belt pouches are sold for pepper spray cans so the container is easily available within arm’s reach. Kelly On 11/16/22, Dennis Long <[email protected]> wrote: > If you are that paranoid ditch your smart phone get a flip phone and call it > a day. I've never heard of this happening. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Steve > Matzura > Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2022 4:21 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Is this a potential security problem? > > Often I hear stories in the news of people who are mugged and their phones > stolen. If someone's phone is stolen, what's to prevent the mugger from > snatching the phone, holding the phone up to their face, and unlocking it > with Face ID, then taking off and disappearing with an unlocked phone and > access to all the information contained therein? If a visually impaired > person loses their phone, this is not an unlikely scenario as the mugger can > take the device and just wait around and follow the visually impaired person > without them knowing it, then, when the time is right, whip out the phone > and get it unlocked without the owner ever even knowing it happened. Might > it not be a bad idea to disable unlocking with Face ID? Or am I just being > New York paranoid? > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/fb256919-01d4-0f51-97ec-7b392e036ff8%40gmail.com. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/01e901d8fa36%2403953e00%240abfba00%24%40gmail.com. > -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/CAOQRLb-s52P--2v6uVDA7Pm2rwF2U%3Dxt5FtoyqCOxMdw39Q1ig%40mail.gmail.com.
