The “hug and mug” scam is back in Munich – trick theft by perpetrators who first get physically close to their victims under a pretext and then quickly slip expensive watches, usually Rolex brands, off their wrists. The Munich police reported two current cases from Bogenhausen and Pullach in the Isar Valley on Sunday. Connections are being examined, said a police spokesman, as well as other cases from the end of February, also from Bogenhausen, and the beginning of March in Pullach and Taufkirchen.
The perpetrators often pretend to want to change money. In the two cases on Saturday, the stolen watches were each worth more than 30,000 euros. The young perpetrator in the Bogenhausen case in the morning and the older perpetrator in Pullach in the afternoon each ran away on foot. The two victims only noticed the luxury watches were missing some time later.
Similar cases of trick theft in public are usually carried out by larger, internationally active and well-organized criminal gangs – either in the style of Italian “Scippatori” from a motorized two-wheeler or through ingratiation. A gang that specialized in this method and was controlled from Romania was active in Munich several years ago.
The European police authority Europol reported on Thursday about a raid against a gang of motorcycle thieves. Eight leading gang members were arrested in Naples. 27 other members of this mafia-affiliated gang have been arrested in various European countries in recent months – including Munich. The latest search operation was prepared and coordinated across Europe. According to Europol, the Munich Criminal Police Office 21 (robbery and extortion offenses) was also involved.
According to Europol, “an almost exponential increase in the price of luxury watches” in recent years has motivated criminals to carry out such attacks. “Certain rare timepieces have a market price that is well above the retail price, which is regularly in the four or five figure range,” the European safety authority said in a statement. In gangs of three to five members, an accomplice monitors potential victims in gourmet restaurants or upscale hotels. As soon as a person with an expensive wristwatch is identified, the victim is observed and pursued by a gang member.
The current watch thefts in Munich, although less violent than the Scippatori robberies, are probably based on previous surveillance of the victims – the success rate of the “hug and mug” can hardly be explained in any other way.