Them influencers are like low-hanging fruit.
0:04
They get the dopamine off showing off.
0:06
My dick gets hard when I fucking take that shit off them.
0:09
They so much want fame,
0:10
they just put themselves in danger.
0:12
In the world of influencers and celebrity,
0:15
followers are a currency,
0:16
and posting your wealth online has become part of the job.
0:20
But “Insta-bragging” doesn’t just attract brand partnerships
0:23
and followers.
0:24
It can attract something more sinister.
0:27
In recent years, break-ins and thefts at the homes of influencers,
0:30
football players, and celebrities
0:32
have made the headlines internationally.
0:34
Someone broke in my house!
0:36
I’ve already called the police. The police are already on their way.
0:41
Real Housewives robbers caught on camera.
0:43
It was a terrifying night for a star of the hit show.
0:45
Alli is the latest in a long line of Premier League stars
0:49
whose homes have been targeted by criminals.
0:51
And sometimes, it can go horribly wrong.
0:54
Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a social media post
0:57
that appeared to show Pop Smoke and a friend
0:59
with what looks like stacks of money behind them.
1:02
Obviously, I must have put my arm up or something,
1:05
and he just slit my arm.
1:07
I’m speaking to the influencers and celebrities
1:10
that are getting robbed
1:11
and the criminals who are tracking them down.
1:13
Their Instagram will show me where they at
1:15
and show me what they’ve got
1:17
and show me when they’re out.
1:18
And that’s all I need.
1:21
[CRIMEWAVE]
1:24
[INFLUENCER THIEVES]
1:28
Just went to the Balenciaga show makeup free.
1:31
Kind of feels good.
1:35
In 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint at Paris Fashion Week.
1:40
In the lead-up to the event,
1:42
Kim was posting her lavish lifestyle on Snapchat and Instagram.
1:45
Getting ready,
1:46
about to walk out the door for the Givenchy show.
1:49
The robbers stole 7 million pounds’ worth of jewels,
1:52
including Kim’s 3.5 million pound engagement ring.
1:56
Believe it or not,
1:57
the heist was committed by a group of men aged 60 to 72.
2:01
The press dubbed them “the grandpa robbers.”
2:04
I’m in Paris to meet one of them.
2:10
So how did you prepare for the crime?
2:12
I went on the internet,
2:15
and it’s true, I saw her jewelry, I saw her ring,
2:18
I saw that she showed it everywhere,
2:21
and we knew this information through social media.
2:24
We knew that she was coming for Fashion Week,
2:27
so we went there to do some more reconnaissance
2:31
So we were sure. We were there from midnight.
2:36
This is it. Here it is.
2:41
Is this family and are these girls sharing too much?
2:43
Like, people now are wondering if that’s to blame
2:45
and how these guys knew that she was in their apartment,
2:48
probably alone.
2:50
So what happened on the night?
2:52
So here we got in. We got in through the little door
2:54
that was open on the inside.
2:57
As soon as we got in, we took control of the concierge.
3:01
We overpowered him. We tied him up.
3:04
But then we looked for the keys for the bedroom she stayed in.
3:09
I stayed downstairs, but my two colleagues went upstairs
3:12
with the concierge to go to Ms. Kardashian’s room.
3:16
Then they picked up the jewelry. They went downstairs.
3:18
Ms. Kardashian’s secretary called for help.
3:23
But she called 911 in the United States,
3:27
which scared us, which made them lose a lot of time.
3:29
And when we got out, there was a bunch of police outside
3:32
who didn’t know anything about the robbery.
3:34
Are these Kim Kardashian’s robbers?
3:37
It’s the first video showing the alleged thieves on bikes and on foot,
3:41
heading toward the boutique hotel in Paris
3:43
where the heist took place.
3:50
How did you get caught?
3:51
Because I left my DNA
3:54
when I overpowered the guard.
3:58
So I took his hands, I tied him up, and by doing so, I left my DNA.
4:04
As I already had a record,
4:06
it was very easy to trace me.
4:08
Did you know how big of a star she was?
4:10
So I honestly didn’t really know her.
4:13
I knew her husband, Kanye West,
4:15
but I didn’t know her.
4:17
But I saw one of her shows where she threw her diamond in the pool
4:22
in that episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
4:26
I thought, “She’s got a lot of money. This lady doesn’t care at all.”
4:30
How do you feel about the incident now?
4:32
Do you feel guilty at all about what happened?
4:34
Since she was throwing money away,
4:36
I was there to collect it, and that was that.
4:38
Guilty? No, I don’t care.
4:41
I don’t care.
4:43
So do you not think that she was traumatized?
4:45
No doubt. Yes, of course.
4:48
You don’t come out of it unscathed.
4:51
We didn’t expect this. Of course, she must have been traumatized.
4:55
I don’t doubt it.
4:56
He grabbed me and pulled me towards him.
5:00
But I wasn’t wearing anything underneath,
5:01
so I was like, “OK, this is the time I’m going to get raped.”
5:04
You know, like,
5:05
“Just prepare yourself.”
5:07
So I did.
5:08
What would your advice be to celebrities and influencers
5:11
who are thinking of posting their belongings on Instagram?
5:14
They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it.
5:18
For some people, it’s provocative.
5:21
The crime itself must have been absolutely traumatic for her,
5:25
and no one deserves to be put in that situation.
5:29
This was one of the first high-profile cases
5:31
of an influencer being targeted,
5:33
and it seems to have spurred on a lot of copycat crimes since.
5:37
And social media was fundamentally
5:39
the weapon that helped to pull this off.
5:41
If someone like Yunice, a man who’s almost 70 years old,
5:46
can figure out how to rob one of the most famous people in the world,
5:50
Kim Kardashian, by using Snapchat,
5:52
I don’t think any of us have any hope.
5:55
Despite their age, the grandpa robbers set a trend
5:58
and inspired criminals around the world
6:00
to turn to social media for opportunities.
6:03
Back in the UK,
6:04
I’m meeting a criminal who tracks his targets on Instagram
6:07
and robs them using a taser.
6:11
Hiya, are you OK?
6:13
So you started with robbing shops.
6:14
Did that change when social media came about?
6:17
First, man was just robbing little bits and bobs,
6:20
but you know, it’s like pot luck.
6:21
You could rob a man and he ain’t got nothing on him.
6:23
So all of that hassle,
6:24
you might get lockup for fuck all.
6:26
So man wanted an easier way to kind of know what people have got.
6:30
So when the social media lit, it was like fucking-- a gold mine.
6:34
They’re just that gassed up.
6:35
It must be the dopamine or something.
6:37
They say you get dopamine from when you get the likes and that.
6:39
When I heard that, I started cracking up.
6:41
I’m saying, “Yo, this is like a drug addiction.”
6:44
You get me? Man ain’t dumb, you know.
6:45
Man know about science and all of that.
6:47
They so much want fame, they just put themselves in danger.
6:51
People are trying to be up with the Kardashians and shit.
6:54
So can you give us an example
6:56
of someone you’re looking at at the moment?
6:58
Sometimes I go on girls’ pages, you know, the pretty girls and that.
7:00
I’d obviously get one of my fake accounts and follow them.
7:04
I find a few tasty blue ticks that I like
7:06
when I look at the pictures, you get me?
7:08
-Look. -She’s got a lot of diamonds on.
7:10
Obviously, they got money.
7:12
Is that a Rolex?
7:13
Yeah, that’s one. That’s a bad boy ting.
7:14
And you flick through their story,
7:16
and you see them flashing champagne at the parties, bottles.
7:19
You know they’ve got money they’ll be spending in the club.
7:21
How easy would it be to find the location of her house?
7:23
Well, from a car reg,
7:25
you can get the location of the house.
7:26
But same time,
7:27
if I go into their live pin, sometimes their address is in there.
7:31
God, I didn’t know that!
7:32
Yeah, check out your Instagram options.
7:35
-Shit. -Gives out location.
7:36
This is rich folks’ nightmare, man.
7:38
You follow them for a long time then?
7:40
Yeah, yeah. Sometimes it’s a couple of days, and you get a hit.
7:42
We’re, “Ah, they’re at that club that we know.”
7:44
Boom, fly down there, grab a quick watch.
7:46
But if it’s taking a bit longer,
7:47
we have to find out what club they’re at,
7:49
fling a tracker under their car.
7:51
Yeah, there’s plenty of ways to skin a cat, man.
7:53
If you do find someone in a club, how do you mug them?
7:56
Probably a taser or something.
7:57
Man, he get tased quickly in his car—zzz.
8:00
They got obviously disposable cash
8:02
where they’re fucking showing off like that, innit.
8:04
So you almost feel like the influencers deserve it then?
8:06
Yeah, rob from the rich and give back to us, man,
8:09
because we need it.
8:10
They’re asking for it, innit.
8:11
Understand in this life, we know from where we come from
8:14
not to be out there slipping and sliding, you get me?
8:17
So what would your advice be to an influencer
8:20
that wants to flaunt what they’ve got on their Instagram page?
8:23
I say, “Go get more Rolexes, man.
8:26
I like the Oyster one.”
8:27
I’ll send them a comment too.
8:29
I’ll say, “Yeah, that’s dope, man, fire, fire, fire.
8:31
Have you got the box?”
8:33
Shit.
8:34
It has made me think about what I post online.
8:37
Should I be conscious of stuff like reg plates,
8:40
and should I maybe not ever do a live?
8:44
Social media is the perfect surveillance tool for thieves,
8:47
and it’s being used across the globe.
8:53
A group of criminals who took social media robberies to new heights
8:56
were Milan’s “acrobat thieves,”
8:58
who use social media to track the city’s rich and famous
9:01
and scale their buildings to break in.
9:05
I’m in Milan to meet one of their victims,
9:07
Italian influencer Eleonora Incardona.
9:20
Oh, beautiful!
9:21
-You look really nice. -Thank you.
9:23
You have a lot of followers.
9:24
Yes, 500,000.
9:27
I have the blue flag on my profile.
9:30
Is that how you make all of your money?
9:32
I am an influencer,
9:33
but I have another business too, The Private Watch Club.
9:37
-You can look. -Nice.
9:39
Yeah, this is my favorite watch.
9:45
-Cheers! -Cheers!
9:47
Cheers, girls!
9:48
And get party started!
9:53
Sorry to bum the vibe out,
9:54
but can you tell me about what happened with the theft?
9:57
-I speak in Italian, OK? -Yes.
9:59
It was December.
10:00
I was with a friend.
10:02
She noticed the door was already open
10:04
and said, "Ele, thieves came in, thieves came in!”
10:07
Everything was upside down.
10:09
What did they take from your flat?
10:11
The total value, more or less, it was about 50,000 euros.
10:18
This is the story. This is my friend.
10:20
This is Oliver and me.
10:22
And as you can see, there is someone behind us.
10:25
And in fact, one of the thieves was following me.
10:26
Does that make you feel scared,
10:28
that he was behind you the whole time?
10:30
Yes. In that moment, I thought he was just someone passing by.
10:35
When this happened, I was at Tiffany,
10:39
and they were looking at what I was doing in that moment
10:42
to understand how much time they had to stay in and to commit the crime.
10:49
They called them the “acrobat thieves.”
10:52
They literally climbed over the balcony.
10:56
And this is your flat?
10:57
-Yes. -This flat.
10:58
This video, it became viral.
11:03
One climbs up, and the other one is looking out.
11:06
But there were three in total, right?
11:07
Yes.
11:08
I could not sleep for many days— insomnia.
11:13
As soon as I heard a noise, I would get up,
11:16
plus I had these people attacking me constantly
11:20
that did not understand that despite being Eleonora,
11:26
OK, with half a million followers,
11:28
but the majority was against me and told me I almost deserved it.
11:35
But I am a human being.
11:38
OK, we’re late. We should get ready.
11:41
Yeah, we are running late. Sorry to bring the mood down.
11:44
I’ll carry on with my champagne.
11:47
Ready for a party?
11:50
So we’re going to an influencer fashion party.
11:53
Not really sure what that is,
11:55
but I’ll be interested to see
11:57
how the robbery has changed what they post on social media...
12:02
or whether it’s changed it at all.
12:04
Regardless of the incident,
12:05
social media remained integral to the girls’ night.
12:11
Tir, we’re ready to go to the event.
12:13
Ciao!
12:16
Ready to go.
12:20
Whilst Eleonora was working the room,
12:22
I spoke to some other influencers at the event
12:25
to see if the news of the acrobat thieves
12:27
has changed how they behave online.
12:29
Maybe a brand say, “Hi, I would like to send you a gift.
12:32
Can you please give me your address?”
12:34
And if I want the gift or if I want to do a collaboration,
12:37
I need to trust that it is a collaboration
12:39
and not somebody that just wants to know where I live.
12:41
Sometimes we do the unboxing stuff.
12:43
My friends told me, “Ari, delete this
12:45
because you can clearly read where you live.”
12:48
I mean, that’s not safe! Anybody can see your stories.
12:50
You have to take a little attention, I guess.
12:52
There’s a lot of people
12:53
that say maybe that the influencers almost deserve it
12:56
because they’ve been flaunting their wealth online.
12:58
How much do you agree with that?
13:00
You know, it's your business.
13:01
If it’s your business to show you are in an expensive hotel,
13:04
if it’s your business to show you buy expensive clothes,
13:07
how the hell can you stop doing it
13:08
if you are making money from it, you know?
13:11
The influencers are clearly aware of the potential dangers
13:14
of posting online,
13:15
but what can they do?
13:16
For most of them, it’s their main source of income.
13:19
I have certainly changed the use of social media.
13:23
I never publish a story made at the moment.
13:27
That is, I’m here now,
13:28
and I’ve made some content that I’ll publish,
13:30
maybe in an hour, two hours when I leave
13:32
so that criminals can’t wait in front and maybe follow me.
13:38
What advice would you give to other influencers
13:42
having been through it yourself?
13:44
Definitely to be very careful,
13:47
use it with your head, with knowledge,
13:51
but don’t show anything personal.
13:56
It was quite harrowing to hear Eleonora’s story.
13:59
I mean, I don’t believe that any influencer—or anyone—
14:02
should have their whole flat ransacked
14:03
with all of their belongings in it.
14:06
She did say that she had learned from it, though.
14:08
I am kind of interested to see if she hasn't posted anything
14:11
because I saw her filming a lot throughout the night.
14:14
So let’s have a little look.
14:16
She posted two hours ago, 58 minutes ago, 48 minutes ago.
14:20
There’s a lot of stuff that was at the party, showing where she is.
14:24
I guess old habits die hard.
14:26
Eleonora was extremely lucky that she wasn’t in the flat
14:29
when the thieves targeted her.
14:32
But it isn’t just glamorous girls like Eleonora.
14:34
Anyone with a decent following
14:36
and a habit for flashing their cash is at risk.
14:39
Kez The Guru isn’t your typical influencer.
14:42
He’s involved in the murky world of forex trading.
14:45
Kez uses Instagram to promote his success,
14:48
but this enticed the wrong kind of attention.
14:52
Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Tir.
14:55
In his house, he has everything from machetes to guard dogs
14:58
and even a toy sword.
15:00
You’ve got a sword up there.
15:01
-Oh, I’ve got a knife there. -Oh, OK.
15:04
Dog, good alarm system,
15:06
machetes, knives.
15:07
Machetes?
15:08
So would you call yourself an influencer?
15:10
Well, yeah. I’d say you could give me that label.
15:11
I had a fairly big following.
15:13
I started doing quite well for myself, just posting it.
15:16
That was just me documenting my success and my achievements.
15:18
At the time, what sort of things were you posting?
15:21
2019, I was quite young.
15:22
Watches, clothes, holidays.
15:24
So I was into my fast cars, and that’s the car that I had.
15:28
Bright blue as well, that’s very inconspicuous.
15:30
Yeah, yeah, so I stand out, don’t I?
15:33
So tell me what happened.
15:34
I was in bed, and I heard, like, tapping.
15:38
I obviously thought the dogs have obviously escaped the bed
15:40
and they’ve gone upstairs.
15:41
I went up the stairs to them unprepared.
15:43
They’ve got machetes. They say, “Where’s your watches?
15:45
Where’s your drugs?”
15:46
I’m an influencer, do you know what I mean?
15:48
So obviously, they’ve been been chasing me round my house,
15:50
stab, stab, stab, stab, stab.
15:51
They were chasing you round your house, stabbing you?
15:53
Yeah. Yeah, just, like, asking for different stuff.
15:55
But he was just poking me, like.
15:56
One of them went into my little girl’s room.
15:58
The other guy, which I have a tiny bit of respect for him
16:01
because he went, “Nah, get out the room.”
16:02
Then he punched me.
16:04
It’s like something out of a film.
16:05
So I’m just, like, dodging it,
16:06
and then obviously I must have put my arm up or something,
16:09
and he just slit my arm.
16:12
See, that looks quite big.
16:13
Did you not lose a lot of blood from that?
16:15
Yeah, yeah, I lost quite a bit.
16:17
At the time, I don’t really remember much.
16:19
After that, I found the knife,
16:20
and that’s how he got caught.
16:22
A lot of reaction to these influencers getting robbed online
16:25
was that they almost deserved it
16:26
because they were flaunting their wealth online.
16:29
It does put you more at risk, I believe. Of course it does.
16:33
But, you know,
16:34
it doesn’t give anybody the right to do anything.
16:39
Social media has allowed criminals
16:41
to achieve a brand-new level of sophistication.
16:44
And they have the convenient moral argument
16:46
that robbing influencers isn’t a shameful crime
16:49
because they are, in fact, asking for it.
16:51
Look at this. They left my charm.
16:54
But they stole my chain!
16:56
Of course, no one deserves to have their home ransacked.
16:59
No one deserves to be hurt, or worse.
17:02
In this new world, we all need to be more wary of what we post online,
17:06
especially if you’re a celebrity with a lot of diamonds.
17:10
They’re in a bubble, you get me?
17:12
And I love to burst that fucking bubble.
17:13
Thinking they’re untouchable.
17:15
Showing off bare Rolex and Cartiers and that.
17:18
Man just roll in on you,
17:19
give you a slap in the face, and take that off you.
17:21
Put that on your fucking live.
17:23
[EDITOR’S NOTE: THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY]
17:24
[HAS ISSUED A WARNING THAT KEZ THE GURU MAY BE PROVIDING]
17:25
[FINANCIAL SERVICES OR PRODUCTS WITHOUT THEIR AUTHORIZATION.]
0:04
They get the dopamine off showing off.
0:06
My dick gets hard when I fucking take that shit off them.
0:09
They so much want fame,
0:10
they just put themselves in danger.
0:12
In the world of influencers and celebrity,
0:15
followers are a currency,
0:16
and posting your wealth online has become part of the job.
0:20
But “Insta-bragging” doesn’t just attract brand partnerships
0:23
and followers.
0:24
It can attract something more sinister.
0:27
In recent years, break-ins and thefts at the homes of influencers,
0:30
football players, and celebrities
0:32
have made the headlines internationally.
0:34
Someone broke in my house!
0:36
I’ve already called the police. The police are already on their way.
0:41
Real Housewives robbers caught on camera.
0:43
It was a terrifying night for a star of the hit show.
0:45
Alli is the latest in a long line of Premier League stars
0:49
whose homes have been targeted by criminals.
0:51
And sometimes, it can go horribly wrong.
0:54
Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a social media post
0:57
that appeared to show Pop Smoke and a friend
0:59
with what looks like stacks of money behind them.
1:02
Obviously, I must have put my arm up or something,
1:05
and he just slit my arm.
1:07
I’m speaking to the influencers and celebrities
1:10
that are getting robbed
1:11
and the criminals who are tracking them down.
1:13
Their Instagram will show me where they at
1:15
and show me what they’ve got
1:17
and show me when they’re out.
1:18
And that’s all I need.
1:21
[CRIMEWAVE]
1:24
[INFLUENCER THIEVES]
1:28
Just went to the Balenciaga show makeup free.
1:31
Kind of feels good.
1:35
In 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint at Paris Fashion Week.
1:40
In the lead-up to the event,
1:42
Kim was posting her lavish lifestyle on Snapchat and Instagram.
1:45
Getting ready,
1:46
about to walk out the door for the Givenchy show.
1:49
The robbers stole 7 million pounds’ worth of jewels,
1:52
including Kim’s 3.5 million pound engagement ring.
1:56
Believe it or not,
1:57
the heist was committed by a group of men aged 60 to 72.
2:01
The press dubbed them “the grandpa robbers.”
2:04
I’m in Paris to meet one of them.
2:10
So how did you prepare for the crime?
2:12
I went on the internet,
2:15
and it’s true, I saw her jewelry, I saw her ring,
2:18
I saw that she showed it everywhere,
2:21
and we knew this information through social media.
2:24
We knew that she was coming for Fashion Week,
2:27
so we went there to do some more reconnaissance
2:31
So we were sure. We were there from midnight.
2:36
This is it. Here it is.
2:41
Is this family and are these girls sharing too much?
2:43
Like, people now are wondering if that’s to blame
2:45
and how these guys knew that she was in their apartment,
2:48
probably alone.
2:50
So what happened on the night?
2:52
So here we got in. We got in through the little door
2:54
that was open on the inside.
2:57
As soon as we got in, we took control of the concierge.
3:01
We overpowered him. We tied him up.
3:04
But then we looked for the keys for the bedroom she stayed in.
3:09
I stayed downstairs, but my two colleagues went upstairs
3:12
with the concierge to go to Ms. Kardashian’s room.
3:16
Then they picked up the jewelry. They went downstairs.
3:18
Ms. Kardashian’s secretary called for help.
3:23
But she called 911 in the United States,
3:27
which scared us, which made them lose a lot of time.
3:29
And when we got out, there was a bunch of police outside
3:32
who didn’t know anything about the robbery.
3:34
Are these Kim Kardashian’s robbers?
3:37
It’s the first video showing the alleged thieves on bikes and on foot,
3:41
heading toward the boutique hotel in Paris
3:43
where the heist took place.
3:50
How did you get caught?
3:51
Because I left my DNA
3:54
when I overpowered the guard.
3:58
So I took his hands, I tied him up, and by doing so, I left my DNA.
4:04
As I already had a record,
4:06
it was very easy to trace me.
4:08
Did you know how big of a star she was?
4:10
So I honestly didn’t really know her.
4:13
I knew her husband, Kanye West,
4:15
but I didn’t know her.
4:17
But I saw one of her shows where she threw her diamond in the pool
4:22
in that episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
4:26
I thought, “She’s got a lot of money. This lady doesn’t care at all.”
4:30
How do you feel about the incident now?
4:32
Do you feel guilty at all about what happened?
4:34
Since she was throwing money away,
4:36
I was there to collect it, and that was that.
4:38
Guilty? No, I don’t care.
4:41
I don’t care.
4:43
So do you not think that she was traumatized?
4:45
No doubt. Yes, of course.
4:48
You don’t come out of it unscathed.
4:51
We didn’t expect this. Of course, she must have been traumatized.
4:55
I don’t doubt it.
4:56
He grabbed me and pulled me towards him.
5:00
But I wasn’t wearing anything underneath,
5:01
so I was like, “OK, this is the time I’m going to get raped.”
5:04
You know, like,
5:05
“Just prepare yourself.”
5:07
So I did.
5:08
What would your advice be to celebrities and influencers
5:11
who are thinking of posting their belongings on Instagram?
5:14
They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it.
5:18
For some people, it’s provocative.
5:21
The crime itself must have been absolutely traumatic for her,
5:25
and no one deserves to be put in that situation.
5:29
This was one of the first high-profile cases
5:31
of an influencer being targeted,
5:33
and it seems to have spurred on a lot of copycat crimes since.
5:37
And social media was fundamentally
5:39
the weapon that helped to pull this off.
5:41
If someone like Yunice, a man who’s almost 70 years old,
5:46
can figure out how to rob one of the most famous people in the world,
5:50
Kim Kardashian, by using Snapchat,
5:52
I don’t think any of us have any hope.
5:55
Despite their age, the grandpa robbers set a trend
5:58
and inspired criminals around the world
6:00
to turn to social media for opportunities.
6:03
Back in the UK,
6:04
I’m meeting a criminal who tracks his targets on Instagram
6:07
and robs them using a taser.
6:11
Hiya, are you OK?
6:13
So you started with robbing shops.
6:14
Did that change when social media came about?
6:17
First, man was just robbing little bits and bobs,
6:20
but you know, it’s like pot luck.
6:21
You could rob a man and he ain’t got nothing on him.
6:23
So all of that hassle,
6:24
you might get lockup for fuck all.
6:26
So man wanted an easier way to kind of know what people have got.
6:30
So when the social media lit, it was like fucking-- a gold mine.
6:34
They’re just that gassed up.
6:35
It must be the dopamine or something.
6:37
They say you get dopamine from when you get the likes and that.
6:39
When I heard that, I started cracking up.
6:41
I’m saying, “Yo, this is like a drug addiction.”
6:44
You get me? Man ain’t dumb, you know.
6:45
Man know about science and all of that.
6:47
They so much want fame, they just put themselves in danger.
6:51
People are trying to be up with the Kardashians and shit.
6:54
So can you give us an example
6:56
of someone you’re looking at at the moment?
6:58
Sometimes I go on girls’ pages, you know, the pretty girls and that.
7:00
I’d obviously get one of my fake accounts and follow them.
7:04
I find a few tasty blue ticks that I like
7:06
when I look at the pictures, you get me?
7:08
-Look. -She’s got a lot of diamonds on.
7:10
Obviously, they got money.
7:12
Is that a Rolex?
7:13
Yeah, that’s one. That’s a bad boy ting.
7:14
And you flick through their story,
7:16
and you see them flashing champagne at the parties, bottles.
7:19
You know they’ve got money they’ll be spending in the club.
7:21
How easy would it be to find the location of her house?
7:23
Well, from a car reg,
7:25
you can get the location of the house.
7:26
But same time,
7:27
if I go into their live pin, sometimes their address is in there.
7:31
God, I didn’t know that!
7:32
Yeah, check out your Instagram options.
7:35
-Shit. -Gives out location.
7:36
This is rich folks’ nightmare, man.
7:38
You follow them for a long time then?
7:40
Yeah, yeah. Sometimes it’s a couple of days, and you get a hit.
7:42
We’re, “Ah, they’re at that club that we know.”
7:44
Boom, fly down there, grab a quick watch.
7:46
But if it’s taking a bit longer,
7:47
we have to find out what club they’re at,
7:49
fling a tracker under their car.
7:51
Yeah, there’s plenty of ways to skin a cat, man.
7:53
If you do find someone in a club, how do you mug them?
7:56
Probably a taser or something.
7:57
Man, he get tased quickly in his car—zzz.
8:00
They got obviously disposable cash
8:02
where they’re fucking showing off like that, innit.
8:04
So you almost feel like the influencers deserve it then?
8:06
Yeah, rob from the rich and give back to us, man,
8:09
because we need it.
8:10
They’re asking for it, innit.
8:11
Understand in this life, we know from where we come from
8:14
not to be out there slipping and sliding, you get me?
8:17
So what would your advice be to an influencer
8:20
that wants to flaunt what they’ve got on their Instagram page?
8:23
I say, “Go get more Rolexes, man.
8:26
I like the Oyster one.”
8:27
I’ll send them a comment too.
8:29
I’ll say, “Yeah, that’s dope, man, fire, fire, fire.
8:31
Have you got the box?”
8:33
Shit.
8:34
It has made me think about what I post online.
8:37
Should I be conscious of stuff like reg plates,
8:40
and should I maybe not ever do a live?
8:44
Social media is the perfect surveillance tool for thieves,
8:47
and it’s being used across the globe.
8:53
A group of criminals who took social media robberies to new heights
8:56
were Milan’s “acrobat thieves,”
8:58
who use social media to track the city’s rich and famous
9:01
and scale their buildings to break in.
9:05
I’m in Milan to meet one of their victims,
9:07
Italian influencer Eleonora Incardona.
9:20
Oh, beautiful!
9:21
-You look really nice. -Thank you.
9:23
You have a lot of followers.
9:24
Yes, 500,000.
9:27
I have the blue flag on my profile.
9:30
Is that how you make all of your money?
9:32
I am an influencer,
9:33
but I have another business too, The Private Watch Club.
9:37
-You can look. -Nice.
9:39
Yeah, this is my favorite watch.
9:45
-Cheers! -Cheers!
9:47
Cheers, girls!
9:48
And get party started!
9:53
Sorry to bum the vibe out,
9:54
but can you tell me about what happened with the theft?
9:57
-I speak in Italian, OK? -Yes.
9:59
It was December.
10:00
I was with a friend.
10:02
She noticed the door was already open
10:04
and said, "Ele, thieves came in, thieves came in!”
10:07
Everything was upside down.
10:09
What did they take from your flat?
10:11
The total value, more or less, it was about 50,000 euros.
10:18
This is the story. This is my friend.
10:20
This is Oliver and me.
10:22
And as you can see, there is someone behind us.
10:25
And in fact, one of the thieves was following me.
10:26
Does that make you feel scared,
10:28
that he was behind you the whole time?
10:30
Yes. In that moment, I thought he was just someone passing by.
10:35
When this happened, I was at Tiffany,
10:39
and they were looking at what I was doing in that moment
10:42
to understand how much time they had to stay in and to commit the crime.
10:49
They called them the “acrobat thieves.”
10:52
They literally climbed over the balcony.
10:56
And this is your flat?
10:57
-Yes. -This flat.
10:58
This video, it became viral.
11:03
One climbs up, and the other one is looking out.
11:06
But there were three in total, right?
11:07
Yes.
11:08
I could not sleep for many days— insomnia.
11:13
As soon as I heard a noise, I would get up,
11:16
plus I had these people attacking me constantly
11:20
that did not understand that despite being Eleonora,
11:26
OK, with half a million followers,
11:28
but the majority was against me and told me I almost deserved it.
11:35
But I am a human being.
11:38
OK, we’re late. We should get ready.
11:41
Yeah, we are running late. Sorry to bring the mood down.
11:44
I’ll carry on with my champagne.
11:47
Ready for a party?
11:50
So we’re going to an influencer fashion party.
11:53
Not really sure what that is,
11:55
but I’ll be interested to see
11:57
how the robbery has changed what they post on social media...
12:02
or whether it’s changed it at all.
12:04
Regardless of the incident,
12:05
social media remained integral to the girls’ night.
12:11
Tir, we’re ready to go to the event.
12:13
Ciao!
12:16
Ready to go.
12:20
Whilst Eleonora was working the room,
12:22
I spoke to some other influencers at the event
12:25
to see if the news of the acrobat thieves
12:27
has changed how they behave online.
12:29
Maybe a brand say, “Hi, I would like to send you a gift.
12:32
Can you please give me your address?”
12:34
And if I want the gift or if I want to do a collaboration,
12:37
I need to trust that it is a collaboration
12:39
and not somebody that just wants to know where I live.
12:41
Sometimes we do the unboxing stuff.
12:43
My friends told me, “Ari, delete this
12:45
because you can clearly read where you live.”
12:48
I mean, that’s not safe! Anybody can see your stories.
12:50
You have to take a little attention, I guess.
12:52
There’s a lot of people
12:53
that say maybe that the influencers almost deserve it
12:56
because they’ve been flaunting their wealth online.
12:58
How much do you agree with that?
13:00
You know, it's your business.
13:01
If it’s your business to show you are in an expensive hotel,
13:04
if it’s your business to show you buy expensive clothes,
13:07
how the hell can you stop doing it
13:08
if you are making money from it, you know?
13:11
The influencers are clearly aware of the potential dangers
13:14
of posting online,
13:15
but what can they do?
13:16
For most of them, it’s their main source of income.
13:19
I have certainly changed the use of social media.
13:23
I never publish a story made at the moment.
13:27
That is, I’m here now,
13:28
and I’ve made some content that I’ll publish,
13:30
maybe in an hour, two hours when I leave
13:32
so that criminals can’t wait in front and maybe follow me.
13:38
What advice would you give to other influencers
13:42
having been through it yourself?
13:44
Definitely to be very careful,
13:47
use it with your head, with knowledge,
13:51
but don’t show anything personal.
13:56
It was quite harrowing to hear Eleonora’s story.
13:59
I mean, I don’t believe that any influencer—or anyone—
14:02
should have their whole flat ransacked
14:03
with all of their belongings in it.
14:06
She did say that she had learned from it, though.
14:08
I am kind of interested to see if she hasn't posted anything
14:11
because I saw her filming a lot throughout the night.
14:14
So let’s have a little look.
14:16
She posted two hours ago, 58 minutes ago, 48 minutes ago.
14:20
There’s a lot of stuff that was at the party, showing where she is.
14:24
I guess old habits die hard.
14:26
Eleonora was extremely lucky that she wasn’t in the flat
14:29
when the thieves targeted her.
14:32
But it isn’t just glamorous girls like Eleonora.
14:34
Anyone with a decent following
14:36
and a habit for flashing their cash is at risk.
14:39
Kez The Guru isn’t your typical influencer.
14:42
He’s involved in the murky world of forex trading.
14:45
Kez uses Instagram to promote his success,
14:48
but this enticed the wrong kind of attention.
14:52
Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Tir.
14:55
In his house, he has everything from machetes to guard dogs
14:58
and even a toy sword.
15:00
You’ve got a sword up there.
15:01
-Oh, I’ve got a knife there. -Oh, OK.
15:04
Dog, good alarm system,
15:06
machetes, knives.
15:07
Machetes?
15:08
So would you call yourself an influencer?
15:10
Well, yeah. I’d say you could give me that label.
15:11
I had a fairly big following.
15:13
I started doing quite well for myself, just posting it.
15:16
That was just me documenting my success and my achievements.
15:18
At the time, what sort of things were you posting?
15:21
2019, I was quite young.
15:22
Watches, clothes, holidays.
15:24
So I was into my fast cars, and that’s the car that I had.
15:28
Bright blue as well, that’s very inconspicuous.
15:30
Yeah, yeah, so I stand out, don’t I?
15:33
So tell me what happened.
15:34
I was in bed, and I heard, like, tapping.
15:38
I obviously thought the dogs have obviously escaped the bed
15:40
and they’ve gone upstairs.
15:41
I went up the stairs to them unprepared.
15:43
They’ve got machetes. They say, “Where’s your watches?
15:45
Where’s your drugs?”
15:46
I’m an influencer, do you know what I mean?
15:48
So obviously, they’ve been been chasing me round my house,
15:50
stab, stab, stab, stab, stab.
15:51
They were chasing you round your house, stabbing you?
15:53
Yeah. Yeah, just, like, asking for different stuff.
15:55
But he was just poking me, like.
15:56
One of them went into my little girl’s room.
15:58
The other guy, which I have a tiny bit of respect for him
16:01
because he went, “Nah, get out the room.”
16:02
Then he punched me.
16:04
It’s like something out of a film.
16:05
So I’m just, like, dodging it,
16:06
and then obviously I must have put my arm up or something,
16:09
and he just slit my arm.
16:12
See, that looks quite big.
16:13
Did you not lose a lot of blood from that?
16:15
Yeah, yeah, I lost quite a bit.
16:17
At the time, I don’t really remember much.
16:19
After that, I found the knife,
16:20
and that’s how he got caught.
16:22
A lot of reaction to these influencers getting robbed online
16:25
was that they almost deserved it
16:26
because they were flaunting their wealth online.
16:29
It does put you more at risk, I believe. Of course it does.
16:33
But, you know,
16:34
it doesn’t give anybody the right to do anything.
16:39
Social media has allowed criminals
16:41
to achieve a brand-new level of sophistication.
16:44
And they have the convenient moral argument
16:46
that robbing influencers isn’t a shameful crime
16:49
because they are, in fact, asking for it.
16:51
Look at this. They left my charm.
16:54
But they stole my chain!
16:56
Of course, no one deserves to have their home ransacked.
16:59
No one deserves to be hurt, or worse.
17:02
In this new world, we all need to be more wary of what we post online,
17:06
especially if you’re a celebrity with a lot of diamonds.
17:10
They’re in a bubble, you get me?
17:12
And I love to burst that fucking bubble.
17:13
Thinking they’re untouchable.
17:15
Showing off bare Rolex and Cartiers and that.
17:18
Man just roll in on you,
17:19
give you a slap in the face, and take that off you.
17:21
Put that on your fucking live.
17:23
[EDITOR’S NOTE: THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY]
17:24
[HAS ISSUED A WARNING THAT KEZ THE GURU MAY BE PROVIDING]
17:25
[FINANCIAL SERVICES OR PRODUCTS WITHOUT THEIR AUTHORIZATION.]
