A group of Australian influencers purposely tried to get their phone pickpocketed in Barcelona, with the aim of taking a selfie with the thief afterwards.
The lads behind the @betheonebt1 TikTok account, which has more than 119,000 followers, chose Barcelona as it is notorious for being one of the worst cities in the world for pickpockets.
They explained at the start of their video: “We’re in Barcelona, Spain right now, the number one voted place in the world for pickpockets, we’ve come with a brand new working phone, and we’re going to see if Youngy gets pickpocketed. And then get a photo with the person.”
Youngy placed the phone in the back pocket of his shorts and took a stroll around some of Barcelona’s most touristy areas, all while the other boys filmed from afar.
However, as the day progressed no one took the bait. He even tried sitting at the city’s port, facing the water, with the phone on the ground next to him – but no one grabbed it.
The boys tried again in the evening, with Youngy sitting on a fountain in Barcelona’s main square while his phone lay next to him. But instead of attracting criminals, he was met with concerned locals telling him to put the phone away.
He said: “I’m out in the open in the middle of Barcelona square. I’ve had four people come up to me, all of which have said ‘put your phone in your pocket, it’s going to be taken’. Everybody is saying ‘put the phone in your pocket, you’re being silly’. Mate, I want it to be taken!”
On the following day they took their experiment to the subway station, but again to no avail. Lying on the beach with the phone placed on the sand also didn’t work.
In a last ditch attempt, the lads headed to a restaurant and left the phone at the end of a table. Youngy even left the phone unattended entirely as he went to get his food, but no one grabbed it despite their being countless people walking right past. “This is actually scary now, this feels so weird,” the boys said.
Youngy concluded: “It’s been 48 hours, we’ve tried everything. Maybe Barcelona, you’re not too bad.” Their video racked up more than 2.8million views and 235,000 likes.
