Despite the best efforts of the San Francisco Police Department to encourage safety for Pokemon Go players, the game has reportedly claimed its SF first victims.
The LA Times reports that two teen siblings playing the game at around 8 p.m. Sunday were robbed of their phone on the 200 block of Burrows Street, near where the Excelsior meets the Portola district.
According to the LA Times, they "noticed a man watching them from across the street" but then "continued to play the game and suddenly noticed the same guy a few blocks later,” SFPD spokesperson Sergeant Michael Andraychak said.
The suspect approached them, took the phone, and “ran to a waiting car and fled,” Andraychak said.
The victims weren't injured, according to the SFPD, and the suspects remain at large.
This crime pattern is exactly the one warned of by Bayview Station Captain Raj Vaswani in the evening following the mugging, when he wrote that players should [sic throughout] "Know your surroundings and pay attention to where you are going/who is around you. Slow car paralleling a person on foot, might be a sign it’s a get-away car."
"If you get the sense you are being followed or set-up for a robbery, head to a lighted area with people around."
Speaking with CBS 5, SFPD spokesperson officer Grace Gatpandan confirmed the robbery, which appears to be the first of its kind in San Francisco.
It's worth noting however, that according to SFPD records at least six other non-Pokemon-related cell phone thefts went down last weekend, a good reminder that it's not necessarily Pokemon Go that's behind any alleged national crime waves.
Previously: SFPD Forced To Issue Pokémon Go Safety Tips
