Important warning! Attacked in Dona Pepa- Rojales

This morning my 85 years old father was attacked from 2 young, large women ( nationality unknown) when he went to the rubbish container in c/ Pamplona in Dona Pepa.
One woman ask him for direccions, while the other one attacked him from behind and tried to get his wallet.

Luckily he is still a strong, fit man and was able to defend himself. So the attackers ran away.

Please be carefully because this can happen to anybody and anywhere.

Thank you for taking the time to post this. As fit as you say your father is, this must have been a terrible shock for him, I hope he's recovering well. Best wishes to you both.

Pleased to hear your father is fit and healthy enough to deal with such a situation.

You really have to watch out for the crooks with the distraction techniques.

One which is quite common (not suggesting locally, generally known) is to be approached by a couple of people, one will ask you the time - as you look down at your watch, by the time you look up again a knife or gun / weapon will be pointing in your direction.

Last time this happened (3 times now when travelling), 'have you go the time' ? a dodgy character and his friend asked? 'No' I replied and didn't look away or break eye contact - 'but you are wearing a watch' - 'am I'? - they knew they were dealing with someone / awkward or aware - key is being observant of your surroundings. In these instances I was left alone, part luck, but part of being aware of the situation.

The general 'distraction tactic' is not uncommon - I managed to get my phone stolen off an outside restaurant table, a woman came over begging, managed to cover part of the table with her bag when talking to us, shielding the view, I blink and my phones gone, took me a minute to realise, at which point she's round the corner and driven off.... Lesson keep your eyes open:roll:

A lesson taught to all primary school kids.
DONT TALK TO STRANGERS.

Paul - TV Techie wrote:Pleased to hear your father is fit and healthy enough to deal with such a situation.

You really have to watch out for the crooks with the distraction techniques.

One which is quite common (not suggesting locally, generally known) is to be approached by a couple of people, one will ask you the time - as you look down at your watch, by the time you look up again a knife or gun / weapon will be pointing in your direction.

Last time this happened (3 times now when travelling), 'have you go the time' ? a dodgy character and his friend asked? 'No' I replied and didn't look away or break eye contact - 'but you are wearing a watch' - 'am I'? - they knew they were dealing with someone / awkward or aware - key is being observant of your surroundings. In these instances I was left alone, part luck, but part of being aware of the situation.

The general 'distraction tactic' is not uncommon - I managed to get my phone stolen off an outside restaurant table, a woman came over begging, managed to cover part of the table with her bag when talking to us, shielding the view, I blink and my phones gone, took me a minute to realise, at which point she's round the corner and driven off.... Lesson keep your eyes open:roll:

Interesting, what you are saying about asking the time.

Earlier this year I was out walking and a car stopped right beside and the driver asked me the time. I pulled back my sleeve to reveal my (£12) Casio watch, and I said "Cheap watch - not worth stealing". The driver said "Ah, ok" and drove off!

I might be old, but they didn't get me on that occasion. It occurred to me that very few cars don't have a clock in them these days!

Geoff.

The other one is asking for directions...sometimes with a map in hand to get you to come up to the car. Just don't say a word and keep walking. That way they may think you don't understand. There are lots of nationalities in Spain now so it's not always so easy for the thieves to work out the nationalities. Also remember being polite may be in our nature but it's just not worth it.
A couple asked us the way to Quesada (we were in Done Pepa) but we kept our distance and just pointed the correct direction. They will nearly always ask an easy nearby place rather than get a knock back.
It happens everywhere. We were in the back streets of Rome and a car stopped and the lone driver (an Italian) asked for the Colosseum. The colosseum could be seen over a roof top and was literally round the corner. We just pointed the direction and walked on but he wanted to know if we were English??..We believe he was a scammer or thief as he was asking someone else just a bit further up the road.

My mother got caught out in lidl not long ago, a man asking her to pass her something from the shelf....purse gone from bag..if i wouldv got hold of him I'd have broke his theiving fingers