In Reply to: Beware near Hardrock... posted by love holidays on Monday, 15. April 2013 at 10:42 Bali Time:
Right in front of the Hard Rock 2 weeks ago. She was walking with another woman and 2 teenage girls. 4 young boys (maybe about 7 or 8 years old) came up and did the same thing. Grabbed her wrist and tried to put some bracelets on her arm. She had her hand covering her very small bag that she was wearing in the front. Before she knew it, they had lifted the flap (it was just closed with a snap type closure) and had stolen her iPhone.
I had walked through the same area about 10 minutes earlier and they tried the same thing with my daughter (who is 14). She was holding her wallet and her phone in her hands which were held tighly against her chest. They grabbed her chest and butt. She was behind me so I didn't see it happening but my niece did and yelled at them.
There was an older man standing against a wall and apparently when he saw us coming (just after sunset on Galungan Day) he quickly shoved some bracelets in the boys hands and pushed them towards us. My niece saw the whole thing but I didn't even know it happened until the crowds thinned out and we stopped. My niece was furious but we just thought the boys were grabbing her. We didn't realize they were trying to steal her stuff until we met up with our other friends for dinner at Kori's that the boys were stealing from people.
We went to the Police Station the next day to report the crime (for insurance purposes) and they said there are dozens of reports everyday from this area. My tour guide was with us and he asked them if they did undercover surveillance which they said they did. If they are doing that, I don't understand why it keeps happening.
It's a real shame as it was my friends first time to Bali and she was really upset. I told a couple of other friends about this who live in Bali (ex-pats) and they shared more stories like this with me.
I hate to see Bali get a reputation of not being safe so I hope they can have a bigger police presence in some of these 'high risk' areas.
Bottom line is to keep your hands on your valuables and avoid crowds when possible. I've been going to Bali since 1983 and have never had anything stolen before but it was a good wake up call. My poor tour guide was horrified. Even though he wasn't with us, he felt terrible this would happen to a visitor. These kids have had some training so be extra careful with young boys selling bracelets. It seems to be a common theme.