Shocking videos reveal how gangs of thieves work together in order to brazenly steal from British tourists on Magaluf’s beaches
- YouTube account Gaviota 007 aims to expose tactics of Manaluf beach thieves
- Videos document how men often working in twos or threes steal from tourists
- Common tactics include using one person to distract the victim, while the others pilfer from bags left on or under their sun loungers
- Others target sleeping or drunk victims in order to brazenly steal from them
The tactics of thieving gangs who target tourists including Britons on the beaches of Magaluf have been laid bare in shocking YouTube videos.
A user going by the name Gaviota 007 records how groups of men, often working in twos or threes, target their unsuspecting victims while they sit on sun loungers.
The men either pray on people who are distracted – targeting those who are sleeping, kissing or drunk – or will use one gang member to divert their attention before the theft takes place.
A lone woman guarding a row of sun loungers in Magaluf covered with her friends’ valuables becomes the victim of a thieving gang in one of the videos
One man keeps a lookout while a second commando-crawls up to the bags before emptying one of its valuables
While the girl is looking in the other direction the man helps himself to her friends’ things before getting up and walking away
In one video, a group of men pretend to make friends with an intoxicated man before one of them reaches over and pulls his phone from his pocket.
Despite taking the phone from underneath the victim’s nose, he fails to notice what has happened and begins frantically searching his pockets.
The brazen thieves even appear to try the man’s other pocket before shaking his hand and wandering away with his valuables.
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In another video, two men approach a sleeping couple on a sun lounger before one of them steals a pair of sunglasses from the back of the man’s head.
The second man then wakes the sleeping victim up and talks to him as a distraction while the thief walks away.
A third video shows a single girl sitting on the end of a row of sun loungers covered with her friends’ possessions as they go for an early-morning dip.
In another video a man working with his accomplice sneaks up on a couple who are making out under a parasol before trying to take their bag
As the pair are kissing he reaches down and helps himself to the woman’s handbag
While one thief keeps watch another commando-crawls up to one of the loungers before taking the contents of one of the bags as her back is turned.
It is only when her distraught friends return that she realises what has happened.
The thieves also use cunning tactics to make sure they get away with as much as possible after the thefts have taken place.
In at least two of the videos, men can be see burying goods in the sand before returning to pick them up later.
One piece of footage shows to people kissing on a lounger before one man walks up and takes the woman’s bag.
The pair then sit on another lounger a short distance away and divvy up the contents.
A third man then arrives a short time later to retrieve some items they couldn’t carry and hid in the sand instead.
In the other, a man can be seen wandering along in front of the loungers before hooking a bag with his feet that has been left there the night before.
He briefly rifles through it before walking away.
Gaviota 007 has been sharing the videos with warnings in Spanish, English and German in order to make people aware of the dangers.
A second kissing couple also fall victims to the gangs as two men steal the woman’s handbag before retreating to a nearby lounger in order to share the contents
Whatever the two men cannot carry is buried in the sand nearby before a third man arrives later and digs the valuables up
It comes after bar owners handed Mail Online footage which appears to show gangs of female thieves targeting Britons in the holiday resort town.
The businessmen say criminal gangs who traffic prostitutes and rob holidaymakers are turning Magaluf into a tourist no-go zone.
Gangs of trafficked Nigerian and Senegalese women are luring drunk men into sex only to then rob them, the locals say.
The women are brought over from impoverished cities in West Africa by gang masters often without the money to pay for their journey and are forced to work to pay off their debt to the traffickers, according to investigators.
Protestors have clashed with the women they accuse of driving holidaymakers away – as tourism in Magaluf has fallen seven per cent in the last 12 months.
The traffickers, like the thieves in the video, pose as street traders – known as ‘looky looky’ men – who wander the streets hawking goods like sunglasses or novelty hats.
The men also target either lone or drunk tourists walking back to their hotels in the early hours along the strip.
In the most brazen video, a gang of three men pretend to be making friends with an intoxicated man before taking his phone right from his pocket
A British bar owner, from London, who asked not to be named said: ‘The pickpockets and prostitutes are part of the same gang who hang around outside the bars in the early hours picking off stragglers.
‘The women pretend to be prostitutes and throw their arms around these young lads, clearly worse the wear for drink, and when they’re distracted they pickpocket them.
‘The men pretend to be ‘looky looky’ sellers and operate in the same way, distracting their victims and then rifling through their pockets.
‘I’ve been here for years so I know who the genuine ‘looky looky’ men and they are decent hard-working individuals who are trying to earn a bit of cash.
‘The bogus ones, like the two in that video, take advantage of the fact that most tourists happily interact with the street-sellers and are not at all wary of them.
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