Team Rocket impostor reportedly steals Pokemon Go trainers’ mobile phone

Paul Cotton

Team Rocket are the new bad guys in Pokemon Go but nobody expected them to be going around stealing mobile phones for real, but that’s what reportedly happened to one trainer.

One Pokemon Go player had a terrible experience while playing the popular mobile game. A person dressed up as Team Rocket ran up to the trainer in question and allegedly took the phone they were playing on.

As Team Rocket have invaded Pokemon Go, and have been seen around the world, from Dortmund to New York, this person thought it was simply promotion by Niantic. Unfortunately, it appears they were wrong and this was an actual theft.

Beware of people dressed up as Team Rocket…

“They were wearing an actual Team Rocket uniform so I got excited and thought it was Niantic in town,” the mobile phone owner said on Reddit. “They haven’t come back and it’s been like 10 minutes.”

The victim of the theft then went back and updated their Reddit post: “I just checked and there’s no costume convention or anything in town.” Comments have encouraged the user to phone the police.

While there is a funny side to this, and certainly a lot of irony, it does appear an innocent Pokemon Go player has lost their mobile phone. However, in the world of the Internet in 2019 and lots of people using it to gain attention, some have accused the poster of faking the scenario as there is no evidence of the theft. Alternatively, the poster could have shared the story for humor.

If the situation is made up, the poster is certainly committing to it though as they also posted in the iPhone sub-Reddit: “FindMyiPhone not working on a stolen phone. Does that mean they deleted it?”

Team Rocket have invaded Pokemon Go!

Some commenters had some light-hearted fun with the post saying: “Yeah, officer, Team Rocket from Pokemon stole my phone, this is not a joke.” Another theorized that any police officer to turn up might be called Jenny.

Whether the post is real or not, we might not ever know. If it is, we can only hope the Pokemon Go trainer finds their phone. Other trainers can use it as a reminder to remain vigilant and not trust anyone who goes for your phone – especially Team Rocket.

We have reached out to the victim to confirm the story but have yet to get a response.

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