Toronto’s Rebel nightclub is cracking down on phone theft
“Our team is just as fed up with this behaviour as our guests are,” said a post on the venue’s Instagram
Phone theft in Toronto continues to be a rising problem at large gatherings. Back in the summer, the Toronto Police Service warned Pride attendees that hundreds of phones had been stolen from guests the previous year, and explained that professional pickpockets seem to be lurking more and more. A similar warning went out after last year’s Taste of Little Italy and Do West Fest. Nightclubs around the city have also increasingly become targets for thieves.
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Last weekend, “a planned internal effort” carried out by staff at Rebel identified two individuals who had allegedly stuffed stolen phones into radio-frequency identification pouches around their waists.
“Our security staff took it upon themselves to spot, track, bait and stop the thieves. We can’t guarantee we’ll catch someone every time, but our team is just as fed up with this behaviour as our guests are, and we’ve been taking action behind the scenes to finally get to where we are today,” said an announcement posted to the nightclub’s Instagram. “Our team is trained to respond quickly to concerns, and we continuously review our procedures to help prevent incidents and protect our guests. This includes adding new systems designed to catch thieves, one of which proved effective last night.”
Toronto police confirmed to CP24 that an investigation is ongoing after two people were apprehended over the weekend.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
