Police: Pokemon Go has been used to target armed-robbery victims

Mobile gaming takes “task fixation” to a whole new level.

//www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/97e58158-3ed2-11e6-9e16-4cf01a41decb

From https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/07/10/police-pokemon-go-used-to-target-armed-robbery-victims/

“It is believed these suspects targeted their victims through the Pokemon Go smart phone application,” according to the social media post. Specifically, the robbers appear to have watched the game’s map for a particular player-triggered feature that attracts Pokemon to a specific location for a limited time — to figure out when potential victims were likely to be in isolated areas such as parking lots.

 

Police caught four suspects after responding to a call about a robbery 2 a.m. Sunday

 

Some players have also reported injuring themselves because they were walking around with their eyes locked on their smartphone screens — basically ignoring the real world for the Pokemon-filled version in the palm of their hand.

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