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Ibiza phone thief ‘world’s most stupid’

A German tourist who had her mobile stolen on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza has set up a hilarious blog with pictures and videos taken by the thief on her device which are automatically uploaded to her computer.

Published: 5 August 2013 15:06 CEST

Ibiza phone thief 'world's most stupid'

Photo: DPA

“Life of a stranger who stole my mobile” is a satirical account of the life and times of Hafid, a petty thief whose only link to the blog’s author is the mobile phone he took from her on a beach in Ibiza.

“He forgot to switch off the camera upload function, that’s why we will enjoy a deep insight into his life,” the German blogger jokes below the site’s name.

Her humorous account of events starts from the day of the robbery, when she was “hopelessly drunk and naked in the sea” with her friends while on holiday in Ibiza.

She tells how she almost came face to the face with Hafid seconds before he stole her friends’ and her belongings.

Four months after the unfortunate events, the blogger noticed fifteen new pictures had been uploaded from her stolen phone to her Dropbox account.

“Every photo he takes appears instantly on my computer,” she wrote. “What a douche.”

Hafid’s incessant stupidity seemed too good to go unnoticed, and soon the once-disgruntled tourist began telling the world about Hafid’s day-to-day on a Tumblr blog which has left followers baffled.

She was able to find out where the naïve thief was based after he unknowingly sent her a picture of him standing in front of Dubai’s emblematic Burj Khalifa tower.

Next in line was discovering his name.

“What really made me wonder about his stupidity was when I checked my Facebook profile and found out that he entered my Facebook account and sent me a personal message from his own account to hit on me. That’s how I know his name,” she wrote.

The intrepid Hafid also attempted to seduce the blogger’s Skype friends with irresistible words like “I’m Hafid, I want to meet you.”

Click here to read "Life of a stranger who stole my mobile".

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Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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