With the massive success of Pokémon GO, players are visiting all sorts of places and possibly making some new friends. That’s what the makers of the game hoped it would accomplish. However, there’s been some unintended side effects of the game, the latest of which is an armed robbery of players in O’Fallon, Missouri.
The police department for O’Fallen posted a warning on Facebook yesterday giving the details of the robbery and how they think criminals are using the game to find victims.
“This morning at approximately 2 am we responded to the report of an Armed Robbery…We were able to locate four suspects…These suspects are suspected of multiple Armed Robberies both in St. Louis and St. Charles Counties. It is believed these suspects targeted their victims through the Pokémon GO smart phone application,” the announcement reads. “The way we believe it was used is you can add a beacon to a pokestop to lure more players. Apparently they were using the app to locate ppl standing around in the middle of a parking lot or whatever other location they were in.”
This isn’t the only crime-related incident related to the game. A teenager in Wyoming found a dead body while searching for Pokémon near a river. Other non-related issues and opportunities have arisen as part of the game. Some businesses are getting fed up with people visiting their establishment to catch Pokémon and not buying anything. Other businesses see the game as an opportunity to lure in customers, posting signs outside their stories telling passersby that they’re a Pokéstop.
