Timely warning: Thai couple’s luxury watch snatched at European music festival

A Thai couple posted a warning after a disheartening experience at a renowned music festival in Europe, where they were targeted by thieves who snatched a luxury Rolex watch from them. They advised against wearing valuable items and engaging with strangers, staying vigilant, and refraining from heavy drinking.

Fongwin S. Laskowski, a member of the ‘Travel Europe by Yourself’ group, today took to social media to share her unfortunate experience at a global-scale music festival in Belgium. The trip turned out to be an expensive lesson after her husband was held and robbed of his Rolex. The post said…

“Hello, we wanted to share an incident that occurred with us, hoping it would serve as a beneficial warning for fellow group members.”

The couple had visited Europe for the second time, and this trip turned out to be pretty costly for them.

They thoroughly enjoyed the first day of the global music festival, Tomorrowland, in Belgium. The lively scene, buzzing with various artists, justified the priced tickets. The festival had multiple stages, food zones, and beverage outlets dispersed all around the place. The couple drank and was slightly tipsy.

On their way back to their hotel in Antwerp after the festival concluded, a man approached them asking for a lighter to smoke. Thinking of him as a fellow festival attendee, they replied they didn’t have a lighter. Suddenly another man came up to ask them about their origin, then began to talk and shake hands with Fongwin’s husband. Fongwin took the lead and walked slightly ahead, reported KhaoSod.

What happened next happened quite swiftly. She saw her husband chasing the men. She thought their money was stolen from their bag, so she chased behind her husband up to a pedestrian cross-section. However, she failed to keep up with them. When she asked her husband if the thieves had stolen their money, he shook his head. They had taken his Rolex watch. The husband said…

“One man held my legs while the other held my hands. It happened so quickly that I was left stunned.”

Although they informed event officials about the incident and were instructed to report it to the police, they knew the chances of retrieving the watch were slim. Despite knowing this, they wanted to report it to the police.

Reading similar posts by others, they never anticipated finding themselves in a similar situation. It turned out to be a very expensive lesson. They urged everyone to be cautious, avoid wearing or carrying anything flashy that would attract thieves, stay vigilant at all times, avoid getting extremely drunk, and not converse with strangers.

The post was hoped to instruct more group members about these precautions. She refrained from commenting further as her husband was deeply upset at the time.