Clara Nery, a reporter for Brazilian network Band Rio, was preparing to go live from the streets of Rio de Janeiro when a man on a motorbike sped by and attempted to snatch her phone — all while the camera was rolling.
“In the video, you can see the moment he puts his hand on my phone and takes it from me. Luckily, I was holding on tightly,” Nery said, according to her employer, Band Rio.
Although the assailant fled the scene, Nery managed to recover her phone shortly afterward and was not injured in the incident.
“It was a real scare to go live,” she later shared in an Instagram post, “But the important thing is that everything turned out okay!”
She expressed gratitude to those who reached out in the aftermath: “Thanks for the messages and support from my coworkers, the Military Police, and the Civil Police.” Nery also urged the public to help identify the suspect: “Let’s share his face, he wants to be known.”
Phone thefts in Rio de Janeiro have seen a sharp rise, increasing by 27 percent this June compared to the same month in 2024, according to The Nightly, citing data from the Rio de Janeiro Public Security Institute.
Over 2,300 phones were reported stolen in June 2025 — a significant jump from the 1,808 thefts recorded the previous year.
