Two Atlanta men, Charlie Zeenah, 27, and Micha Brown, 34, each reported a robbery of over $30,000 at a bar. This was after separately visiting Five Paces Inn in Atlanta Buckhead neighborhood. While Zeenah fell victim to the scheme this year, Brown experienced the theft last year.
The men recount how the robbers accessed their phones, leaving them with massive financial losses. They suspect the thieves exploited their unconscious states to unlock their iPhones through face recognition or passcodes.
Notably, Zeenah revealed a connection with Brown through mutual friends before the incidents. Zeenah recounted his experience at Five Paces Inn, a lively dive bar with live music. He reportedly went alone on a weekend after he left his friends at a nearby bar.
The last memory Zeenah could recall was conversing with an unfamiliar woman before waking up disoriented in the back seat of a moving and unfamiliar car. Poor Zeenah was unable to speak. “It was like I was physically there but not mentally,” Zeenah said.
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He described a surreal experience where, despite being there, he couldn’t act or fully understand his current situation. Following this, Zeenah remembered being in a car with two men and a woman, all strangers who were familiar with one another.
The car stopped in the parking lot of an apartment complex after driving around for hours. At some point, a man restrained Zeenah in the parking lot. He took away his belongings, including his wallet, jewelry, and cell phone.
Following this, Zeenah recalled his next memory: desperately navigating gas stations along an unfamiliar road, pleading for assistance to call an Uber. Around 6 a.m., an unknown good samaritan gave him a ride home. Upon returning, approximately $25,000 had left his checking accounts.
This theft was funneled through Zelle, Venmo, CashApp, and other account transactions. The robbers also altered his iCloud password, locking him out and cutting access to years’ worth of cherished photos and videos. Zeenah emphasized the magnitude of iCloud accounting, saying, “It’s your whole life.”
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Conversely, Brown also recounted his experience on June 29, 2023, at the Five Paces Inn. He said he temporarily misplaced his iPhone, only for a friend to find it later in a restroom at the bar, despite Brown never going there.
Two days later, while enjoying a beach outing with friends and playing Heads Up!, Brown received many email alerts. These were notifications of several money transfers, a total of approximately $34,000 left his account and charged to his credit card without consent.
Brown is actively pursuing recourse, primarily through Venmo, hoping to retrieve the $12,000 wired from his bank accounts. A spokesperson for Early Warning Services, overseer of Zelle, refused to comment on fraud cases, citing privacy concerns.
The spokesperson stated, “All Zelle Network participating financial institutions are required to reimburse consumers for confirmed fraud claims. Consumers should contact the local authorities and their bank and credit union if they were a victim of a crime to begin the claims process.”
Reflecting on his ordeal, Brown, a sales worker, said he considers himself “lucky because some people would be out on the street or whatever” after such a robbery. However, he expressed frustration, stating, “But still, I work hard, so it makes me very angry.”
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