Fabio Wibmer Robbed In Chile, Offers $5000 Reward For Missing Hard Drives

Apr 5, 2023 at 13:04
by Christie Fitzpatrick  
Fabio Wibmer posted an unfortunate update to his Instagram this week, reporting that thousands of dollars worth has been stolen from his vehicle whilst filming in Chile. The theft included several cameras and equipment, a laptop, plus multiple memory cards and hard drives. He is asking anyone with information to reach out, offering a reward of €5000 for the safe return of the hard drives.

bigquotesWe got robbed today in Chile/Vina del Mar (next to the dunes) and quite some video equipment of us got stolen from the car. What sucks the most is that our hard drives and memory cards are gone where most of our footage from the trip to Chile was on. It‘s super frustrating as we‘ve already filmed some amazing content and we were excited to share it with you guys soon.

I thought I‘d give it a try and see if anyone of you either know something or see any of these things getting sold nearby. Chances are small but if there is someone getting us to at least the hard drives we‘ll pay 5.000€ as a reward.—Fabio Wibmer



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206 Comments
  • 215 4
 Fabio got robbed!
  • 10 7
 People from chile dont rob you at gunpoint like in brazil or colombia, they are true gentlemen!
  • 4 0
 @RedBurn: that’s comforting
  • 1 0
 no $hit sherlock
  • 115 2
 Chile is the best country in Chile!

As a Chilean, I'm sad and ashamed of the impression we make outside.
It's also sad that I've gotten so used to this crap that my automatic first thought was "who's going out there in the streets carrying all that valuable stuff!" instead of "f*** these s***heads!"
  • 21 4
 Reading the comments, it was interesting how many Chileans seemed to have that same opinion, almost like an embarrassment for theft in their country. I'd always heard Chile was one of the nicest/safest countries in South America. Is that not true? Or are things changing for the worst? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I always thought Chile looked so cool and the dream is to go mountain biking there one day.
  • 20 0
 Unclear to me if "robbed" means held up or whether someone broke into their van while they were sleeping.
  • 7 0
 @DylanH93: Lived there for a year as well as several other South American countries - Great experience all around.

With that said, we lived in the north.
  • 16 1
 @Snowytrail: context suggests they were away from their gear which was left unattended in a vehicle and the possessions were taken from said vehicle.
  • 114 0
 Mate, there's shit people in every country. Nobody holds it against the good people that live there.
  • 14 2
 @DylanH93: it's very safe. Around here (BR) it's not uncommon to people get killed for a cell phone.
  • 6 1
 $hit gets stolen everywhere.
  • 15 0
 Don't feel bad mate, a van will get robbed in any country in the world. Sad but true. You cant park up here in NZ with anything good inside. Not if you want to keep it.
  • 8 1
 @DylanH93: IMO we are one of the safest countries in south america but that doesn't mean that we are safe at all... That being said, we don't have so much spotlight time and when we do 70% of the times are for things like this. Frown
  • 8 3
 This is a small sample, but I know 6 different people/groups who went to Chile in the past two years, 5 of them were either mugged, robbed, or had their rental car or hotel broken into. The 6th one was from Bolivia and took some precautions. What is going on with Chile recently?
  • 17 0
 I wouldn't leave that much gear in my car, unattended in my own country or anywhere really. There are thieves everywhere you go, it is not a regional issue!
  • 4 0
 @Bushmaster123:
Same happened to me in Australia (my bike was in my van). There are f*ckheads everywhere, and there's a special place in hell for them.
  • 14 3
 As an American, I am apathetic to these types of crimes! They happen hourly in the US, especially if things are in plain sight. When I go to the trail head, I leave nothing in my car with the doors unlocked. So the dirtbags can riffle through my papers and take my pocket change verses breaking my window or jamming my lock for $4 in change. It's worked so far
  • 34 12
 @Km303: I hate to be that guy but what happened to Chile? Uncontroled Colombian and Venezuelan immigration.
Nothing against their countries nor their people in general as i have friends from both sides, but the low level border patroling let’s all the bad apples get in and wreak havoc.
Growing up I remember we never had ANY gun violence, a daylight robbery was on national tv for a week as it was so rare bit after all these people entered it’s becoming a normal thing day by day.
The other phenomena happening here is the narcoculture is triumping on a cultural level, thugs and low level gang musicians are the ones that the youth are looking up to while they are singing about robbing banks, mugging people, stealing shit from powerless people, owning guns, missbehaving with women, etc… I’m positive that leaves a mark on what the youth perceives as cool, I see it on the small children of my family already.
So yeah, when Chile was populated by mostly chileans it was, by far, the safest country in latinamerica.
  • 12 3
 Yep. That is the ridiculous narrative in the US now. Blame the victim, rather than blame the criminals. Governments need to do something about the rising crime. It is getting worse and worse.
  • 16 17
 @Denyer: I remember that sentiment when I lived there. Sounds a lot like the Texans I know blaming the Mexicans for erosion of their culture. None of us are from where we reside. Even you likely have European roots. Imagine what your forefathers brought and what the previous people thought about their "contributions" to society. Thank God someone brought a bible and civilized these people though.
  • 3 1
 Don´t feel bad mate.
I went to Italy with the family as a child. We got our camper van broken into 3 times in 2 days. The first time while we were all asleep in the van and they robbed about 30 other vehicles in the parking lot, all with people sleeping in them.
Messed up shit happens in most countries, especially to foreigners and tourists.
  • 1 4
 @Denyer: No bro, tienes toda la razon. Gracias por decir esto.
  • 2 0
 It happens all over the world, a friend got robbed in switzerland... And also in North big cities and south of Italy it's a continous robbery. Where I live not so much, but never can be sure.
  • 2 1
 @tacklingdummy: The stats would beg to differ.
  • 5 13
flag mangowax (Apr 5, 2023 at 19:57) (Below Threshold)
 @Denyer: so easy to blame on the Colombians and Venezuelas, don’t be talking like that there is a lot chillean thieves also.
It’s a problem in every single South American country.
Don be blaming all on colombia and Venezuela
  • 1 2
 @DylanH93: You can't really generalize countries on this stuff.
  • 1 3
 @Km303: So, if I understand you correctly, the 5 that were not from Bolivia and got mugged, robbed, or had their rental car / hotel broken into took no precautions? That's not very smart. It's good to take precautions wherever you travel in the world.
  • 9 4
 @Denyer: With that time when Chile was populated by Chileans and borders were patrolled, I assume you are referring to the era when your country was ruled by its friendly leader Augusto Pinochet?
  • 9 3
 @DylanH93: I'd probably feel safer in Chile than in the US...
  • 3 0
 Vancouver would like a word. It was the property crime capital of North America for a time in the 1990s. I'm not sure if it's gotten better or other parts of the continent have gotten worse.
  • 1 0
 @Snowytrail: Or they left the stuff in an unlocked van?
  • 6 2
 @Denyer: triste, tu nacionalismo corroe tu espíritu, contamina el resto aumentando el odio, alimentando pautas republicanas y patriotas.
  • 7 3
 @danstonQ: nah. I'm from USA and it's not nearly as bad as it's portrayed. Granted you do have to stay out of certain areas in some states, but it's not as bad as they make it out to be in media.
  • 2 0
 @rivercitycycles: That's my logic as well. One time I locked and someone smashed the window.
  • 2 1
 @Denyer: might be helpful if your country would process Colombian and Venezuelan RUT applications so they work legally rather than lying in the streets?
  • 2 1
 @Denyer: this sounds funny because in Colombia is the same bad situation and they say it's because of venezuelan people
  • 6 19
flag haighd2 (Apr 6, 2023 at 6:37) (Below Threshold)
 @Km303: My family used to live in Peru. Seems to me that gradually over the last 70 years European people lost control of many south american counties and as a result these countries have gone native.
  • 5 0
 @rivercitycycles: in Vancouver, Canada, unlocked cars doors means finding a stranger sleeping your car in the morning and perhaps poop. Seriously.
  • 16 3
 @haighd2: remember back in the good old days when fascist dictators threw socialists out of helicopters into the sea and everything was perfect and everyone was happy? There was no crime except state-sanctioned murder. Man, if only all of us could be governed by the ultra-rich working under the authority of God!
  • 4 14
flag haighd2 (Apr 6, 2023 at 7:41) (Below Threshold)
 @BlackCrowe: Latin America was safer and a better place to live in the 1950s when there was a stronger European influence. No amount of your exaggerated straw man arguments will change that fact.
  • 11 1
 @haighd2: even better 500 years ago before the Euros arrived when the Inca stored enough food to maintain the population for years during droughts.
  • 3 0
 @rivercitycycles: Thieves see the ‘95 Legacy and just roll on by
  • 3 0
 It’s like that everywhere, some places are far worse, park your van full of gear in the Bay Area and they’ll steal all the stuff and the van Wink
  • 7 3
 @GBlanco: I’m actually left leaning in the bigger picture, actually hate blind nationalism and republicans including Pinochet, i was born in the 90’s in democracy, and Chile was super safe. As I said, I’m not pointing fingers to any nationality per se but to the bad apples that got from there, i know there is and always will be violence and crime perpetuated by chileans on home soil. But as the governments (past and present) have done an awful job patrolling the borders people get in without documentation and live on the streets doing what they can. That’s on the government for not regulating their visas nor giving them appropiate guidance to find real work. See it as you wish, i don’t hate any particular set of people but i’ve seen first hand how the uncontrolled immigration is directly f*cking peoples lives.
  • 5 1
 Don't worry; I think anyone from any part of the world is thinking 'Who would leave all this in an unattended car' rather than thinking anything less of Chile. I hope they somehow get the footage back so we can all bask in the glory of Chile.

This type of robbery can and does happen in any part of the world and leaving thousands of dollars of equipment in a car has to be associated with a certain level of risk.
  • 3 13
flag haighd2 (Apr 6, 2023 at 9:41) (Below Threshold)
 @BlackCrowe: Simply not true, it was primitive superstitious society with human sacrifice and low life expectancy.
  • 2 1
 @haighd2: sounds glorious. More calories per hour of work than us now, sacrificial reduction in demand on living standards, and adequate life expectancy at age 25
  • 5 2
 @haighd2: it appears as though you have not read an historical analysis of the Incan period since the 1950s.
  • 3 2
 @Denyer: thank you for the explanation. Very interesting to hear that. Like a million other comments have said, of course theft happens everywhere but when things are changing for the worse inside of a culture that's an issue. Hopefully you guys can bring things back under control in your country. No one else gets to tell you how you have to live or how your country is ran.
  • 4 6
 @tacklingdummy: well American voters keep voting for the same lax on crime politicians that appoint the lax on crime judges. Have you seen or heard of what is going on in California?
  • 3 2
 @Leppah: haha the depictions of the US in the media are ridiculous, shit I dodged about five bullets just taking the dog out this morning. Most of the country is super safe and ranks as safe as anywhere else if not better. It's the other areas that are super dangerous that make the overall average look bad. That said, crime is increasing everywhere. We're not on a good path right now as things continue to get worse.
  • 8 3
 @danstonQ: I have to agree with you. You are more likely to get harassed or assaulted by a transgender, liberal, vegan psycho for eating a cheeseburger in public than being robbed in Chile.
  • 1 0
 i got robbed in italy, laptop and two harddrives. My friend in germany, camera, laptop and so on. happens everywhere. so dont be ashamed to much. its sad, but running around with expensive stuff is always dangerous. My advice, keep one ssd or hd with all the data always in your pants pocket. and never leave your stuff out of sight.
  • 3 0
 @kingbike2:
The amount of times we've found human feces behind our shop dumpsters here... Seriously. I NEVER leave my car unlocked. Somebody once stole my lunch and a set of tires because I left them out back for 5 minutes.
  • 4 0
 @notthatfast: sounds like Vancouver is very similar to SF lol.
  • 2 1
 @Bomadics: this was the best answer.

no matter where you are on the planet thieves are everywhere waiting for the opportunity. it's not nice talking about south ameri /i never never been Robed in Brazil but happen with me in new zealand inside my house.
  • 1 0
 @BetoNZ: Correct. In Brazil, being robed is optional.
  • 5 3
 @brianpark there sure is some racism flying in here.
  • 5 4
 @haighd2: 500 years ago europe was also a primitive and superstitious society with low life expectancy. Europeans performed human sacrifice. Dont know if you heard, but they had this inquisition? I suppose one shouldn’t be surprised at your ignorance and bigotry given youre up here shouting proselytizing for europes superstitious tradition. Suggesting we go back in time to the oppressive american funded dictatorships which spawned many of the issues facing South America is very dumb.
  • 2 0
 @BetoNZ: But some places the theft rate odds are much, much higher.
  • 3 0
 @DylanH93:
Yeah, there's a big homeless problem here. Partly because the authorities don't want to do anything to help them and partly because it's like the only city in Canada (apart from Victoria) where you won't freeze to death in winter.
  • 3 1
 @Denyer: Sympathies, sounds like the rest of the world though
  • 5 0
 @Denyer: not a significant sample size, but 10 separate arg friends went to chile this summer for family beach holidays. All 10 had crime problem. From backpacks stolen off a a towel on the beach to cars and apartments broken into. First year Ive heard this happening in Chile so looks like something is changing or has changed over there. Good luck getting it worked out amigos
  • 6 3
 @mgrantorser:
>Europeans performed human sacrifice. Dont know if you heard, but they had this inquisition?

Very ignorant and retarded point and a retarded strawman. Death(as punishment) ≠ human sacrifice for a god. It was frowned upon and never part of liturgy of the roman catholic, judaism and eastern orthodox church. Human sacrifice was done by celtic, slavic and germanic tribes before conversion to christianity(way before christopher columbus set foot in america) and romans considered the act 'barbaric'.

They were primitive and superstitious to OUR standards. Back then they were the progressives, renaissance has been going by that time my canuck.
  • 3 1
 @rivercitycycles: ya in hellholes like san Fran folks are actually leaving their truck doors open(not just unlocked).
Sad times. Mucho thanks to many places going soft on crime recent years
  • 2 0
 @Jperry1290: ...Especially since there are some criminal politicians that voters are pretty lax about.
  • 3 2
 @mrmm8900: “Death as punishment” for believing in the wrong god or interpretation of that god sure does sound civilized. How progressive they were!
  • 4 3
 @BlackCrowe: Yes! To the standards of THEIR time and not OURS. I'm pretty sure you learned about perspective in school right? You can't apply modern moral standards to past civilizations. Yet they were ahead in navigation, astronomy, sciences, mathematics, navigation, society, warfare. The renaissance! You learned it in school right my canuck?
  • 7 2
 @mrmm8900: Look, I began my comments as a reply to a British imperialist who was blaming the theft of Wibmer’s gear on the decline of European influence on South American governance. I poked the bear by suggesting that if Euros hadn’t invaded South America in the first place, there might not be the social problems existing there today.
Sure, in Europe there were pretty paintings, savage religious wars, and some cool refinements of ancient Greek, Roman, and more contemporary Chinese and Arab inventions. This allowed Europeans within a few short centuries to turn the whole world into a European battlefield and eventually a marketplace for carbon E-bikes and Wibmer edits.
We can argue moral relevance all day; however, despite how progressive the Euros thought of themselves, the Incas probably thought the Spanish were a bunch of a*sholes who enslaved them for gold and God.
Final note about moral relevance: no one publicly uses the adjective “retarded” anymore. It dates your thinking.
  • 2 0
 *moral relativity. Whoopsie!
  • 2 2
 @mgrantorser: when you have such a level of ignorance and stupidity it's better to shup up buddy, really.
  • 1 2
 @DylanH93: oh chill dude ….. you can get robbed anywhere ….. big deal … it’s ok to get robbed every now and then
  • 1 2
 @BlackCrowe: LOL!!! wait….this feels all too familiar
  • 2 2
 @Denyer: Oh yes me too my friend.
  • 2 2
 @rckon03: be carefullllllll… there may some phobic undertones in that statement and someone will surely burn you at the stake for speaking freely here. ( More so the US not PB, although I see little immunity anywhere)
  • 2 0
 @jgottya1: I'm going to speak freely and use say what everyone is thinking. That your a mong who has been triggered
  • 3 1
 @mgrantorser: you think that 1523 Europe was primitive? compared to where? europeans had guns, the printing press, ocean going ships? what are you talking about?
  • 3 1
 @mrmm8900: blackCrowe actually thinks he would prefer to live in 1500s Latin America rather than 1500s Europe, he's not in touch with reality, simple as that.
  • 3 1
 @barbarosza: "it’s ok to get robbed every now and then" LOL. Please DM me your address.
  • 3 2
 @HughBonero: The "progressives" here will no doubt tell you that your noticing the problem is the real problem. In their view its admirable to pretend not to notice the patterns. There’s a world wide trend thats accelerating at different rates in different places; its as if the adults have left the room and no one respects civilisation and rule of law anymore. Look at all the people in here claiming you can get robbed anywhere, as if that obscures the pattern about who is doing the robbing and at what rate.
  • 3 0
 @HughBonero: @HughBonero: My brother, that's what i'm talking about, you can go back to 2013 and it was sooo safe in comparison, i was getting out of highschool living in stgo centro and never felt any danger on the streets, used to walk at any hour in the night, phone out and not a worry in the world, now i don't even like to ride a bike on the metropolitan area as they look fancy at distance and may atract too much unwanted atention.
Everyone can have their opinion but they aren't here. Last week 5 cops were killed by immigrants trying to do checks on them. So... Yeah. I'm such a republican for wanting safe streets as they were 10 years ago. Bollocks.
  • 42 1
 PSA for visiting the centre of the mountain biking universe, Vancouver, Canada.

Please don’t leave anything in your vehicle. Your window will be smashed and your stuff stolen. Thieves target out of town cars in the popular tourist areas.

Also Vancouver is the bike theft capital of Canada , keep an eye on your bike always.
  • 5 0
 This is what I was gonna say. Why anyone runs that risk, I just can't fathom. I don't know the circumstances with Fabio, but given the items he listed, there is no way in hell I am leaving that stuff out of my sight and vulnerable. In a perfect world we could trust, but alas, it is not.
  • 9 0
 This, Colorado is the same way, we have some of the highest vehicle theft rates in the country and bike theft? I'm not sure its even really illegal, sure theres laws that says it is but teh recovery/arrest rate related to it is almost 0. The amount of unsuspecting tourists staying the night in Denver before their big CO mtb trip that have ALL of their bikes stolen off their car is insane. The REI in downtown Denver is particularly bad, I almost don't want to shop there because they have a fenced off parking area which gives the illusion of safety but 0 security and peak summer you can read daily about out of towners having their bikes stolen just from that one parking lot.
  • 12 0
 California has over 200,000 cars stolen per year. Near me, Santa Cruz is stolen bike capital of Northern California. Authorities not doing much to stop it. Only a tiny fraction of the crimes are solved. It is getting really bad in California and they just sweep it under the rug.
  • 5 0
 They'll just smash your window out based on your plates being out of state, even when nothing is visible or valuable in the car. Guess how I found that hot travel tip out :/
  • 1 0
 "out of town" ?? "Out of state" ?? really, in my neck of the woods people recently have had their cars stolen from their own driveways, you don't have to be an "out of towner" here.

Also - Dodge Ram trucks seem to be the car of choice.
  • 1 1
 Yeah, you leave stuff in your car and it’s gonna get stolen.

Leaving all your memory from shooting professional video in you car, that’s really dumb.
  • 1 0
 if the thieves dont get you , the bears will
  • 27 0
 Considering how much traction his content gets.... that's some valuable footage.
  • 5 2
 If it's sponsored and contracted then the footage could be worth a couple of hundred k
  • 2 1
 If so important why no backups? Duplicate drives if cant upload?
  • 1 0
 @taskmgr: I was thinknig about that.

I'd love to hear how most pros/content creators handle this.

For my own stuff that only I or my close friends and family will ever see or care about, I've got everything synced to iCloud / Google Photos. But that means having a decent internet connection and not having 100s of GB of video files like I expect these guys do.

Are most people uploading stuff mid-trip in the field? Making physical backups and keeping them in a different location? Or just hoping this doesn't happen.
  • 2 0
 @atourgates: I can only speak to how I've done it on projects over the years. But it depends on several things:

How remote are you/access to internet.

How tight are the deadlines. Is it something that needs daily deliverables/updates or a not.

Where is the rest of the team located. Are you traveling with the people turning your raw data into deliverables or not?

But you'd be surprised how many people are still using google, dropbox, etc to manage their data. DAM's are expensive.
  • 2 0
 @atourgates: more than 1 hard drive. There are programs that let you back up 2 plus drives simultaneously.
  • 28 7
 Death to thieves of all kinds.
  • 50 4
 Nah, just cut their hands off.
  • 23 2
 $5k affords a decent sicario in chile, jus sayin
  • 8 0
 @mkul7r4: creeping Sharia law
  • 4 1
 @syammim: an yet Christianity " Thou Shalt Not Steal"
  • 2 1
 @DizzyNinja: watched it tonight, Benicio del Torro at his finest
  • 1 0
 @cmi85:
This !
  • 16 5
 Who the F doesn't; separate their media?
If you're on a "job" ( especially abroad) you shoot, immediately back up and then keep at least one copy of the shot media with you at all times.
It's basic professional practice. Definitely a learning moment for whoever shoots for Fabio.
  • 3 8
flag haighd2 (Apr 6, 2023 at 6:44) (Below Threshold)
 she had a short skirt ......
  • 4 3
 @haighd2: equating victim blaming for rape with this situation and comment is kinda ridiculous.

@Dustfarter is just questioning their sense, not saying it should have happened to them.
  • 1 0
 @milesofkyle: in a similar way others just question the sense of going out in a short skirt.
  • 10 0
 Not a native speaker here, but I thought robbing was to take something with or under the thread of violence whereas stealing is the same but without the violence part. The story sounds like the gear was stolen but maybe my understanding of the language is just wrong.
  • 10 0
 You are correct and it is (literally) journalism 101 to learn the difference when writing crime reports, because it's so widely mis-used.
  • 12 0
 Fabio was burglarized!
  • 3 0
 Having your stuff stolen (and especially losing hard work that can't be replaced) is painful but being robbed (like, actually robbed) seems particularly traumatic. I think the difference is very relevant.
  • 29 23
 Not victim shaming but dude....content = money, I'd safeguard those hardrives with my life if that was my means of making a living! I never leave my laptop anyplace besides inside my locked house, no way I'd ever leave it unattended in a car, let alone a foreign country....maybe not the time nor the place, apologies for being that guy.

Hope he gets it back for our sake, I wanna see what he filmed!
  • 5 0
 He definitely would have been voted off the island for content week of PBA
  • 30 7
 Great advice which I am sure he is entirely unaware of
  • 3 1
 He will from now on, I bet. Having anything stolen from you is terrible.
  • 1 13
flag KK11 (Apr 5, 2023 at 13:23) (Below Threshold)
 Pfffff…your insurance will take care of it, if ya got it?
  • 2 1
 @scott-townes: This ain't the first time he has been robbed.
  • 10 2
 You're getting lots of downvotes... but seriously... leaving irreplaceable footage in an unattended vehicle full of expensive gear... anywhere in the world... is.... well... stupid. No apologies needed... wtf were they thinking?!
  • 6 0
 3-2-1 rule, at all time. 3 copies of footage, 2 mediums and 1 separate location.
  • 3 7
flag ChiefSilverback (Apr 5, 2023 at 17:41) (Below Threshold)
 @manglermixer: that’s the shittest rule I’ve ever seen. Three copies, sure, 2 different mediums, eh, so one on HDs one on memory cards? Surely if you’ve got three copies on three different hard drives then you’re protected? As for “1 separate location”, that’s an arse about face way of saying “two different locations”, which I’d argue makes far more sense to most people.
  • 6 0
 @ChiefSilverback: his rule made sense to me and he explained in 1/4 of the words you did.
  • 2 2
 "Not victim shaming...but" haha
  • 1 0
 @RadBartTaylor: ok, so what two mediums are you using?
  • 1 0
 @ChiefSilverback: you're clearly not a professional shooter. He's 100% correct.
  • 16 8
 Nothing screams amateur like shooting in South America and leaving all your video equipment/footage in a vehicle without any back up at your hotel or cloud. C'mon.
  • 3 2
 Actually, re reading the article. The whole. "we will not negotiate with terrorists", clearly went AWOL here. You got robbed in S.America and offered the thieves $5k to return it? Hmmm.
  • 1 0
 @CaptainPugwash89: who will not negotiate with terrorists?
  • 4 0
 I can´t say I´m shocked. I am a Swedish - Canadian living in Chile since 1999 (with a couple of extended returns to the Great White North). I am made to feel incredibly welcome here. It doesn´t hurt to make an effort to assimilate and speak the local dialect of Spanish as well as possible. Mountain biking is extraordinary here and the country has so much to offer, but we do have this unfortunate reputation for thievery. Just ask Europeans and Canadians what they think of Chilean thieves plying their "trade" internationally! Personally, I have been the victim of robbery 6 times here: office, home, coffee shop, locked bike, car contents and side-view mirrors. I´m lucky - I was never threatened by the perpetrators as they always took advantage of my absence / absent-mindedness. Most people here can share similar stories. As many have said, it´s very risky to leave any valuables alone in a vehicle. Here, it´s absolutely an invitation! I feel bad for tourists who learn this the hard way. It´s not fair. If thieves are caught, they go through a revolving door and are back at it in 48 hours. I suppose we could "request" the military to step in, throw out all the bleeding-heart UN supporters, and put an end to the increasing drug-supported crime and violence, but a hard-swinging pendulum isn´t a long term solution either, although the president of El Salvador seems to be making his voters happy...
Well, I hope Fabio recovers the goods. In the meantime, another bottle of Carmenere should calm my concerns!
  • 7 1
 Considering the value of the footage and assuming they could get access to the internet, I'm surprised they don't store it in the cloud.
  • 21 1
 Having access to the internet is a big assumption.
  • 36 2
 Uploading hundreds of GB's of raw footage daily while out in remote locations with spotty and/or slow access is generally not possible.

However, leaving hundreds of GB's or raw irreplaceable footage in an unattended vehicle full of expensive gear... anywhere in the world... is.... well... stupid.
  • 6 1
 @physics-photographer: aye, but downloading to two hard drives that are kept separately is not rocket science.
  • 9 0
 Burgled not robbed.
  • 9 1
 S!CK
  • 6 0
 This is the only reason I insist on being poor year after year. No one wants anything I could ever come by. 4d chess y’all
  • 4 0
 I think it is a problem in any country on any continent where there is a widening gap between the wealthy and privileged and the poor. The wider the gap, the more crime. Pretty simple, really.
  • 1 0
 Hope they get their stuff back...
But it's funny tho, we barely got any coverage over the nice events we have been holding these last months (RocaPark, Todo o Nada, VCA, etc) but Fabio getting robbed get's a full page article Smile well done!
  • 2 0
 I remember the same thing happened to the 1320 video guys once. as with this the gear is one thing, but the footage is what really matters.
  • 3 0
 I think I have seen more postings of robberies (bike related stuff) from the UK than any other country. Just saying
  • 1 0
 People don't get targeted as much here as shops and premises. It's still shit, but I imagine it feels less personal to the thieves; less chance of harm to people, just property
  • 2 1
 are you seriously trying to say that the crime rate in the UK is the same or higher than in Chile?
  • 3 0
 @haighd2: a quick Google search indicates that the UK has better crime stats than Chile. Obviously there are variations in different regions. North Chile seems to be having a dramatic increase. Not sure how they arrive at an overall crime rate number but Bradford is on par with Chile. There is definitely a perception that the UK has a huge problem with bike thefts and thefts from cars but apparently the latter is more common in Chile.
  • 1 0
 @singletrackjamaica: so the avg for chile is the same as Bradford i.e one of the worst places in the UK. Also Bradford is probably only 50% white British.
  • 2 0
 I'm not condoning this but I'm genuinely shocked some one so switched on when it comes to content creation doesn't back up to a cloud via a satellite modem.
  • 7 7
 Welcome to the real world, every ones a thief and theres the easy way to learn it or the hard way. That granny over there with no teeth, thief! that 8 yr old as bold as any, theif!
  • 2 0
 That 8yr old with false teeth, robbing bastard. That granny with a school bag, robbing bastard.
  • 3 1
 just find the contents reboot card and get to the van before the time runs out
  • 2 3
 F!CK. AS a creator I bring my gear with me at all times on trips, no matter how heavy the bag or short the time away from the car is. With someone that relies on content as much as he does I am well surprised he did not have GnarBox with backups or something similar..
  • 2 0
 Guys, you travel around the world and don't backup data on internet?
Portable SSD hard disk is not a backup device!
  • 1 0
 most modern video codecs can compress video data to about 1GB/hour at 1080p decent quality. I don't know how many hours of contents he has, but he can compress and backup.
  • 4 1
 who cares, he is an idiot anyway
  • 2 1
 DAMMIT!! I'm putting GPS trackers on all my stuff from now on. Hope the thieves are brought down swiftly!
  • 7 6
 Surely Sucks - But Fabio has an Appartment in Monaco so I don't think it will break him ;-)
  • 2 0
 It's because there is a World cup DH track on top m.youtube.com/watch?v=O4nbGE8gXzw
  • 4 1
 Any self-respecting thief will ask €10.000
  • 11 1
 It's more about the footage. Filming it again could actually break him. Literally. The dude has had a lot of injuries from doing crazy stunts.
  • 6 0
 @Rattles: I couldn't imagine the amount of takes and falls Fabio has done on those hard drives to get those amazing shots - only to have it all go in puff of smoke. As a film maker, I'm gutted.
  • 1 0
 Well he admittedly is most concerned about the content which is irreplaceable
  • 1 0
 @Rattles: Fabio had two major crashes that one year, disappeared for a while to recover, then came back in force and got million views easy.
  • 3 0
 Mean people suck
  • 1 0
 Same could happen in any city of this planet if you lay inside tech or bagages.
  • 1 0
 this sucks so hard, not proud at all, best of luck in getting all back!!!!!!
  • 1 0
 It sucks but as usual don't leave stuff in the vehicle. It's the oldest rule in the book!
  • 1 0
 I remember the bike that was stolen from Mikayla Gatto in VCA 2008 I think... It never appeared.
  • 2 3
 sucks...was thinking he should have been using cloud backup, but he likely generates more content per day then he can upload while on the road...
  • 4 2
 Regardless of where you are, whoever's shooting it should be downloading/uploading daily to a secure place. This is a rookie mistake.
  • 5 0
 @CaptainPugwash89: I was shooting 2-500gb's a day in Chile this winter. I could barely get 50mb instagram post up with the internet we had. Let alone that much footage. Double backing up on drives and keeping them as safe as possible. Is the only reasonable option.
  • 3 2
 Mfs stole his gear, can’t have shit in Chile dawg
  • 1 0
 yeah bro! hate crime
  • 1 0
 Vina del mar .. hmm got jumped there once …
  • 5 4
 Kein Backup, kein Mitleid.
  • 1 0
 Wolnd't happen if he was sponsored by Stolen bikes.
  • 1 0
 Upload that shit to the cloud
  • 1 1
 too bad that the effort it hurts the most not the tools
  • 1 0
 welcome to reality
  • 1 0
 se robaron la maleta
  • 1 1
 Remember, no one can steal your bike if you’re riding it.
  • 1 1
 I saw an old vid of people getting robbed at gun point for their bikes. Can't remember what country it was though.
  • 7 0
 @Leppah: Probably the Bay Area lol
  • 1 1
 isn't there a big protest going on down there?
  • 1 0
 Mooga Oomgawa
  • 1 1
 bro like what
  • 1 4
 Held for a ransom in South America nothing new there
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