A Swedish man has been mugged via app in what may be the first of many cashless street robberies.
Three thugs surrounded the victim around 1.30am in the university district of Gothenburg last Wednesday (pictured above).
After threatening him, they forced him to hand over 2,000 Swedish krona ($220) via a cashless money transfer app.
According to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, the man was forced to pay up via Swish, an easy payments app similar to Venmo in the United States.
Police in Gothenburg said that it was the first case of robbery by app they had seen.
They anticipated catching the perpetrators quickly, because users need to enter the details of the person they are paying – though they are not through to have arrested anybody yet.
Thieves may be turning to electronic payment as a means of extortion because Swedish people are increasingly spurning cash altogether.
Around 80% of all transactions in the Scandinavian country are now made by card, while more than half of the population are thought to be users of the Swish app.
The result is that many Swedes have stopped carrying notes and coins altogether – posing a problem for petty criminals, but also giving them a new opportunity.
Featured image via Flickr/ikkoskinen
