Fear of Robbery Pushes Citizens to Carry Second Phones in Brazil

Fear of robbery has led about 30 percent of Brazil's population (about 65 million people) to carry a cheap second device called a "thief phone" on the street, according to FBSP data.

Many citizens leave their main phones with banking applications at home.

Joel da Silva, 42, who works as a doorman in Ipanema, stated that after the armed robbery, he went without a phone for a month to get a phone in four installments and that he witnessed four robberies in seven months in front of the building where he worked.

While polls show that security is voters' top concern, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that their goal is "zero phone theft".

His right-wing rival Fávio Bolsonaro is promising to quadruple prison sentences for mobile phone crimes. Metzker, one of the victims, says that he no longer has faith in these promises of politicians.