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A number of professional athletes have fallen victim to robberies allegedly orchestrated by a sophisticated crime ring in recent months, including a couple of guys in the NBA. Now, the league has formally addressed the matter with a memo listing the precautions it’s urging players to take.
Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes were greeted with some unfortunate news after the Chiefs headed to New Orleans to face off against the Saints at the start of October, as both of the houses they have in the Kansas City area were targeted by robbers who took advantage of the road trip to pilfer their homes.
That transpired just a few weeks after Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. befell the same fate while attending a Vikings game in October, and at the start of November, Bobby Portis Jr. revealed he’d also been targeted when the Bucks were in Cleveland to play the Cavaliers.
All of those guys are united by the same thread as professional athletes who’ve made tens of millions of dollars over the course of their careers, and the fact that the FBI decided to get involved strongly suggested the robberies were linked in some way.
According to ESPN, the agency strongly believes the robberies were orchestrated by “transnational South American Theft Groups” based on the memo the NBA sent out to players this week concerning the cartels that “incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices” while facilitating the lucrative crimes.
The FBI reportedly contacted the NBA, NFL, and other sports leagues to inform them of those suspicions last week, and the former has now joined the latter in relaying that information to teams and players while advising them to beef up security to thwart thieves who are primarily in search of cash and “jewelry, watches, and luxury bags” that can be flipped on the black market.
The outlet says the NBA’s memo featured some seemingly obvious recommendations for players, like the installation of alarm systems and security cameras and the use of safes to secure valuables.
It also advised them to remove any pictures of their homes from real estate websites and other online platforms while suggesting it may be a good idea to hire private security and even use guard dogs when they’re on the road.
It would probably be a good idea for the crime rings to lay low for a bit based on the heat they’re dealing with, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out.