How Armed Robbers Used Pokemon Go To Rob Nine People

It appears as if Pokemon Go is becoming somewhat of a mainstream phenomenon. In fact, it's already been associated with finding a dead body and costing a man his career, and now it appears as if robbers are using it to score loot from unsuspecting players.

Gizmodo is reporting that the O'Fallon, Missouri police have reported that four men between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age have been apprehended after they went on a robbing spree, specifically targeting people playing Pokemon Go.

The quartet of thieves would basically use Nintendo's new Pokemon game to find PokeStops where unsuspecting victims would be playing the game. They would use the PokeStops as a way to gauge where potential gamers might be headed, especially if it was in a remote location or outside the general view of a public place. They would then rob those gamers at gunpoint. The article doesn't detail how much the robbers stole from each of their four victims, but it was enough to get the police involved.

As per usual, the police warned parents to always keep an eye on their kid while they play the game and to ensure that they don't wander too far off the beaten path.

Speaking of the beaten path... it was just recently reported that a young girl was out and about, looking for Pokemon when she entered into an area where she hadn't been before... only to discover that there was a dead body in the river below.

The entire thing traumatized the young girl, but it made the news because she never would have found the body had it not been for Pokemon Go.

The app is widely popular due to the fact that it uses augmented reality to integrate Pokemon with real world locations. This means that gamers will have to venture around, finding different Pokemon at different spots.

Niantic Labs designed the game so that grass Pokemon will be located in fields and forested areas, where as water Pokemon can be located by rivers, lakes or other bodies of water.

There are even Pokemon gyms sprinkled throughout key locations where players can visit them to take control. Some public stores are even taking advantage of it, using the new app to advertise their services by letting people know that Pokemon can be found at their location.

Nintendo really seems to have found a home run winner in Pokemon Go. Reports are even indicating that the sales for the app are skyrocketing thanks to the microtransactions.

While the Wii U seems to have fizzled off and died as far as sales and interest is concerned, the mobile sector of Nintendo seems to have been kickstarted with apps like Miitomo and the new Pokemon Go.

A lot of people are curious if the Nintendo NX will integrate into their current mobile business in some way, but it's too early to tell and the recent patents have only created more confusion and questions than answers.

Nevertheless, if Nintendo has more products in the pipeline like Pokemon Go, they have a healthy and lucrative road ahead of them... assuming that their customers aren't constantly getting robbed by guys in black BMWs looking to make easy cash on young gamers in remote parts of the neighborhood.