{"id":12255,"date":"2026-06-08T12:37:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/?p=12255"},"modified":"2026-06-08T12:37:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:37:33","slug":"mirror-trick-venice-app-112-where-are-u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/mirror-trick-venice-app-112-where-are-u\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror Trick Venice: How the &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; App Can Protect You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Updated 19 May 2026:<\/strong> the &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; app was further expanded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 2026. New features at the end of the article. Recommendation for all travellers: install it before your trip to Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venice and the Veneto region attract millions of tourists from all over the world every year. But where many travellers are on the move, unfortunately fraudsters are not far behind. One particularly devious scam is the so-called &#8220;Venice mirror trick&#8221;. Here you will learn how the trick works, how you should react, and how the &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; app has already put fraudsters to flight several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the mirror trick works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the mirror trick, fraudsters deliberately target tourists. As they drive past, they throw a stone or damage the wing mirror of your car. Shortly afterwards they follow you, force you to stop with honking and light signals, and then loudly claim that you damaged their mirror. They show an already-tampered mirror and usually demand several hundred euros in &#8220;compensation&#8221; \u2014 in cash, of course, and without the police. While you negotiate, accomplices often try to steal valuables from the open car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221;?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; app is the official emergency app of the Italian Ministry of the Interior. It connects you with the Italian emergency number 112 \u2014 and automatically transmits your exact location to the police control centre. Especially in rural or tourist regions, where it is hard to describe your location, this is an enormous help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The most important features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Automatic location transmission via GPS.<\/li><li>Silent-call mode \u2014 when you cannot speak out loud (e.g. when threatened).<\/li><li>Multilingual operation \u2014 German, English, French, Spanish.<\/li><li>Chat function with the emergency control centre for the hearing-impaired.<\/li><li>Connection to all emergency services \u2014 police, fire brigade, ambulance, mountain rescue.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the app stopped the mirror trick \u2014 an example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the summer of 2025, a German couple fell victim to an attempted mirror trick near San Don\u00e0 di Piave. The perpetrators demanded \u20ac400. Instead of paying, the front-seat passenger opened the &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; app and pressed the emergency button. Within 90 seconds a Carabinieri patrol car was on the scene \u2014 the perpetrators fled, but were identified and arrested a few hours later through dashcam analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2026 update \u2014 new app features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Live video transmission to the emergency control centre (since January 2026, all Italian provinces).<\/li><li>Auto crash detection \u2014 in the event of a strong impact the app activates automatically and reports a possible accident (iOS 17+ and Android 14+).<\/li><li>More languages: Dutch and Polish added.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recommendation for travellers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Install before your trip:<\/strong> free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.<\/li><li><strong>A test call from home is NOT recommended<\/strong> \u2014 the app always connects to the Italian 112. Test only in Italy.<\/li><li><strong>Grant permissions before the trip:<\/strong> location, microphone, camera \u2014 otherwise the emergency features won&#8217;t work.<\/li><li><strong>Available on the lock screen:<\/strong> check the options on both iOS and Android.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related topics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/pickpockets-in-venice\/\">Travel tips and safety in Venice \u2014 the complete overview<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/mirror-trick-san-dona-di-piave\/\">Mirror trick San Don\u00e0 di Piave \u2014 police successes 2025\/2026<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/getting-to-venice\/\">Getting to Venice by car<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated 19 May 2026: the &#8220;112 Where ARE U&#8221; app was further expanded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 2026. New features at the end of the article. Recommendation for all travellers: install it before your trip to Italy. Venice and the Veneto region attract millions of tourists from all over the world [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"highlight_bis":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unkategorisiert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12256,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12255\/revisions\/12256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treffpunkt-venedig.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}