Move over iPhones, Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones might take the top spot very soon as the most stolen item in New York City.

According to an article that appeared in the New York Post on Monday (May 7), Beats by Dr. Dre headphones are the second-most popular gagdets for thieves to steal in the Big Apple. The reason? The pricey devices are seen as a "status symbol," a police source tells the paper.

Retailing at $300-$500, Beats by Dr. Dre are being stolen at an alarming rate since the latest model hit the market in December. Uptown Manhattan and northern parts of Brooklyn have been hit particularly hard, with dozens of Beats heists over the past four months occurring in Brooklyn North alone. "They're being snatched from teenagers aboard subways or as they walk to and from school," said the source.

Still, thefts of the headphones are underreported because they are hardly ever insured, thus, can't be traced.

Some examples of the Beats robberies include a 14-year-old boy being ripped of his pair by a male and female tag team near Columbia University, and another attack was recorded on video and posted on WorldStarHipHop.com, which shows a thief jumping on the subway tracks at Burnside Avenue in the Bronx, then jumping back on the platform and using the piece of broken glass to cut his victim's neck and run away with his Beats by Dr. Dre set.

"If you are wearing those headphones, you might as well wear a sign that says, 'Come and rob me,'" an investigator said. —Gina Montana

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