Hello everyone! I am a student from Finland who came to Spain to experience the famous Tomatina Festival in Buñol . Instead, I left with trauma, injuries, and no justice. Here’s my story of being robbed — and why hundreds of others face the same every year.
On 27-08-2025, between 11:30–12:05, in the middle of the tomato festival, my gold chain approx. 3000 euros was violently snatched from my neck. I was left bruised, in pain, and in shock — the incident ruined the rest of the festival for me with lasting anxiety and trauma.
To make matters worse, my friend was also robbed – his wallet. We reported the robbery asap. We went from the festival grounds to the Buñol Guardia Civil Police Station, where we filed our complaints. There were more people like us who lost valuables in this chaos.
Later that day, I reviewed my GoPro footage at the hotel. Clear video evidence showed the theft, including the suspect’s face, a red local bracelet, and even him holding my stolen chain. Tried submitting them to police authorities in person but all my efforts went in vein.
Despite filing the FIR, providing video, photos & suspect details, I was bounced between Buñol & Valencia stations, told only to “send everything by email.” Few months later, I’ve have zero updates. Sadly, this isn’t just me. Every year, 100–200 people are exploited in this chaos.
The festival management & local authorities know this happens every year. Yet:
– No proper warnings/signs to tourists.
– No preventive checks.
– No accountability.
This negligence puts visitors at serious risk.
I came for joy & culture. Instead, I left Spain with trauma, financial loss, and a sense of being abandoned by the system. This is not the experience any tourist should have.
I’m sharing my story because silence only protects criminals. I hope speaking out helps prevent others from going through the same horror at Tomatina festival.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1ov09vc
Posted by ambi_2603
14 Comments
While I’m really sorry for what you went through, it sounds traumatising, why on Earth would you wear a 3000€ gold chain to a festival where you’re literally just going to be surrounded by crowds and get tomato juice chucked all over it?
I’m sorry but who the hell goes to the tomatina with a gold chain. You clearly didnt think this through.
Not trying to excuse the thief, but you went to a massive event in a poorer country with thousands of people in a small space and really didn’t think about leaving the gold chain home?
Take this as a lesson and move on.
Wait, you went there wearing a 3000€ gold chain? Are you serious?
It’s not a tourist scam.
Well, that’s terrible, and the fact that the justice works so badly too, but… It should be obvious that wearing something so expensive or even the wallet to the tomatina isn’t a good idea
I’m sorry that happened to you.
On the other hand. The festival itself is not a scam. There’s scams around it like most things.
I’m really sorry you went through that! You obviously didn’t deserve that. For the future I recommend avoiding expensive jewelry in a context like that, I have to be honest wearing a 3k chain somewhere like that is a terrible, terrible idea. There’s tons of people, everyone is distracted, etc. And also unfortunately when things are stolen it’s very, very rare they find their way back to their owner. Again sorry you had to go through this and for the future (not just in Spain, anywhere in the world where you might find yourself in such a chaotic context) I hope you’ll take different precautions!
I’m sorry you’ve been robbed. But you went to a massificated event wearing an expensive chain?
What did you expect?
Edit: I mean: This is like complaining about being hit by a bull in San Fermines.
Thiefs are everywhere. That doesn’t make it a scam
Better to just not come to Spain, we don’t need more annoying tourists 🤣
Bro, rule number 1: never wear jewellery, expensive watches, etc to festivals, concerts and places like that.
Lesson learned, I guess.
I am sorry that you are an idiot.
I am sorry you had this experience, I would never go to such an event wearing a 3000€ gold chain but to each their own. Events like la Tomatina are now full of tourists and therefore very juicy for pickpockets. I also wish the police would be more proactive but I assume they are way over their heads, Buñol is a small town with less than 10.000 inhabitants so the police force is not huge, for La Tomatina, they normally get aroun 22.000 people, that is more than double of their normal population.
I mean… I wouldn’t call it a tourist scam, it’s a tradition that’s attracting more and more tourists, but it is what they say it is
On another note, going to messy crowded festivals like this with valuables is a big no no. Gold chains, fancy watches, wallets bursting with bills? Your case was probably drowned by another 100 pickpocket victims