An influencer who loves to promote all the designer items she gets for free on social media has learned a hard lesson during her vacation in Paris.
Victoria Paris, 25, whose real name is Victoria Paris Finkel, was posting photos on Instagram and videos on TikTok about her trip to the European city on May 5 when her home was targeted in a burglary.
An unidentified person was caught on security video breaking into her Los Angeles home in Silver Lake before fleeing with designer handbags and jewelry. According to the LA Times.
A Louis Vuitton duffel bag, two Paco Rabanne handbags, a Miu Miu bag, a laptop and all of Finkel’s jewelry were reportedly stolen.
Just one day later, the same person was seen on their surveillance cameras loitering and searching their property once again.
Victoria Paris, 25, whose real name is Victoria Paris Finkel, was posting about her trip to Paris on May 5 when an unidentified thief decided to take advantage of her absence.
It’s unclear exactly how they found their home, but Finkel regularly posts photos and videos of her backyard with a clear view of her neighborhood, and showed off her car in the driveway while flaunting her designer wares from her bedroom.
She once even sparked outrage for deliberately destroying a $5,000 Gucci bag by smashing it against some street steps to make it look worn.
Since the robbery, Finkel seems to be questioning his life choices.
“The reason I’m good at this job and why I love doing what I do is because I really enjoy sharing with you,” she said. he told his nearly two million followers on TikTok June 7th.
“I don’t know, it makes me feel less alone. And I feel alone a lot,” she admitted in the emotional video.
“But it’s things like this that make me want to stop sharing.”
Ultimately, Finkel decided he had to move out of the Silver Lake home and would keep his whereabouts a secret. The alleged burglar remains at large.
But her TikTok shows her continuing to flaunt her luxury items.
Finkel regularly posted photos and videos of himself in his backyard with a clear view of his neighborhood, showing off his car in the driveway and showcasing exclusive designer purchases.
She was able to recover one of the bags that had been stolen earlier this month because the alleged thief apparently resold it to a store, she said. she said in an August 10 TikTok.
And in a Video published just two days ago. After talking about the robbery, Finkel seemed to be in better spirits as she showed off the huge amount of Paco Rabanne bags she had been given as gifts.
“Rabanne actually said, ‘Checkmate, bitch,’ because they sent me everything that was stolen and more,” she said, as she tried on dresses and showed off her new shoes.
“I don’t know if I should say it, but I’m going to say it: getting robbed may have been the best thing that ever happened to me in my life,” he said.
He also admitted to the LA Times that influencers “aren’t the biggest victims, but we put everything in our lives on the internet, which makes us the easiest target.”
Finkel’s TikTok shows she continues to flaunt her luxury items
Just a month before Finkel was targeted, a group of would-be burglars also broke into the home of Joey Zauzig, an influencer and reality TV personality who starred on MTV’s Real Friends of WeHo.
She said she decided to return home to Los Angeles early from a trip to Cabo San Lucas, despite publicly announcing on social media that she would return a day later.
Zauzig even shared a video that made it appear he was still in Mexico on April 8.
But he was actually sleeping at home when he heard the burglars break in.
“I decided to check the cameras,” he told the LA Times. “I saw there were three guys with what looked like guns in their hands, and I think my first reaction was to go up to the top of the stairs.”
‘I screamed, ‘Get the fuck out of here!’ before calling 911 and waking up his fiancée.
The two then sneaked out a sliding door onto a balcony of their Hollywood Hills home until the would-be burglars left without taking anything.
Influencers Emily Oberg (left) and Joey Zauzig (right) have also had their homes raided.
Zauzig said the experience left him terrified.
“My content is very positive and uplifting,” she said. “You don’t think there are people who want to tear you down, but I guess when thousands of people see your lives and your content, there are also people who try to attack you. I was clearly attacked.”
No arrests have been made in the Zauzig case either.
But in a TikTok Video from June 13th, Finkel appeared to suggest that the man who burglarized her home had previously burglarized the home of another influencer, Emily Oberg.
“Everyone who’s been robbed has come together and now we have to put all our stories together to get the LAPD to catch this bastard,” he said.
She went on to claim that the man had burglarized three other homes over the course of two weeks and that he wears the same clothes each time.
The man who burglarized Finkel’s home was seen roaming around again the next day.
Oberg, an influencer who runs the clothing and beauty brand Sporty & Rich, was out of town on June 3, 2023, when a burglar broke into her Beverly Hills guesthouse and made off with designer jackets and shoes, Chanel and Hermes handbags, jewelry, furniture and more.
She claimed the value of the stolen goods was more than $140,000 and said she was grateful she was not home at the time.
“I wouldn’t feel bad for influencers, because we post this stuff and document our every move,” Oberg admitted. “It’s just the world we live in.”
Fortunately, a suspect in that case was arrested and spent seven months in prison after reaching a plea deal.
Oberg said he now knows who the burglar is and said he broke into three other homes in a two-week span.
Robberies are up 3.3 percent citywide in Los Angeles, with 305 more cases than during the same period last year, according to LAPD statistics.
Kent Moyer, chief executive of World Protection Group, which provides security to celebrities and wealthy individuals, also said his company has noticed an increase in robberies, thefts and home invasions, particularly involving influencers.
“They’re easy targets,” she explained, noting that influencers are some of her toughest clients because of their desire to constantly post information about themselves.
“Whether this is true or not, criminals see these people as having something worth stealing,” said Paul Vernon, a retired Los Angeles Police Department captain who once headed the statistics division.
‘People unknowingly post too much information about themselves, making it very easy for complete strangers to find them.’
But now influencers say they will be more careful.
“Be careful,” Zauzig said of the rules she follows now. “Don’t flaunt what you have. Don’t show off certain parts of your home. Be smart about what you post.”
“I would never do a tour of his house,” he added.
“Now I think I’m a little more conscious of what I post. I post later in the day and I don’t post when I’m away.”