Though they may reside at Bali’s Uluwatu temple, the Macaque monkeys living at the tourist hotspot are far from pious, having evidently taught themselves to pickpocket unsuspecting visitors and hold their valuables for ransom.

In one now-viral clip, a wily primate stationed outside the Hindu sea temple can be seen haggling with a woman whose phone he snatched mere seconds earlier. After several moments of rummaging through her purse — the ape clutching her phone with all its monkey might — she retrieves what appears to be an apple, the animal tossing her back the device while scurrying away with his new delicious score.

Yet, this is far from the only recorded instance of a baboon robbery — according to the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca, who conducted a study on these apes, not only do they regularly steal, they also prefer to target high-value items in the pursuit of a bigger payout.

“These monkeys have become experts at snatching them from absent-minded tourists who didn’t listen to the temple staff’s recommendations to keep all valuables inside zipped handbags firmly tied around their necks and backs,” the associate professor told The Guardian back in 2021.

But hey, can we truly blame them? As Redditor u/somedude456 so aptly put it, “Humans are absolute --------, so I applaud any animal that can be the same.”